A week of 3 ‘peaks’

A few days ago I saw a link on Twitter to a Guardian article by @CharlotteChurch about the death of her grandma, and the care her Nana was given. Charlotte ends by making a plea for Palliative Care to be available for all, after extolling the experience Charlotte, her grandma and the wider family were given.

What struck me was Charlotte’s comment on the words “syringe driver”, that apparently caused her grandad distress in that he thought it would be used to speed the death of his wife. This is not uncommon in my professional experience so I thought I’d ask Twitter contacts if they had any ideas for an alternative name.

This generated 19 direct responses, and various likes and shares, the number of which was a surprise and in a busy week at home and at work I didn’t get to respond until now. 

I want to thank all those who joined in with ideas and comments. If it helps change practice and alter perceptions of syringe drivers then that’s a high I happily take.

To summarise -

• Clarity of the words we use was a main theme
• Taking time to demonstrate the syringe driver, tubing and drugs and the way they come together makes so much sense
• Creating ownership and portability through colourful hand-made bags is well known 
• Using a stretchy men’s sock is a delightful spin on covering them
• That syringe drivers are useful beyond End of Life Care is an important point; they can give symptom relief during treatments such as chemo and radio therapies and can then be stopped
• And at the end of life, used with sensitivity and clinical caution they will not hasten a death

As for a useful alternative name we didn’t get to that; not to worry as we were able to have conversations that spanned a variety of locations, backgrounds and viewpoints. That in itself has been a valuable demonstration of the usefulness of social media.

What of the other two highs? One of our fab team, @H2Gail has reached the summit of Kilimanjaro in the last day or so, a wonderful personal achievement.

The third high? The team I’m part of; yesterday I found myself reflecting on all they’ve been through personally of late, and how professionally they’ve been caring for patients and each other; that has been a moment of intense pride and an emotional high.

 Gail is in green here -