Community Stomal
Therapy Nursing
Counties Manukau Community
STN team
Community Stomal Therapy
Nursing is governed by the
Ministry
of
Health
specifications. In Counties
Manukau DHB, the Stomal
therapy
service
provides
specialised care to 710 people
with stomas, with an FTE of 1.8
clinical specialist nurses. The
service works closely with the
inpatient settings within the
DHB as patient’s transition from
hospital to home. Our service
covers all community settings,
home, private care, schools,
correctional
facilities,
GP
practices and clinics.
No two days are the same in the
life of a Community Stomal
Therapist! We cover the
lifespan, from neonates through
to centurions. People undergo
stoma forming surgery for a
number of reasons such as
cancer,
inflammatory
conditions, congenital and
trauma. With that, comes a raft
of
emotions,
potential
complications from the acute
through to the long term stages
and the effects on family and
friends. People are active within
Spring 2019
L.O.G.I.C
the community service for the
duration of their stomas, this
maybe 3 months or lifelong.
Once they are in the service, we
take referrals from many
sources such as patients, GP’s,
specialists and district nurses.
On a day to day basis, our
service sees people in their
homes and community clinics
for on-going pouching solutions
(people regularly start on one
and change for any number of
reasons),
troubleshooting,
assessing
hydration
and
nutritional status, the stoma,
output and peri-stomal skin
conditions. We provide hernia
prevention education, engaging
back in to day to day activities
such as exercise. Assess
emotional status, coping and
support systems and refer
appropriately. Assess ADL’s and
refer to appropriate health
discipline.
Another large aspect of our role
is education for our colleagues,
carers and anyone else directly
involved with a person with a
stoma. Our service provides
onsite education as well as
running 3 education days a year
that are open to everyone. We
write guidelines for patients and
staff to use and distribute, such
as dietary and district nurse
home visiting guidelines.
Photo on next page:
Dawn Birchall (Left)- I have been
working as a Registered Nurse
for over 30 years since
graduating in 1987. Having an
interest in surgical nursing, I
trained as Stomal Therapist in
1996. The bulk of my nursing
career has been spent working
in the community which I
greatly enjoy.
Emma Ludlow (Middle)- I have
been a Stomal Therapist for 5
years, 3 of them with Counties.
My background is surgical
nursing, having worked at
multiple
hospitals
across
Auckland, South Australia and
the Northern Territory. I get a
lot of satisfaction working with
patients and seeing them gain
confidence and making their life
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