Nurse highlights importance of holistic care for people with learning disabilities
Published: 10/05/2024 08:54NHS Grampian is marking the run up to International Nurses’ Day by sharing the story of one of their youngest nurse managers, and his passion for learning disability nursing.
Ruari McFie (27) says he had always wanted to become a nurse, but it was during his final two years at Larkhall Academy when he volunteered as a classroom assistant to help children with learning disabilities that he realised learning disability (LD) nursing could be a career like no other.
Ruari, who is now a nurse manager within adult mental health at Royal Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen, explained: “Learning disability nurses are in a unique position to consider and support the person in the whole, not fix the hole in the person. Sometimes people are admitted to us because of a breakdown in behaviour and it turns out they are physically unwell but can’t explain the pain. This comes down to a person’s ability to process and understand what’s going on, and we can look at all of that and offer holistic care.
“Going into learning disability nursing is the best decision I have ever made. I would argue it has made me a better person. It opens avenues into a large variety of jobs and career paths, and I have gained so much knowledge and skills from my training and working experiences. I spent seven weeks training in Malawi and got to experience working in a sexual health clinic where it pops out of a bus. It was an amazing opportunity.”
Ruari played his part in a national pilot to help improve care by redeveloping the annual health check offered to people with learning disabilities. This is intended to help improve access to healthcare services and stop people dying from preventable causes.
He said: “The health checks help educate and build the skills of all health care professionals, carers and others who are supporting people with learning disabilities but don’t necessarily have specialist learning disability training. It helps us to think outside the box, dig down deeper into the causes of things like violent or aggressive behaviours, reduce episodes of physical and pharmacological intervention and hopefully reduce the reoccurrence of these behaviours too.”
Ruari studied at Glasgow Caledonian University before joining NHS Grampian in 2017. He first worked as a staff nurse, then progressed to a deputy charge nurse role before becoming a senior charge nurse and now nurse manager.
Chief nurse for adult mental health and learning disabilities, Julia Wells added: “It’s brilliant to watch new team members progress through the ranks, especially when, like Ruari, they clearly have so much passion for mental health nursing and so much enthusiasm for the people they support. It really is the best job in the world and we hope we can encourage others to consider a career in nursing too.”
Find out more about opportunities to join NHS Grampian: https://www.nhsgrampian.org/work-with-us/recruitment/apply