Jincy Jerry, HSE nurse from Kerala, India is representing Ireland as one of ten finalists at the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Awards 2023 for a prize of €227,800.
The other finalists are from different parts of the world, including UAE, Kenya, Panama, India, Singapore, England, Philippines, Portugal, and Tanzania.
Jincy had joined the infection control nursing team just before the pandemic period. But as the pandemic striked, she took control of the situation very well.
“If Jerry is successful in winning nurse of the Year at the Aster Guardians global nursing awards, she has plans to use the prize money to create an app that can improve infection control standards at the Mater and further afield.”
“The national isolation unit is in the Mater hospital, so we were at the frontline of developing infection control procedures when the first cases of Covid-19 hit Ireland. The guidance on isolation periods and appropriate PPE changed many times, and we had to keep up,” Jerry said. She was a leader in developing hospital cleaning procedures, and isolation policies that became essential in stopping the spread of the virus.
“One key focus area is reducing cases of healthcare-associated infections,” Jerry said. These include multi-drug resistant organisms, bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections, which can be contracted in hospitals. Overcrowding means that staff cannot always follow Jerry’s advice on how to reduce healthcare-associated infections.
“If a patient is in a corridor, they cannot isolate. Overcrowding creates constant pressure on our healthcare system, and it means that we have to be very vigilant about infection control,” she explained.
Jerry and her husband, who is an IT engineer, are parents to three children who are aged 4, 12, and 20. Their eldest, Chris, is autistic and non-verbal. “I have a unique perspective on the health system, because as well as trying to improve our services, I am also a service user.
Getting the team fully staffed was her first objective when she started her work at the hospital. Now the Mater has one Infection control nurse for every 100 inpatients, which Jerry says is “the best international standard.”
“The difference having a full team of infection control nurses makes is so noticeable, it means that we can stop the spread of superbugs and other infections in the hospital,” Jerry said.
“It is known within the health service that infection control has a heavy workload, with a lot of administrative duties.
“I have worked with a software company to bring in a world-leading Robotic Process Automation system (RPA) that means that part of the burden of downloading lab results, completing surveillance data, and creating patient notes is taken off nurses, so they can focus on the parts of the job that only people can do.
For the last three years, she has been on call, often coming home well after her working day was supposed to finish.
Talking about missing milestones with regard to her children, “Parents cherish those moments, and I have missed some of them, but I know that my children will be proud of what I have achieved as a nurse,” she said.
“I could not have managed to balance it all without the excellent support I have received from the Mater,” she added.
If Jerry is successful in winning Nurse of the Year at the Aster Guardians global nursing awards, she has plans to use the prize money to create an app that can improve infection control standards at the Mater and further afield.
“We need to embrace new tech to modernize infection control. Today, we still have nurses having to record infection cases on a piece of paper. That is part of the reason why electronic health records will make big differences.
“I am currently talking to tech companies about developing an app for nurses that could be used around the world to collect data for infection control,” she said.
You can vote for Jerry in the global nursing awards here.