Welcome to JCN’s learning zone. By reading the article in each issue, you can learn all about the key principles of subjects that are vital to your role as a community nurse. Once you have read the article, visit www.jcn.co.uk/learning-zone/ to evaluate your knowledge on this topic by answering the 10 questions in the e-learning unit; all answers can be found in the article. If you answer the questions correctly, you can download your certificate, which can be used in your continuing professional development (CPD) portfolio as evidence of your continued learning.
In each issue of the Journal of Community Nursing we investigate a hot topic currently affecting our readers. Here, Jason Beckford-Ball looks at icreased NHS privatisation and asks the question...
Student nurses have always learnt from qualified staff, in the past on the wards under matron and more recently on placement fro university. With job opportunities for nurses growing ever-more varied, Emily Carney explains what it was like to spend some time with a tissue viability team in Worcestershire...
In each issue of JCN we ask a clinical expert in a particular field to take a look at a therapy area and examine some everyday problems that community nurses may experience. In this issue, we investigate leg ulcer management....
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the commonest infections seen in primary and secondary care and consequently are often treated with antibiotics. However, recently there has been an increasing amount of evidence highlighting the problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics commonly used to treat UTI. This makes diagnosis and treatment even more critical. Diagnosis of a UTI can be difficult, especially in elderly patients, and poses many challenges for nurses, including those working in the community, particularly in nursing and residential homes. This article examines the adoption of a chemical indicator dipstick test. This demonstrated good correlation with urine culture results and was seen as a useful additional tool to assist in the diagnosis of UTI, especially in those patients where urine samples may be more difficult to capture.
This article highlights the normal and abnormal physiology of fluid circulation in the lower limb with particular reference to venous and lymphatic flow. Consideration is given to the assessment and diagnosis of disease and its severity, particularly the impact on the patient including chronic oedema, ulceration, cellulitis and loss of mobility. Options for disease management and prevention such as compression bandaging and hosiery are also discussed, and the gaps between theory and practice are highlighted to provide community nurses with the most up-to-date information and practical solutions.
As community nurses increasingly visit patients in their own homes to perform wound care, continence care or other common community nursing tasks, they may notice various skin conditions in the course of examining or treating patients. In order to provide holistic care, it is important that community nurses have a working knowledge of the variety of infections and infestations that can affect an individual's skin. This article takes a look at some of the more common skin infections/infestations — impetigo, fungal infections, viral warts, and scabies — and provides information on presentation, assessment and treatment.
Interstitial lung disease is a wide-ranging category of respiratory illness that includes many different lung conditions, such as interstitial pneumonia, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, non-specific interstitial pneumonitis and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. All interstitial lung diseases affect the interstitium, a delicate network of tissue that extends throughout the lungs and which supports the microscopic air sacs within the lungs (alveoli). Unfortunately, some forms of interstitial lung disease have a very poor prognosis, therefore it is important that community nurses are aware of the signs and symptoms of interstitial lung disease so that prompt referral, assessment and treatment can be started.
This article examines and summarises the role of nutrition and the dietitian in the final stages of palliative care. The recent publication of One chance to get it right (NHS England, 2014), highlighted the need for a change in the approach to food and drink, especially when caring for those patients who are at the end of life. There is a clear need for documentation and formulation of clear, patient-centred and effective care plans, as it is vital that food and drink are offered, as long as it remains safe and is not harmful to the patient.
JCN talks to those working in the community.
Dinah Latham is a retired community nurse from Buckinghamshire and author of Walking Forward, Looking Back a new novel about district nursing.
