The senior level gained by advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs) means they are in a strong position when it comes to representing the population. Nurses have had to educate themselves beyond post registration with Masters and Doctorates to support the client group, because of the growing population and 24-hour healthcare requirements. This is in support of the NHS’s commitment to care for patients from the cradle to the grave. There have been obstacles to the ANP’s advancement, but the five drivers of heath care are firm and supportive and likely to have a great impact in the future for ANPs as service deliverers.
Elizabeth Haidar, Senior Lecturer, Non Medical Prescribing Programme Lead, Middlesex University, London
In 2010, Andrew Lansley, Secretary of State for Health, pledged that the public would be at the heart of everything that is done within the NHS — not just as beneficiaries of care, but as participants in shared decision-making (Secretary of State for Health, 2010).
Anita Fatchett, Associate Senior Lecturer Nursing
Liz Clark, Principal Lecturer
Dawn Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Health Visitor Course Leader, all at Leeds Metropolitan University
Why does incontinence continue to lag behind many other key healthcare conditions, despite being a massive public health issue? There is a vast literature base that informs us that incontinence can affect men, women and children at any age, and that even slight incontinence can have a severe impact on quality of life for individuals and carers.
Sharon Eustice is a Nurse Consultant at the Bladder and Bowel Specialist Service, Truro, Cornwall
As government reforms seek to encourage health and social care professionals to work closer together, Jason Beckford-Ball and Binkie Mais investigate what this means for community nursing services.
In each issue of the Journal of Community Nursing we investigate a hot topic currently affecting our readers. In this issue, we take a look at end of life care and ask the question...
In recent years healthcare in the UK has focused on the numbers, with targets taking priority over patient experience. Jason Beckford-Ball investigates the effects on services and asks where we are heading in the future...
A recent Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) event in London looked at ‘healthcare at home’ and the JCN was there to see what the future holds for nurses tasked with providing more care in patients’ homes.
Radiotherapy is one of the mainline treatments for cancer, but less commonly understood are some of the side-effects, which include skin problems that range from being mild (dull erythema and tightening of the skin) to severe (moist desquamation with open wounds and oedema). This article highlights an ongoing study that aims to assess the implementation of a best practice skin guideline for the management of both dry and moist desquamation in patients with evidence of radiotherapy-induced skin reactions.
Audrey Scott, Macmillan Head and Neck Clinical Nurse Specialist, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Hertfordshire
Urinary incontinence affects quality of life in a large number of people of varying ages. For a significant number of patients the problem has to be addressed by catheterisation, a treatment method that can give rise to a host of potentially avoidable complications. Catheter stabilisation is an essential practice in avoiding unnecessary damage to the urethra and accompanying pain. While a number of products are available, there seems to be no preferred device for securing catheters. This article looks at CliniFix® (CliniMed, Buckinghamshire), a universal tube-securing device, which approaches tube fixation in a different way to strap-style-devices.
Julian Spinks, Kent-based GP with a special interest in continence
