Given the current healthcare landscape and the focus of government policy, the way nurses are prepared for working in people’s homes needs reconsidering. The standards for pre-registration nurse education (Nursing and Midwifery Council [NMC], 2010) do prepare nurses to work in the community at initial registration. However, staff nurses at this point of their career, or those that move from the acute sector to the community, do need to work under the supervision of a qualified district nurse during this transition.
Heather Bain, Course Leader Masters Portfolio, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is an integrated pathway developed to enhance the quality of end of life care for dying patients and their families. The purpose of this study was to introduce the LCP into a community setting and continually audit its use to provide statistical evidence as to whether the use of the pathway improved documentation in the three key areas of initial assessment and care, on-going assessment and care after death.
Acknowledgements:
Hertfordshire Community Nursing Team
West Hertfordshire Community Macmillan Team
Three GP Surgeries, Hertfordshire
Liz Garrood, End of Life Care Strategy Educator, Hertfordshire
Sarah Russell, Director of Education and Research, Hospice of St Francis, Hertfordshire.
Cheryl Manners, Team Lead, Community Nursing and Therapy, Hertfordshire.
Sharon Roberts, Community Macmillan Nurse, Palliative Care Service, Hertfordshire.
Article accepted for publication: February 2013
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a collective name for a number of conditions such as Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD). It produces uncontrolled, chronic inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. IBD is characterised as a chronic illness that is punctuated by disease exacerbation and remission; patients require an individual, multidisciplinary/multimodal approach to care. There is currently no permanent cure for either CD or UC, therefore treatment strategies focus on good symptom control, modification of the disease process and improving quality of life.
This article gives an overview of the condition and presents a personal patient experience.
Kathryn Foskett Senior Colorectal Clinical Nurse Specialist, The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Middlesex
Kathryn.odey@thh.nhs.uk
Article accepted for publication: March 2013
Malnutrition affects one in four acute hospital admissions and one in three admitted to care homes. While many clinical staff may fail to recognise the signs of malnutrition, the use of screening tools such as ‘MUST’ are used in both hospital and community settings. With greater identification of those at risk of malnutrition comes the responsibility of managing these individuals. This article presents the launch of the BAPEN decision trees that are designed to help healthcare professionals manage malnutrition.
Acknowledgements:
The authors wish to thank the members of the Education and Training committee of BAPEN for their creation of the structure and format of the decision trees, and for initial reviews. The core and associate groups of BAPEN have provided great input to the committee and decision tree creation. Finally Mr Pete Turner, Senior Dietitian, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, for reviewing the re-feeding decision tree.
Re-feeding decision tree kindly reproduced with permission from BAPEN.
Dr Sheldon Cooper MSc MD MRCP RNutr, BAPEN Executive officer and Chair of Education and Training Committee, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Nutrition Lead, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
Anne Holdoway BSc RD MBDA, Specialist Dietitian and Chair of the Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Group of the British Dietetic Association.
Article accepted for publication: January 2013
Sylvie Hampton, Andy Kerr & Cathie Bree-Aslan discuss the use of oxygen on intractable wounds and describe three case studies using OxyzymeTM
Sylvie Hampton MA, BSc (Hons), Dp SN, RGN is a Tissue Viability Consultant
Andy Kerr RN, Dip HE is a Tissue Viability Consultant
Cathie Bree-Aslan RGN, Dip N., RS Hom, Dip HERB is a Tissue Viability Consultant, Eastbourne Wound Healing Centre
Article accepted for publication: May 2008
