Traditional values may appear to be in decline in some aspects of society, but all of us should seek to bring them into everyday working lives, not only for the benefit of ourselves, but also for those around us.
Sunday is a day we associate with friends and family. Cooking Sunday lunches, watching our favourite television shows and catching up with friends. But, for hundreds of thousands of older people across the UK, Sunday can be a day they dread. Contact the Elderly’s recent research reveals 76% of older people find Sunday to be the hardest day of the week.
Social care has become a hot topic in the news in the past year, with the worries and fears of the sector being widely reported. Many people may think it is an issue which does not affect them — but the reality is that most of us at some point in our lives will need care and support.
Experiences of emotional trauma can lead to poorer physical health. Trauma can originate from childhood experiences, domestic violence, being a refugee, or military service. Very often people who are homeless have experienced some kind of psychological trauma earlier in their life. Hence, it is extremely important that healthcare professionals have some knowledge of this process, if they are to offer holistic care to people.
With more people living longer, an increasing amount of care and support is being given in people’s homes. The Department of Health (DH, 2012) has highlighted how complex care, which was previously only delivered in hospital, is now being provided by district nursing teams and other multidisciplinary agencies.
This two-part series will discuss common lower limb problems, including venous leg ulceration, oedema (including oedema associated with lymphovenous disease), lymphoedema and lipoedema. This article will focus on the causes of these conditions and discusses the signs and symptoms to enable community nurses to diagnose and differentiate between the types of lower limb problems. Part two of the series will focus on management strategies for simple, uncomplicated venous leg ulceration and oedema, which can be successfully managed with skin care and compression therapy, without specialist skills. It will also briefly outline the management of lymphorrhoea or ‘leaking legs’, which can be challenging for nurses. The aim of this series is to enable community nurses to choose the most effective treatment in terms of efficacy and patient acceptability.
District nursing teams are under increasing pressure to cope with demands on their time and the skills to meet the needs of their local community. The author’s local nursing team has been struggling to manage the clinical skill mix required to meet the complex needs of their patients with lower leg wounds who should be treated with compression therapy. The task of managing compression therapy was mainly undertaken by nurses, but it was proving extremely time-consuming — especially when patients needed leg washing and compression treatment for bilateral leg wounds. After successfully using a Velcro™ compression system, a six-month evaluation of juxta products for the leg ulcer pathway was proposed for one community nursing team. This project was undertaken with an initial cohort of 17 patients to evaluate if switching to this product could help to improve the use of the team’s skill mix and reduce costs on wound products from the formulary by improving wound healing rates.
Psoriasis is a common skin problem that can cause significant distress to primary care patients, as well as representing a significant burden to healthcare resources. Often seen by communinity nurses, psoariasis is a condition that requires careful management as well as extensive knowledge of the different presentation. This article, the second in a series looking at the identification and treatment of psoriasis, examines the use of emollients in psoriasis treatment, focusing on the aims, benefits and efficacy of these topical treatments.
Eating difficulties affect many older people and can be a short or long-term issue, while poor nutritional status can have a huge impact upon older people’s health, wellbeing and quality of life. Nurses, carers and relatives need to identify potential problems with older patients’ nutrition so that they can manage any issues successfully. Providing adequate nutrition for older people requires a multidisciplinary approach, with the aim of improving patients’ nutrition by assessing any barriers to successful eating. Often, being alert to very subtle issues and addressing them is the key to success in helping older people achieve a healthy diet. This article will highlight some of the issues that may affect older people and lead to under-nutrition. It also provides some simple preventative measures.
Continence is an area that requires many community nurses to prescribe from the Nurse Practitioner’s Formulary to promote good patient care and appropriate service delivery. Recently in west Berkshire, with the full support of GPs, the continence advisory service has taken over the non-medical prescribing of all continence products, with the aim of providing a safe, cost-effective and timely service. This initiative is aimed at changing the way continence prescriptions are issued to patients. As well as examining the problems of bladder dysfunction in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), this first article of a two-part series, looks at the background to MS and bladder problems, as well as focusing on treatments such as clean intermittent self-catheterisation (CISC). The second part of the series will feature a case study looking at the management of a patient with MS and bladder dysfunction.
