Practice Nurse articles from April 2001

Practice Nurse archives from April 2001

Stroke - the key agenda in the new NSF.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... ANYONE WHO'S JUST superficially scanned the new National Service Framework for Older People to assess its implications for primary care could be forgiven for thinking that there is little of consequence for action. Although there are eight...

MPs call for national guidance on asthma.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... MPs ARE SET to lobby for a national service framework for asthma following a survey showing thousands of patients are missing out on treatment. The survey conducted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Asthma and coordinated by the...

Nurse help with refugee health.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... PRACTICE nurses have a key role to play in carrying out screening and immunisation of refugees, claims the international health organisation Medact. Speakers at the Medact seminar on improving refugee health held this month, told...

TB alert after outbreak in Leicestershire.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... NURSES are being warned to be on the alert for signs of tuberculosis in their patients following an outbreak of a virulent strain of the disease in Leicestershire. So far 50 people at Crown Hills Community College, including students,...

District nurses help patients by phone in foot and mouth areas.
April 27, 2001... COMMUNITY nurses in Devon are conducting their clinics over the telephone as the foot and mouth crisis continues to deny them access to their patients. Alison Mien, a health visitor in Barnstaple and regional chair of the south west...

Nurses to run health clinics for the retired.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... PRACTICE nurses could be responsible for carrying out health checks on people retiring, under new guidance included in the National Service Framework for Older People. The first health check pilots have been set up in north...

Drive to tackle drug side effects.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... THE Consumers' Association (CA) is calling for clearer labelling of newly licensed drugs. In its magazine Health Which?, the CA says the black, upside-down triangle used by the Medical Controls Agency (MCA) to identify new drugs for doctors...

Latest guidance on COPD will aid earlier detection.(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease )(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... INTERNATIONAL guidelines have been launched for the diagnosis, management and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with the aim of improving diagnosis and enhancing patients' quality of life. The guidelines have...

Nurses ask for improved education and training.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... NURSE leaders have called for better, more relevant nurse education and training, at a joint conference of the Community and District Nursing Association, the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting and the Queen's...

Website for woundcare.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... PRACTICE nurses and district and community nurses who want to find out more about wound management can get help online through the launch of a new website. The site, set up by SSL International who makes products for treatment of wounds, has...

Older people need treatment for high blood pressure too.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... OLDER patients with raised blood pressure should be treated to reduce their risk of coronary events and premature death irrespective of their age, say new guidelines aimed at identifying untreated hypertension among the elderly. The...

New options to improve hearing.(Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid )(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... PRIMARY CARE nurses can now tell patients about a new option for hearing loss -- a disposable hearing aid from Boots. The Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid has been tested by the Hearing Research Trust: it was 'comparable to or better than a...

National standards for prescription of exercise launched.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... THE Government has set up a national quality assurance framework on exercise referral schemes offered to patients by practice nurses and GPs. Three hundred such schemes already operate across the UK but the framework will help to...

ANALYSIS.(National Service Framework for Older People )(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Ageism in the health service should be stamped out by the latest National Service Framework The much-heralded National Service Framework for Older People was finally published last month, setting out for the first time national standards...

YOUR ROLE.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Care of patients who have had or are at risk of stroke is a team matter, says the NSF for Older People. Practice and district nurses will be involved in almost all aspects of new national standards of care for the over 65s, published last...

DISABILITY.(Disability Discrimination Act )
April 27, 2001... The Disability Discrimination Act has important implications for general practice and it should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat, according to David Memel and Kate Francis. KEY POINTS * The Disability Discrimination Act...

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
April 27, 2001... The Government has charged all health professionals with responsibility for identifying and helping victims of abuse in the home. Louise Turnbull considers the challenges facing the primary care nurse. KEY POINTS Guidelines on...

THE ROLE OF STATINS.(coronary heart disease )
April 27, 2001... * COMMONLY PRESENTED CONDITIONS * QUICK REFERENCE SERIES Hypercholesterolaemia is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). One of our main objectives in managing patients with, or at risk of, CHD is an assessment of their...

INCONTINENCE.(new system of assessment)
April 27, 2001... An innovative nurse team identified a need to change the way in which care is delivered to people suffering with continence problems and devised a new system of assessment. Caroline Holland reports. KEY POINTS * Continence...

DIABETIC FOOT ULCERS - PRIMARY CARE FOR THOSE AT RISK.
April 27, 2001... Study-related activities appear at frequent intervals in the text. Each activity is designed to encourage you to think about how you, and your primary care team, ensure the provision of high quality care for people with diabetes mellitus....

INTERVIEW.(Vivienne Hallows)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 27, 2001... * A CHANCE TO MEET A FELLOW PRACTICE NURSE * Vivienne Hallows is a full time practice nurse who works for a surgery in a suburb of Stockport called Cheadle Heath. In the first of this new series we take a closer look at the woman behind...

Practice nurses need to be rewarded as well.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... It's good news that the Government is investing in primary care services -- Tony Blair has promised 100 million [pounds sterling] a year towards this sector of the NHS. But what does this mean for practice nurses? The Prime Minister says...

New treatment gives hope for irritable bowel sufferers.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... SOME patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may benefit from a new treatment. Early research has shown that tegaserod -- a [5HT.sub.4] partial agonist -- can reduce pain, bloating and constipation in people who have...

BMA criticises national guidelines for older people.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... THE BRITISH Medical Association (BMA) has criticised the Government for failing to provide funds for nursing and personal care of sick, older people as part of its new National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People. Chairman of the...

New device offers acute pain relief.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 6, 2001... A NEW device for control of acute pain could benefit many primary care patients. The eXPAIN-TSE device is currently undergoing clinical trials in UK hospitals but has already been used by one of its inventors, Dr Alexander MacDonald, to...

Practice nurses rated highly for communication skills.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... PATIENTS think practice nurses have excellent communication skills. According to the results from a recent questionnaire, adopted by the Commission for Health Improvement, patients rate their practice nurses communication skills as `good'...

NHS trials new screening method for cervical cancer.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... FALSE negative smear results could soon be a thing of the past as a new screening method is trialled by the NHS. Studies have shown that most false negative smears are attributable to the sampling process. This is because with...

Boys targeted.(teenage pregnancy reduction campaign)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... TEENAGE boys are to be targeted in the latest Department of Health campaign to reduce teenage pregnancies that will be launched later this year. Official figures showed a fall in teenage conception rates in 1999.

New magazine.(Men's Health Journal)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 6, 2001... The new quarterly Men's Health Journal will focus on topics such as sexual dysfunction, addiction and substance abuse and mental health and will include examples of good practice in tackling these issues. * GPs or nurses can subscribe...

Nurses should play major role in preventing heart disease.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... PRACTICE nurses could have a major role to play in ensuring primary care meets its responsibilities under standard 4 of the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease. Standard 4 requires GPs to identify individuals at...

Tools to promote patient exercise.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... The British Heart Foundation (BHF) and the Faculty of Public Health Medicine have produced an information pack and handbook for practice nurses to help them encourage patients to do more exercise. According to BHF figures over a third of all...

Nurses could soon issue sick notes.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... PRACTICE nurses are to be given new responsibilities such as writing sick notes under a new package of Government measures aimed at reducing the time GPs spend on red tape. A Cabinet Office report recommends that the power to certify sick...

Blair promises 100 million [pounds sterling] to boost primary care services.(Prime Minister Tony Blair)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... PRIME Minister Tony Blair has pledged 100 million [pounds sterling] a year to modernise primary care services. Sara Richards and Julia Lucas, chair and former chair of the RCN's Practice Nurse Association, were invited to hear him make...

Nurses are top, say the public.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Polling Data)
April 6, 2001... People are more satisfied with how well nurses do their jobs than with any other profession, a MORI poll found. Nurses were the only group with whom no one surveyed was `very dissatisfied', from a list including police, doctors, teachers and...

ANALYSIS.(managing long-term illnesses)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... Health secretary Alan Milburn has called for a new approach to managing long-term illnesses following publication of research showing that lay-led self-management programmes improve patients' quality of life. Lay-led self-management...

CLINICAL SUPERVISION.
April 6, 2001... Few practice nurses make use of a tool that could enhance their autonomy and the efficacy and safety of their work KEY POINTS * Clinical supervision is central to the Government's aims for the health service * Few practice...

SAFE SYRINGING.
April 6, 2001... Is your syringing technique up to date? Elizabeth Vickerstaff recommends an intensive one-day education session on all aspects of aural health. KEY POINTS * Nurses need to consider whether their ear-care knowledge and skills are up...

CHRONIC DAILY HEADACHE.
April 6, 2001... Many cases of daily headache are due to a spiral of analgesic abuse. Manuela Fontebasso advises on diagnosis and management of this common, debilitating problem. KEY POINTS * Abuse of analgesics is a very common cause of chronic...

INJECTIONS.
April 6, 2001... Travel, flu and baby jabs are carried out every day but there is no clear UK guidance on needle length and injection site Vaccine administration is part of he daily routine for practice nurses. The benefits are well established --...

PACK GOOD ADVICE!(backpackers' travel health advice)(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... The Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health has tailored travel health advice especially for backpackers. Backpacking refers to self-organised trips, which usually involve travelling on foot or by public transport and...

SEX AND HEART DISEASE.
April 6, 2001... It is never easy to discuss people's sex lives, but careful questioning and clear advice can be a real help for patients with cardiovascular disease. KEY POINTS * Sexual activity is no more stressful to the heart than golf or DIY...

LEG ULCER ASSESSMENT.
April 6, 2001... Effective leg ulcer treatment usually only follows a thorough assessment by a specially trained nurse. KEY POINTS * Incorrect treatment can exacerbate the damage and in severe cases cause the patient to lose their limb. * The...

Cat allergy.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... * Cat allergy Platts-Mills T, Vaughan J, Squillace S, Woodfolk J, Sporik R. Sensitisation, asthma, and a modified Th2 response in children exposed to cat allergen: a population-based cross-sectional study. Lancet 2001; 357: 752-6. ...

Teenage smoking.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... * Teenage smoking Macfadyen L, Hastings G, MacKintosh AM. Cross sectional study of young people's awareness of and involvement with tobacco marketing. BMJ 2001; 322: 513-17. The voluntary marketing regulations designed to protect...

Chlamydia.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... * Chlamydia Duncan B, Hart G, Scoular A, Bigrigg A. Qualitative analysis of psychosocial impact of diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis: implications for screening. BMJ 2001; 322: 195-9. Women with a recent diagnosis of chlamydia...

Cervical smears.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... * Cervical smears Marteau TM, Senior V, Sasieni P. Women's understanding of a `normal smear test result': experimental questionnaire based study. BMJ 2001; 322: 526-8. Many women believe that a normal smear result means they...

TRUE LIFE.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2001... Just recently I haven't been my usual self, nothing physical you understand -- more a sense of being or being without, as the case may be... It all came about when I read an article in the paper about lack of general care in hospital,...