Falls prevention in the community: does deprescribing FRIDs work?

Lee et al (2021) used well-known databases, and inclusion criteria included RCTs of FRID withdrawal compared with usual care evaluating the rate of falls, incidence of falls, fall-related injuries,...

What's in a name?

Bearing witness to the challenges of breathlessness

The role of the CRNS is to maintain support for patients with respiratory disease, usually COPD and interstitial lung disease (ILD). Their support helps individuals to self-manage their disease and,...

The challenge of infection control in patients' homes

Effective hand hygiene remains one of the cornerstones of good infection control. Since its conception in 1979, the, originally six-, now seven-stage, handwashing technique (World Health Organization...

End-of-life care: perspective of a relative rather than a professional

The call came at midnight on Good Friday 2020: my relative, anonymised to Jim, experienced a sudden acute event and called 999 and then me, as the family nurse. I arrived to find an ambulance crew...

Psychological factors and intermittent self-catheterisation

Overall, there is an array of considerations when treating a patient who is using or is being considered for ISC. It is, of course, important that their cognition and insight are considered so that a...

Challenges and complexities of discharge planning from a district nursing perspective

The Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI) (2013) reported that previous acute care only delivered in the hospital is now being offered by DNs. In concordance with this, NHS England (2015) acknowledged the...

Touch: knowledge and considerations for nursing practice

There is evidence that social touch between people can reduce stress and have a calming effect in adults, with a reduction of psychobiological stress responses due to neuro-physiological and endocrine...

Virtual reality, the COVID-19 pandemic and rehabilitation for community-dwelling older adults

The present commentary aims to appraise the methods used in the systematic review by Dermody et al (2020) and to expand on their findings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic..

Diabetes education to provide the necessary self-management skills

Self-care in diabetes involves the development of knowledge and awareness by learning to live with the complex nature of the condition in a social context. The national service framework for diabetes,...

Retaining the best

‘… it will be especially important to maintain consistent public health messaging about the personal and societal value of COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations and other protective measures'. .