Getting anticipatory prescribing right in end-of-life care

The Department of Health and Social Care (2012) developed ‘Vision and strategy: an approach to district nursing’, building upon the six Cs (care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and...

Adjustable compression devices for chronic oedema and lipoedema: purpose, selection and application

The advent of ACDs has presented new avenues in the management of chronic oedema, and these devices have gained popularity, with a number of companies manufacturing multiple versions (Figures 1 and 2;...

Barriers and facilitators to implementing the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool in a community palliative care setting

The Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT) assesses the support needs of informal carers of people with a terminal illness (Ewing and Grande, 2013). This is a 14-item tool that assesses (a)...

A good idea badly implemented? Revised National Early Warning Score 2 in community settings

In 2017, a revised form of NEWS (NEWS2) was released (RCP, 2017). This system measured the same six physiological measures as NEWS (respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, systolic blood...

Affording patients their dying wish at the end of life

The purpose of dying wishes can be multifactorial, from personal to including others, mainly those deemed important to the dying person. The request for a dying wish signifies that the patient is...

Compensation for lifting accidents in community nursing

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 1974) created a Commission and an Executive to make policies for, and to oversee the enforcement of, safe working conditions...

Developments in medical cannabis

Research to build up the evidence base is under way, and a new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology has shown that, while cannabis does have some harmful effects on the brain,...

Do no harm

‘Hospital data for England have suggested downward trends for Clostridioides difficile and MRSA but upward trends for E. coli and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus.’.

Correspondence

I am extremely pleased that the article was so well received. The community setting is becoming the preferred place of care for so many people at the end of life now and, as healthcare professionals,...

District nurse apprenticeship standard—next steps for district nursing

Introducing the British Lymphology Society position paper on ankle brachial pressure index

ABPI assesses the arterial circulation to the lower leg by comparing the blood pressure in the arm with the blood pressure in the ankle (Keen, 2008; Gogalniceanu et al, 2018) (Tables 1 and 2)..

Support for people with long-term neurological conditions in rural English communities

Compounding the challenges of rural health care access, rural areas also experience greater difficulty in attracting and retaining health professionals (Buykx et al, 2010; Kroezen et al, 2015). An...

An overview of ‘Pressure ulcers: revised definition and measurement’

The 18-page document is divided into three tables covering the following:.

Helping older patients to adapt to stomas using an enhanced recovery programme

Patients over 65 years of age may have signs of frailty, including limited mobility, dexterity, memory loss, weight loss, changes in skin integrity and visual impairments, among other comorbidities....

Aids for activities of daily living in people with Parkinson's disease

As Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder, it can make getting out and about more difficult. There is an array of equipment designed to help with this, and some of the most common pieces of...