For a person with dementia a hospital stay is often confusing and frightening. Not knowing where you are, nothing familiar to hold on, lost & alone.
For the nurse, a patient with dementia means extra workload in a schedule that is already packed.
What to do and where to find the time?
The debate raises an interesting question: if someone can be convinced that a false event is real, does it matter whether they remember it? By Simon Oxenham
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can have long-term and far-reaching impacts on health and social and occupational functioning. This study examined factors associated with persistent PTSD among U.S. service members and veterans.
Tinnitus service provision in the United Kingdom has been investigated from the healthcare provider’s perspective demonstrating considerable regional variation particularly regarding availability of psychological treatments. An audiological-based tinnitus service, however, was reportedly available for all tinnitus patients in the UK. The aim of the current study was to define and evaluate nationwide tinnitus healthcare services from the patients’ viewpoint.
There is a wealth of evidence that supports alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) in primary care as both effective and cost effective in reducing the risks associated with drinking alcohol and National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance suggests that such prevention should be prioritised as ‘invest to save’ measures
We examine whether family doctor firms in England respond to local competition by increasing their quality. We measure quality in terms of clinical performance and patient-reported satisfaction to capture its multi-dimensional nature.
Age UK analysed data from 7,185 GP practices in England and found that, in total, 458,461 people had a recorded diagnosis of dementia in November 2017, but only 282,573 had a new care plan or at least one care plan review on record in the last year.
Self-delivered cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes could benefit some “harder to reach” members of society, new research by the University of York reveals.
The study suggests that GP practices in London, where the population is relatively young, receive disproportionately more funding, despite dealing with the lowest level of health needs in the country.
Based on a measure of 19 well-recorded chronic conditions, the researchers calculated that London has a median of 0.38 health conditions per patient.
In contrast, the North East and North West of England have 0.59 conditions per patient and 0.55 conditions per patient, the highest and second highest health needs in England respectively. The median for England is 0.51 health conditions per patient.
Collaborative learning facilitates reflection, diversifies understanding and stimulates skills of critical and higher-order thinking. Although the benefits of collaborative learning have long been recognized, it is still rarely studied by social network analysis (SNA) in medical education, and the relationship of parameters that can be obtained via SNA with students’ performance remains largely unknown. The aim of this work was to assess the potential of SNA for studying online collaborative clinical case discussions in a medical course and to find out which activities correlate with better performance and help predict final grade or explain variance in performance.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has released early working drafts of the skills annexe and standards of proficiency for the nursing associate role.
Some of the solutions to this can only be implemented at a national level, for example, increasing the number of medical school places. However, these changes take time to create an impact. Locally implemented ‘quick wins’ could help to improve the morale of today’s workforce, thereby improving retention, productivity and patient safety. Here are a few ideas based on my experience as a junior doctor over the past two years.
Driving licensing jurisdictions require detailed assessments of fitness-to-drive from occupational therapy driver assessors (OTDAs). We developed decision training based on the recommendations of expert OTDAs, to enhance novices’ capacity to make optimal fitness-to-drive decisions. The aim of this research was to determine effectiveness of training on novice occupational therapists’ ability to make fitness-to-drive decisions.
The research in this paper aimed to reflect on English social care practitioners’ accounts of their assessment practices, and includes the point of view of disabled people who are assessed. The research took place just after the implementation of the 2014 Care Act, which focuses both on the ‘well-being’ principle and on outcomes defined by service users. We report here on a grounded theory analysis of thirty qualitative interviews with social care practitioners from four local authorities; the research was set up and conducted by and with disabled people, and included their insights at all stages, including analysis. We consider the positions taken by practitioners in relation to their clients and to the wider task of social work. We found that assessors saw themselves as allies of clients; almost a quarter of our participants had lived experience of disability themselves. However, they felt they had to exert professional judgement in deciding on the needs of those who lacked competence or who asked for too much. We suggest that assessment practices could benefit from a shift away from the individual towards societal barriers, and that some of the interactional problems in assessments may best be tackled via client-led training. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
his research examined how a sample of English probation officers (POs) applied attachment theory as they supervised service users. Using an action research methodology over six months, the research identified aspects that were readily utilised (the idea that POs can sometimes represent a secure base figure and that attachment histories were significant). However, others offered little utility (the concept of mentalisation as a facility rooted in early attachment and the classification of attachment style). The reasons for this are explored and the process by which specialist research knowledge is applied by non-specialist practitioners is considered.To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Weston’s review of the law1 in relation to understanding the legal nuances in female genital mutilation (FGM) is important in the fight to end the practice. Yet in order to effect real change an understanding of practising populations’ attitudes and beliefs is needed. There have been a few studies in the UK asking professionals about their knowledge but little about the communities themselves.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.