Editorial Resources

It is exciting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Journal of General Practice Nursing, to reflect on how far the journal has come and be part of its development for the future. I first
wrote for the journal in February 2016, looking back it’s a passionate article about the importance of our role in facilitating lifestyle change and health promotion. It still rings true
today and maybe has helped me to not feel cynical about the tidal wave of preventable disease we face in our daily work.

I found the ‘Practice matters’ article about GPNs and the additional roles reimbursement scheme interesting on several levels. First, it reminds me how well placed we are as GPNs to deliver holistic personalised care across the whole population. Patients regularly
feedback that they like seeing a clinician who can listen to and help with a wide range of health issues.

Here, Dr Nick Jenkins, senior DVLA doctor, explains why they are hoping to gather evidence on topics such as legal obligations, medical licensing rules in other countries, growing prevalence of drivers with multiple medical conditions, as well as advancements

The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) annual conference takes place online from 2–5 October and is the UK’s leading event for community nursing. Thanks to its sponsors and donations, the conference is free for all registered and student nurses to attend. The theme of this year’s conference is, ‘In the Spotlight — Nurses Leading Care in People’s Homes and Communities’.

Stressors in life often seem to have a habit of coming all in one go. Before the summer holidays I felt tired out emotionally and physically and that I was being bombarded with a constant stream of issues at home and at work to problem solve and manage. No sooner was one issue sorted and another two swept in to take its place. I like to be busy and enjoy a challenge, but I felt over stimulated and exhausted. At the same time a rather negative voice had set up shop in my head, I was not making enough time to look after myself and was looking with envy at my university friend posting pictures of her sunny lunch dates now she has taken early retirement.

Vaping is often seen as a less-harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, and while this may be true in some respects, it is not without its dangers. Understanding how this relatively new phenomenon of vaping could develop into a health concern and even an addiction was of real importance to the author’s team at the UK Addiction Treatment (UKAT) Group, hence the launch of an addiction prevalence survey towards the end of 2022.

Healthcare professionals make important decisions every day. The ability to make decisions is central to human experience and something we often take for granted. Some decisions are of little consequence, such as what to have for breakfast, other decisions are of greater consequence, such as whether to sell one’s house. For the most part, we make these decisions ourselves, perhaps in conjunction with another person and we act upon that decision. But what if we were unable to decide for ourselves and were reliant on other people deciding for us? How can we be sure that people making decisions about our lives are doing so in a correct way?

I enjoyed reading and reflecting upon the leadership topic covered in this issue’s ‘practice matters’ piece. For me, it is timely, as I feel it’s an important time for general practice nurses to lead in advocating for the value and importance of our role and proactively promote our work within the general practice team. While urgent care has driven general practice recently and attracted resources, long-term conditions are equally important and if not adequately resourced and managed will just continue to drive up the demand for urgent care.

Evidence is increasingly showing us the negative impact of air pollution on conditions like asthma (Tiotiu, 2020). Air quality is such a pertinent issue that it has been included as
a standalone topic in the national bundle for children and young people’s asthma (NHS England, 2022a). This editorial uses asthma as an example when considering how
the air quality conversation might be embedded in day-to-day patient work, but it should be noted that air quality impacts everyone, of all ages, and every part of the health spectrum.