Practice matters Resources

For most people, workplace ethical dilemmas involve relatively little soul-searching. Should they tell the boss that they used the company credit card to buy her birthday present on expenses? Is it wise to let their line manager know that he ought to invest in some  deodorant? And do they really need to tell HR that Darren from accounts tried to kiss them at the Christmas party?

The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) has significant concerns about the additional roles
reimbursement scheme (ARRS), particularly the impact on general practice nurses (GPNs). With NHS England’s ARRS now funding 17 multidisciplinary team roles in primary care, the QNI is disappointed to see the continued exclusion of GPNs from the scheme.
Many practices are now employing large numbers of staff through the ARRS, with GPNs being required to support new starters, despite being excluded from recruitment into
the scheme.

Ever felt that you were working alone with no one to turn to? Or that your caseload was getting on top of you, and you just wanted to let off steam?

We’ve all been there at some point in our careers and while nursing is all about caring for others, it’s sometimes easy to wonder who is caring for us.

Getting support from your colleagues is a crucial part of working as a nurse, where long hours and the demands of patient care can mean that managing stress is not always easy. In acute hospitals, the number and accessibility of colleagues on any shift means that support is never far away. But in general practice, many of you spend a significant portion of your working day alone and it’s not always obvious who you should turn to after a distressing episode of care, or even if you’ve just had a rough day.

There have been many renowned leaders throughout history. Alexander the Great. Cleopatra. Winston Churchill. Liz Truss… OK, maybe the last one is a bit of a stretch, but many civilizations have been defined by a single inspirational leader who was able to bend circumstances to their will. 

Despite the medical advances of the past century, modern healthcare services often seem to treat our bodies as a series of unconnected parts, our ailments divided according to arbitrary physical labels. We may see a urologist for our weak bladder, a cardiologist for a malfunctioning heart, and a psychiatrist for any mental health issues. While it makes sense to apportion separate parts of the body to qualified specialists, these divisions can result in an inability among healthcare staff to see the ‘bigger picture’ — or to use modern healthcare terminology, to treat the patient ‘holistically’.

As a general practice nurse (GPN), how much information should you know about a patient? You might say it’s important to know the condition they have and their medical history. It might be reasonable to enquire if they are on any medication, or even ask for some details
about their lifestyle, such as their smoking habits or alcohol consumption, or how many sugars they take in their tea.

We all learn in different ways and so it is important that teaching and educational materials embrace the different styles, or learning preferences, to make training more appealing and more effective (Xu, 2016).

An effective learning experience is one that is well understood, memorable and results in a new or enhanced way of thinking or practising. (Anderson, 2016).

This article covers areas such as how we learn, factors affecting learning and professional responsibility. 

Contributors:

• Karen Harrison Dening (Head of research and publications and professor of dementia nursing, De Montfort University)
• Lisa Ashworth (Lecturer in district nursing, pathway leader community specialist
  practitioner district nurse, module leader management of leg ulcers,
  University of Central Lancashire; Queen’s Nurse)
• Annemarie Brown (Lecturer, BSc Adult Nursing, School of Health and Human Sciences, University of Essex)
• Teresa Burdett (Senior lecturer in integrated health care, Bournemouth University)
• Anne Williams (Lecturer, University of the West of Scotland, lymphoedema nurse consultant, Esklymphology)

In each issue of the Journal of General Practice Nursing, we investigate a topic currently affecting our readers.

In each issue of the Journal of General Practice Nursing, we investigate a topic currently affecting our readers. Here, Kate Upton, representative for Nursing Professions on the Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, looks at - Recognising compassion fatigue and protecting wellbeing.

In each issue of the Journal of General Practice Nursing, we investigate a topic currently affecting our readers. Here, Dr Lesley Holdsworth, Scottish government clinical lead for digital health and care, looks at: Digital working — what have we learned from Covid-19?