Editorial Resources

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.

General practice nursing has adapted and evolved many times in the two decades I have been one. I have developed many new skills in this time and I now practice at a level way
beyond what I would have imagined when I started my nurse training in 1986. I probably wouldn’t have believed you then if you had told me I would be diagnosing, investigating,
prescribing, and referring in the same way my medical colleagues do 37 years later. We were not even able to take blood or give paracetamol in 1986. Times have changed and
continue to change.

I had a eureka moment reading the ‘Practice matters’ piece, ‘What do GPNs need to know about GDPR’ and a sensation of various burdens lifting off my shoulders. Now I had found a reason to have a different approach to writing up my consultations and this would be better for patients

Home mechanical ventilation (HMV) is a treatment, often referred to as non-invasive ventilation (NIV), which provides breathing support for patients with respiratory insufficiency outside of the traditional hospital setting. This type of treatment was first used to treat those affected during the Polio pandemic in the mid-20th century, and has been used in the community setting since the 1980s.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. Across the UK over 47,500 men are diagnosed each year with a 10-year survivorship of approximately 80% (Prostate Cancer
UK, 2022). It is estimated that more than 400,000 men in the UK are living with and beyond prostate cancer (Prostate Cancer UK, 2022).

Professional networking is a valuable tool to build advantageous professional support systems of people who will advise, encourage and enhance healthcare practice (Donelan, 2014). Networking benefits include increased engagement and insight
into healthcare policy and subsequent changes and trends in the professions, along with better opportunities for career advancement (Meiring, 2018).