Resources

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

Welcome to our March 2021 issue. As I sit at my desk looking out the window on a breathtakingly beautiful spring morning, I cannot help but feel hopeful. It’s nearly a year since the first lockdown, and we have made so much progress in adapting to and tackling this pandemic. This issue’s ‘Practice matters’ feature brings a wonderfully discursive and educational piece about the Covid-19 vaccine, which captures the feel of sitting around a table with colleagues sharing information and experiences. It also demonstrates the ways in which we can lead as a profession with our long history as key players in vaccination programmes, and how teamwork with our multidisciplinary colleagues and an all hands-on deck approach to fighting the pandemic is important.

Remembering our vital role in chronic disease management and the importance of continuing to develop our skills in this area I was delighted to read the article on heart failure and the nurse competency framework. The authors state that ‘heart failure should be considered as malignant a disease as cancer and treated with the same urgency’. As GPNs seeing people with multiple chronic diseases, we have the opportunity to suspect and start the process for the diagnosis of heart failure. Covid-19 infection also brings increased risk of heart failure for those who have been hospitalised and may further increase the number of people it effects.

Other articles to highlight include Naomi Berry’s piece on deaf awareness and how to promote communication (particularly pertinent with our current need for face masks and more remote consultations); Callum Metcalf, ANP/GPN in Norfolk, has written a highly insightful article on deprescribing in type 2 diabetes (I found the step-by-step guide as to what to consider with different drug groups incredibly helpful and will add it to my reference folder at the surgery); Gaynor Bussell, a freelance dietician, offers evidence and practical suggestions on how women can use diet and lifestyle changes to help with health conditions throughout their life; Sian Williams has combined her health and dance skills to write an uplifting article on her experience of dance and pulmonary rehabilitation with an online group (this is a resource I plan to look into in more detail for my patients); and there is also a practical guide to diagnosing and managing migraine from Rebecca Stuckey, CNS in Devon.

We welcome your ideas, feedback and contributions for future publications. Please continue to get involved with the journal so we can shape it to your needs and ensure we reflect your views, practice and knowledge within its pages. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far to this varied, stimulating and motivating journal. I am proud to be a part of it.

Jaqui Walker, editor-in-chief

Prostate Cancer UK believes that general practice nurses (GPNs) are ideally placed to recognise men at higher risk of prostate cancer. GPNs can help ensure that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is delivered to best effect and offer men the opportunity to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the test.

You may ask why, at the height of a resurging COVID-19 pandemic with nursing staff under inestimable pressure, would the British Society for Heart Failure Nurse Forum launch a Heart Failure Specialist Nurse (HFSN) Competency Framework? Well, in the words of Wendy Preston, head of nursing practice, Royal College of Nursing: ‘Despite the adversity, the pandemic gives us a rare insight and offers the opportunity to build back better provision for the future. This heart failure nurse competency framework is a tool which should be used by everybody as it will set the standard for life after CoViD-19’.’

Being raised by my grandparents who were both profoundly deaf meant learning to sign from around three years of age in order to communicate. As I grew up, I realised how important it was to raise awareness in relation to deafness — the potential barriers deaf people can face, and the positive aspects of being able to communicate effectively with people with hearing loss.

Here, Jaqui Walker, chats about the things you can do to support your team and boost morale during the Covid crisis.

Prolonged or continuous exposure to moisture can disrupt the skin’s barrier properties and is known as moisture-associated skin damage (MASD) (Young, 2017). It can cause pain and discomfort to patients and significantly reduce their quality of life (Young, 2017). There are four distinct conditions that fall under the umbrella of MASD: incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD), periwound and peristomal moistureassociated dermatitis and intertriginous dermatitis (Parnham et al, 2020).

Migraine is a common debilitating headache condition that affects the quality of life of those affected. Migraine costs the NHS £150 million annually, with GP visits and prescriptions accounting for most of these costs. With access to neurologists and headache specialists limited in the UK, migraine is a condition GPs and general practice nurses (GPNs) are faced with on a daily basis. Therefore, it is vital that GPNs have good knowledge of migraines. They should be able to distinguish between common primary headaches, such as tension-type headaches (TTH), and migraines to avoid misdiagnosis and inform appropriate treatment, as well as to understand when acute or preventative treatments are required. As GPNs are limited in treatments they can provide for migraine, it is important that they recognise when to refer patients to a neurologist. This article explores how nurses within the general practice can effectively manage migraine patients to improve patient quality of life and alleviate pressures on an overstretched healthcare system.