Dementia is a progressive loss of the cognitive functions that are necessary for a person to live safely and independently. These include loss of memory, the ability to think logically and communicate effectively with others, and being able to care for yourself. In 2009 a national dementia strategy for England was launched in order to improve public and professional awareness, and to ensure high quality care at all stages, including early diagnosis and treatment (Department of Health [DH], 2009).
The strategy outlined a care pathway for people living with dementia and their families and carers from diagnosis through to end of life. This article will enable the reader to understand the importance of the dementia care pathway in supporting people to live well with dementia, to consider how the pathway is being developed and implemented in primary care and how general practice nurses (GPNs) can add value within their professional role.
Chronic preventable illness has a high financial and social cost. General practice nurses (GPNs) have the opportunity
in their daily work to help patients take steps towards health and wellbeing. Risk factors for many diseases are well known and the actions necessary to reduce risk are understood.
Welcome to GPN’s learning zone. By reading the article in each issue, you can learn all about the key principles of subjects that are vital to your role as a general practice nurse. Once you have read the article, visit the learning-zone to evaluate your knowledge on this topic by answering the questions in the e-learning unit; all answers can be found in the article. If you answer the questions correctly, you can download your certificate which can be used in your continuing professional development (CPD) portfolio as evidence of your continued learning and contribute to your revalidation portfolio.
This feature focuses on the quality of record keeping; why it is important, the standards required, the potential consequences if standards are not met and how this can be avoided by healthcare professionals and their employer.
As we settle into the new year, we are delighted to share the latest news in the world of Education for Health.
We have some great opportunities for you to get involved with us this year, whether you meet our Education Leads, join our training in our new venues, or start a Masters Module or programme.
As always, we hope that you enjoy this issue of GPN and our news update.
In each issue of the Journal of General Practice Nursing we investigate a topic currently affecting our readers.
Here, Amanda Andrews, programme lead in undergraduate nurse education, Education for Health, looks at how GPNs can support people with multiple sclerosis
For researchers and policy-makers, nurses working in primary care are notoriously hard to reach; they are without a management structure with a chief nurse or director of nursing at the top of the organisation, as is the case for their
colleagues working in a community or hospital-based provider.
So, when more than 3,400 general practice nurses (GPNs) recently completed a major Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) survey, it sent a clear message that the nurses had a story to tell.
When I first started in general practice in 1990 I worked with a general practice nurse (GPN), a health visiting team, a district nursing team, a community psychiatric nurse (CPN), a social worker and a benefits advisor, and we were accountable for the 24/7 expert generalist cover for our registered list of 8,500 people.
I entered general practice after a decade of training and experience as a general and vascular surgeon and it took me some while to adjust to the shock of realising that my mindset, attitudes and beliefs, drummed into me through medical school and beyond, had to be reframed: I had to become an expert generalist.
There has been much discussion about Jeremy Hunt’s suggestion that hospital consultants need to adhere to seven day working. This mirrors the Prime Minister’s proposal for seven-day working for general practice offering extended opening hours across the country — an initiative for hard-working people to be able to see their GP seven days a week.
Annette Duck explains how Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis can support patients and their familes to live with a devastating lung disease. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a terminal lung condition affecting around 15,000 people in the UK.
The mean life expectancy for this devastating lung disease is three years, meaning that 5,000 people with IPF will die in the UK each year (Navaratnam et al, 2011).
Evidence suggests that people are most likely to quit if they use a combination of pharmacological interventions along with behavioural change strategies.
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