Welcome to this second issue of GPN for 2016. We are delighted to share the latest news in the world of Education for Health with you and hope to see you learning with us soon.
We have some great opportunities for you to get involved with us – take advantage of our bursary offer, have a look at our new courses or find out more about the different ways you can study with us.
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, Binkie Mais asks...
Is it time to accept that there is a crisis in the GPN workforce?
Over the past 12 months, this journal has repeatedly raised the topic of the general practice nurse (GPN) workforce crisis
(Lane, 2015; Moger, 2015; Storey, 2015). Now, with the publication of the findings from the Queen’s Nursing Institute’s GPN survey (QNI, 2016), concerns around dwindling numbers, lack of capacity to meet increasing demand, poor uptake of newly qualified nurses into primary care, etc have been reinforced by a barrage of evidence from those of you working on the ground (over 3,400 GPNs participated in the survey, i.e. 15% of the entire workforce).
Working in the community, at your practice, clinic or with people in their homes, you will see first-hand increasing numbers of people living with multiple long-term conditions. More often than not, you will be the first point of contact for these people when they are unsure how to manage their condition or have health concerns. The onus is on us as caring professionals to learn all we can about how best to deal with these difficult and complex situations. And of course, if we can work to prevent complications arising, reduce risk and encourage patients to manage their health to the best of their ability, then that’s what we should be doing.
Getting patients to access the care they need is not always easy, here Jason Beckford-Ball spoke to Laura Westwick about a project in east London that is connecting cancer patients with local services.
Too often in health care we are guilty of working alone and not utilising colleagues and services around us, even though they may have expertise and experience that might help us do our jobs better.
I have the fortunate role of being Chair of the Association of Advanced Practice Educators-UK (AAPE-UK), an independent non-governmental, not-for-profit association representing all four countries in the UK. Our mission is to coordinate and represent a collaborative network of higher education institutions (HEIs), academics and professionals across the UK who have a common interest in the education, development and advancement of advanced practice.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with around 43,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012
(Cancer Research, UK). By 2030, it is predicted that this will be the most common cancer of all (Mistry, 2011). The exponential increase of prostate cancer over the last 40 years is attributed to widespread uptake of the prostate-specific androgen (PSA) test in primary care. Because of this, many prostate cancers are being diagnosed and treated in their very early stages, and subsequently men are living for many years following treatment, or living with indolent disease that will never require treatment in their natural lifespan. As a result, around 84% of men survive for 10 years or more. Prostate cancer has indeed become a ‘long-term condition’.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. It is estimated that over three million people in the UK have the disease, with just under a third actually having a diagnosis (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence [NICE], 2010a). It is defined as irreversible air flow obstruction, which is insidious and progressive with little day-to-day variability, predominantly caused by cigarette smoking, but with the recognition of ther contributory factors such as exposure to occupational irritants (NICE, 2010a).
Reducing the burden of COPD relies on early and accurate diagnosis before individuals are on the trajectory of functional decline (Department of Health [DH], 2011). This paper outlines the key steps that general practice nurses (GPNs) should take to make a good diagnosis and so make lifelong improvements for patients living with COPD.
While working as a district nurse in a GP practice, the author and a community pharmacist performed a small audit to establish the use of self-monitoring of blood glucose within the practice population. The results indicated that 79 patients were prescribed blood glucose test strips directly in contrast to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2015) guidance. The results were then shared within the practice to initiate education and a education in unnecessary testing. The following article describes the audit in more depth and explores some of the available evidence on blood glucose monitoring in patients with non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetes.
Coeliac disease is a long-term condition which affects approximately one in 100 people in the UK. This article explores which patients may need to be screened for the condition and the symptoms they may present with. Once diagnosed with the condition, patients need to follow a lifelong gluten-free diet to prevent complications. This article looks at the many roles that general practice nurses (GPNs) have in promoting compliance with the treatment of a gluten-free diet, as well as discussing how they can help to manage the risk of complications such as osteoporosis and infectious disease.
Hay fever is one of the spectrum of allergic diseases that includes eczema and asthma (Wahn, 2015). It is a common condition and the symptoms are distressing and in severe cases may be extremely debilitating. Symptoms may impact upon work, study, outdoor activities and sleep — in fact, the whole lifestyle of a severely affected individual.
Depending on the cause and severity, treatment may be wholly or partially effective. The aim of treatment by avoidance, desensitisation or medication is to minimise or abolish symptoms, while also ensuring that side-effects of medication(s) are minimised. Where the specific trigger or allergen has been identified and had a seasonal effect, it is best practice to start treatment before the season begins.
