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.
Around 12 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with hypertension (i.e. blood pressure [BP] greater than or
equal to 140/90mmHg) and over five million people have undiagnosed hypertension, which, if left untreated, can lead to premature ill health and death (Blood Pressure Association, 2008).
The risks associated with increasing BP are continuous — with each 2mmHg rise in systolic BP there is a 7% increased risk of mortality from ischaemic heart disease and a 10% increased risk of mortality from stroke (Lewington et al, 2002). However, although BP-lowering strategies have been shown to significantly reduce the risk, population-based studies consistently demonstrate that patients are unaware of the causes and effects of hypertension, and around two-thirds of those diagnosed remain untreated or inadequately controlled (Falaschetti et al, 2009; Antikainen, 2010). This article re-examines the evidence and guidelines to see how we can improve practice within this important area of cardiovascular disease prevention.
Primary care is facing a workforce crisis with reduced numbers of general practitioners (GPs), general practice nurses (GPNs) and community nurses, combined with a shift of healthcare provision from secondary to primary care.
In each issue of the journal we speak to general practice nurses and hear what they have to say about their role
in primary care.
What is a typical day for you?
For the last six months l have been the only general practice nurse (GPN), whereas previously there were two of us. Despite interviews, it has been difficult to recruit anyone and we are now trying to get an advanced practitioner. I find that it now takes just as long for patients to see me, as it does the doctors.
In each issue of the Journal of General Practice Nursing we investigate a hot topic currently affecting our readers. Here, Pete Lane, clinical lead, Advanced Training Practice (ATP) Scheme, looks at the falling numbers of first generation general practice nurses and makes...Three wishes to secure the future of the GPN workforce
