01 September 2020

People experiencing long-term physical conditions are predominantly cared for within primary care settings by nurses. These patients are two-to-three times more likely to develop mental health problems as a result of the detrimental impact of their illness on their physical and social functioning. They are also more likely to disclose mental health issues to nurses working in primary care — therefore, general practice nurses (GPNs) need to be able to recognise both mental distress and mental illness to ensure that their patients receive appropriate assessment, care and management. This article discusses the prevalence of mental health problems in patients with long-term physical conditions and how nurses in primary care settings can recognise, assess and support them.

01 December 2020

In each issue of the Journal of General Practice Nursing, we investigate a topic currently affecting our readers. Here, Kate Upton, representative for Nursing Professions on the Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, looks at - Recognising compassion fatigue and protecting wellbeing.

10 July 2023

Rectal cancer is common in the UK, affecting about 12,000 people each year. The common treatment for rectal cancer is surgery, such as an anterior resection which may also be combined with chemoradiation. Treatment for rectal cancer, however, is likely to cause subsequent problems with bowel function. Changes to the bowel can present with faecal incontinence and the need to rush to the toilet. Nurses can assist with some simple interventions, such as medication to bulk up the bowel motion or changes to the diet to thicken the bowel motion. If symptoms are severe and are not resolved using these methods, there are other interventions that can be tried, such as sacral nerve modulation which will require referral to a specialist.

01 June 2021

The environmental impact of healthcare delivery in general, and respiratory-related healthcare specifically, has gained increasing attention in recent years. Reducing national carbon emissions and improving sustainability has become a high priority both at governmental level and for the NHS across the UK. General practice nurses (GPNs) have a critical role to play in addressing the environmental impact of respiratory healthcare. While the priority must always be to do the right thing clinically for individual patients, there are a range of strategies which can be introduced to day-to-day practice to reduce the carbon footprint of respiratory healthcare. This article reviews a range of strategies from protecting and improving the indoor air quality of healthcare facilities and ensuring patients understand and use their prescribed medications effectively, to undertaking a quality improvement initiative to address environmental issues. Integrating sustainable healthcare principles in every aspect of clinical practice can drive the delivery of greener respiratory healthcare that will benefit us all without detriment to delivering high quality care.

14 March 2017

Malnutrition (undernutrition) affects three million people in the UK (Brotherton et al, 2010) and is responsible for health and social care costs exceeding £19 billion annually in England alone, half of which is due to people over 65 (Elia, 2015). While it is accepted that good nutrition is important to maintain health, there is a general lack of responsibility and ownership around the problem of undernutrition in primary care. Lack of understanding, including how to identify and treat it is also widespread. Despite National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines stating that all healthcare professionals should be involved in nutritional screening and treatment (NICE, 2006), there are barriers stopping primary care nurses from screening, i.e. challenges of organisational culture and competing priorities (Green and James, 2013; Green et al, 2014).

11 September 2023

The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) annual conference takes place online from 2–5 October and is the UK’s leading event for community nursing. Thanks to its sponsors and donations, the conference is free for all registered and student nurses to attend. The theme of this year’s conference is, ‘In the Spotlight — Nurses Leading Care in People’s Homes and Communities’.

01 March 2021

Telephone and video consultations have become a prominent part of practice in the pandemic, bringing undoubted benefits but also some challenges. Due to the inability to examine patients or read their body language, successful remote consulting may call for some adjustments to the normal way of talking with patients. Here, Dr Roger Neighbour OBE, retired GP from Hertfordshire and a past President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, considers how to prepare for and begin a remote consultation, describing a simple seven-stage approach to clinical problem-solving: getting the story, doing the clinical work, and agreeing the management plan. It encourages you to think aloud as a way of keeping the patient involved, and offers some advice on bringing the conversation to a close.

22 June 2017

Sometimes it is just so busy in day-to-day practice, that it is hard to find time to reflect or discuss what you really think about a range of issues — perhaps you are inhibited by your colleagues’ knowledge and experience, find speaking out difficult, or are just not confident in your knowledge base.

However, when it comes to caring for patients with respiratory disorders, being able to openly discuss a patient’s treatment pathway with others, as well as seeking out new knowledge and skills, might make all the difference to the level of care you deliver.

22 September 2015

Respiratory disorders, in particular asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), have been recognised for many years and remain among the most common chronic long-term conditions that are seen in primary care. Despite the development of guidelines, standards and effective treatments, both diseases continue to carry a high morbidity and mortality, a significant societal cost in terms of lost school and work days, and high consultation and admission rates.This article follows the development of our knowledge of these common disorders and looks at how far we have progressed in our diagnosis, knowledge and treatments, as well as what the future may look like in terms of care management and treatment options.

19 June 2020