Many of the articles listed below are available full text with your NHS Athens Account alternatively contact the Library & Knowledge Service to have any of these articles emailed or posted out to you.

Supporting the use of evidence in community nursing: a national strategic approach. Hanajin, Sinéad; Roe, Sandra; O ’Dowd, Mary; Barry, Catriona British Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014

While there is an acceptance across all stakeholders that nursing practice should be informed by evidence, there is a substantial literature on the challenges this creates for nurses in the delivery of services. These challenges are accentuated for nurses in community settings, where accessible, up-to-date research evidence is more problematic because of the decentralised organisation and delivery of these services. Recognising this gap, and the consequent needs of its members, the Institute of Community Health Nursing (ICHN) in Ireland has commenced a national strategic development in this area. The purpose of the strategy is to actively support and facilitate public health and community nurses to provide services to individuals, families and communities that are based on the best available research evidence. This article provides a brief overview of the development and key components of the ICHN strategy.

Should practitioners override patient choices? Nursing Times; 10/08/2014

Patients sometimes decline health interventions, even if this puts them at risk of illness or injury. In such situations, health professionals must decide whether it is ethical to deny the patient’s choice. This article presents a case scenario in which a patient declines hospital admission, and key arguments in favour of accepting or denying this choice.

The modern renaissance of the district nurse. Kraszewski, Sarah; Norris, Kellie

Primary Health Care; 11/01/2014
As a profession, district nursing has experienced significant depletion in recent years. However, district nurses are centre stage in terms of the delivery of government policy to move care closer to the patient’s home. This article reviews some of the challenges faced by district nurses, such as the changing patient demographic and delivering specialist care in people’s homes, the effect of current policy and the development of a new course in one university designed to equip practitioners with the skills required to address the demands of the 21st century.

Management of patients with chronic heart failure in the community.

Waterhouse, Hannah. Primary Health Care; 11/01/2014
This article explores the evidence for service improvements in the provision of care to heart failure patients in the community. It looks at the different methods of service delivery, including nurse-led clinics and home visiting. As patients’ condition can vary considerably, both palliative care and rehabilitation are considered as care contexts. It is argued that distinction should be made between palliative and end of life care, which might otherwise limit the care agreed between the nurse and the patient. The need for nurses to gain appropriate knowledge and skills is emphasised to ensure the provision of effective care.

Report proposes multispecialty community care model. Nursing Standard; 10/29/2014

Senior hospital nurses could begin working alongside district nurses and primary care staff in new community-based organisations under a five-year plan unveiled by NHS chief executive Simon Stevens last week.

There’s so much more to health visiting than weighing babies. Walker, Melita

Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014
What is a health visitor?What do they do? Indulge me for a moment and reflect on your immediate response to that question. Weighing babies was in there, wasn’t it? Don’t
worry, you’re not alone — I recently asked a random sample of service users and healthcare professionals the same question and’weighing babies’ also featured highly in their perception of the health visitor’s role. Few could explain the role succinctly and most struggled to quantify exactly what it is we do. Indeed, my own health visitor colleagues had trouble explaining their jobs as they represent so many things to so many people.

Dealing with acute and chronic pain: part two — management. Gregory, Julie Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014

This article, the second in a two-part series, looks at the various techniques the community nurse can use to manage pain once a comprehensive assessment has established its cause.

An overview of lymphoedema for community nurses. Cooper, Garry Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014

This article provides an overview of lymphoedema and its management. It includes nformation on the definition of lymphoedema, anatomy (lymphatics), lymphoedema staging, complications and the psychosocial impact. This leads onto a discussion of the management methods that can be delivered by community staff and practice nurses who have received appropriate training. Involving patients and their family/carers in all aspects of the management plan can help them to cope with this lifelong condition and promote concordance with treatment.

Principles underlying urinary catheterisation in the community. Booth, Frank Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014

This article examines the various elements that community nurses need to consider when attempting to provide best practice in urinary catheterisation. The author seeks to challenge what is considered best practice — particularly the requirement for all practice to be evidence based — while encouraging community nurses to think proactively about the care they are providing. The article stresses that the first principle of urinary catheterisation is to avoid the procedure where at all possible — catheterisation is potentially dangerous and can even be life-threatening if performed inappropriately. Overall, the author poses some key questions, including: should there be a difference in the care provided by community and hospital nurses;
do community patients have the same needs as those in hospital; and can the manufacturers of drugs/products help to make avoiding urinary tract infections (UTIs) easier?

Common skin problems in the community and primary care. Armstrong, Kirsty British Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014

Skin problems can be hard to diagnose, leaving clinicians frustrated and patients incorrectly treated, but rashes and lesions can be markers of systemic disease and infections. However, by using simple history-taking and mnemonics, safety and correct diagnoses can be achieved. This article will consider some common problems encountered in primary and community care, issues that need to be excluded, resources that will help with diagnosis and some management guidelines. This is not an exhaustive guide, and advice should be sought from learned colleagues in specific cases. Pressure area care and the use of compression bandaging will not be discussed unless it is of relevance to the subject of rashes and lesions.

Principled decision making in district nurse practice. Griffith, Richard. British Journal of Community Nursing; 10/01/2014

This article outlines a case study in which Sister Mary Newsome is in conflict with her district nurse colleague over the care of Margaret, 67, who they visit to monitor blood glucose levels and calculate the insulin dose to manage her diabetes. Recently, Margaret has been refusing to answer the door to the district nurses and has been eating sugary foods that have resulted in five admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis. While Sister Newsome believes continued care at home is best for Margaret, her colleague believes that only residential care will ensure Margaret maintains an appropriate diet and receives her insulin. Sister Newsome considers how best to resolve the conflict over the care of Margaret.

Clinical audit of leg ulceration prevalence in a community area:a case study of good practice. Hindley, Jenny British Journal of Community Nursing; 09/02/2014

This article presents the findings of an audit on venous leg ulceration prevalence in a community area as a framework for discussing the concept and importance of audit as a tool to inform practice and as a means to benchmark-care against national or international standards. It is hoped that the discussed audit will practically demonstrate how such procedures can be implemented in practice for those who have not yet undertaken it, as well as highlighting the unexpected extra benefits of this type of qualitative data collection that can often unexpectedly inform practice and influence change. Audit can be used to measure, monitor and disseminate evidence-based practice across community localities, facilitating the identification of learning needs and the instigation of clinical change, thereby prioritising patient needs by ensuring safety through the benchmarking of clinical practice.