Category: Nursing

Free online event

Courage of compassion : transforming nurses’ and midwives’ working environments to enable them to flourish

Following the release of the Kings Fund report on The courage of compassion last month, they are providing a  free online event on 3 December in partnership with the RCN Foundation. Their panel will discuss how we can better support nurses and midwives to flourish at work and to provide compassionate care in a sustainable way.

To book your place click here.

EBSCO Nurse of the Year 2020

Nominations open

To celebrate the Nurse of the Year, EBSCO are asking for nominations for nurses from their organisations.

The EBSCO Nurse of the Year Award winner should exemplify the WHO’s Year of the Nurse and Midwife key directives including a drive to strengthen nursing and midwifery, to achieve health care for all, and encourage fellow nurses and midwives to be change leaders influencing improvements in health care. Two winners will be selected, and the winners will each receive a $1,000 (USD) scholarship to be used for the continuing education opportunity of their choosing.

To nominate someone click here. Deadline; 16th November 2020

CINAHL Complete

Two month trial

To access this resource click here.

This useful guide explains how to navigate around their site, and includes tips on searching and refining your results.

We would love to hear your feedback and thoughts on this resource. Please get in touch with the library service academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

Courage of compassion

Supporting nurses and midwives to deliver high quality care

The review, led by Professor Michael West, sets out eight key recommendations aimed at supporting nurses and midwives to flourish in their work and to provide sustainable, compassionate and high-quality care.

The report was commissioned by the RCN Foundation and involves a detailed examination of available evidence, new analysis of key data and interviews with staff at all levels across the NHS and social care. 

The report finds that staff stress, absenteeism and turnover in these professions have reached alarmingly high levels. This has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has laid bare and exacerbated longer-term issues including chronic excessive workload, inadequate working conditions, staff burnout and inequalities, particularly among minority ethnic groups.

Among the recommendations is an urgent call for a review of how 12-hour shifts affect staff mental health and wellbeing and patient safety, as well as, suggestions to improve working conditions, shift patterns, workplace culture, teamworking, support for new staff, supervision and learning opportunities.

To read the report click here.

Royal College of Nursing Survey

Nurses experiences of working through the pandemic

The survey was completed by over 42,000 colleagues who explained their experiences of working on the front line and the overall impact the pandemic had on their nursing lives. The outcomes show that the majority are still passionate about the nursing profession, however concerns were raised about personal and staff well-being.

The survey revealed:

  • 38% said staffing levels got worse during the pandemic
  • 62% said the needs of people they care for became more complex
  • 76% reported an increase in their own stress levels
  • 33% said they worked longer hours, but only 40% of those reported getting paid for them
  • 34% said they worked at a higher level of responsibility, with 90% of those saying they received no extra pay. 

To read the full report click here.

Evidence updates

Recommendations for continued care and support of people who are clinically extremely vulnerable
Royal College of Physicians (RCP); 2020.
(Statement from the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, National Voices and specialist societies highlighting the challenges faced by both doctors and patients in identifying and reducing the risks associated with COVID-19 for the most clinically vulnerable people.)

Expanding the primary care workforce in 2020/21 .
NHS England & NHS Improvement; 2020.
(Actions for CCGs, PCNs and STPs resulting from People Plan and Third phase of NHS response to covid-19.)

Reintroduction of NHS continuing healthcare.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2020.
(Sets out how clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will restart NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) assessment processes from 1 September 2020.Published 21 August 2020.)

Virtual training for midwives during a pandemic.
Abramson P. British Journal of Midwifery 2020;28(8):502–503.
(When a baby dies, it is a tragedy at any time but during the COVID-19 pandemic, bereaved families and the professionals supporting them have been faced with additional and often distressing challenges. Restrictions have made access to hospitals difficult for partners and other family members, while support services that would normally be provided for bereaved parents have been unavailable or severely limited.)

Ketamine as a mental health treatment: Are acute psychoactive effects associated with outcomes? A systematic review.
Grabski M. Behavioural Brain Research 2020;392:112629.
(The databases Medline, Embase and PsycInfo were searched. The studies reviewed displayed great variability in methodology and quality of reporting. The most commonly assessed effect was dissociation, measured by the CADSS. Our results suggest that the CADSS total is not consistently associated with antidepressant outcomes. Apart from this, the current literature is too limited to draw definite conclusions on an association between acute psychoactive effects and mental health outcomes.)


GPs and Nurses new to practice programme

Operational guidance 2020/2021

This guidance supports Integrated Care Systems and Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, Primary Care Networks, training hubs and other local partners to understand and continue delivery of the General Practice Fellowship programme, supporting newly-qualified GPs and nurses working in primary care.