From Florence Nightingale, to Virginia Henderson and from Roper, Logan and Tierney to Orem, models have always featured in nursing … but how do they impact on nursing practice?  And how strongly do they feature in your education? Chapman (2018) states “Nursing models are often promoted as a way of advancing nursing science or leading to a more coherent view of nursing. However, the purpose of any model is to most accurately reflect reality in a way that enables us to:     •Understand it;•Act upon it with predictable outcomes. The multiplicity of nursing models reflects:•Different views of the person;•The society they live in;•Their health and wellbeing (or ill health);•The goals, role and functions of the nurse.”It seems very straightforwar ...

Sex and sexual health can be a difficult subject to talkabout with patients, yet as health professionals who frequently engage with,and tend to have close relationships with patients, it is something we need tobe able to discuss. Sexual health is one of the areas of improvement in the‘All Our Health’ framework which health professionals should be focussing on,as well as screening for (which includes cervical screening). Expressingsexuality is one of the 12 Activities of Daily Living (Roper, Logan andTierney, 1980). As part of our role of Making Every Contact Count (PHE, 2016)to improve public health it is something we should be discussing at everypossibility.During a day based around sexual health on the@WeStudentNurse account several stude ...

1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem this year yet as a society we are often very reluctant to talk about mental health and wellbeing, and this can lead to people feeling ashamed, isolated and worthless.  (Time to Change 2020)Talking about mental health can really help to change lives and all health and care professionals have an important role in leading the way when it comes to mental health and well being. Wellbeing and mental health: Applying All Our Health (PHE 2019) states:Front-line health professionals can: use the Make every contact count resource, and take every opportunity to have brief conversations with people about making positive changesincorporate psychological aspects of care within all care pathwaysidentif ...

#WeStNsJCWhat is a journal club?A journal club helps you increase your confidence, knowledge and improve your practice by discussing selected articles in a non-judgemental setting. The aim is to encourage students to learn more about a subject, listen to what others think and how the literature can be translated into practice- bridging the gap between merely understanding new knowledge and being able to implement best practice.How does it work?#WeStNs will link to the chosen article two weeks in advance to allow our followers to read the article and make any notes in relation to the questions below.On the advertised time and date, we will host an online discussion, similar to a tweet chat, about the chosen article. It’s as simple as telling ...

Tweetchat times will be split into three groups organised by birthday:Group A - January to April Birthdays take place from 6:00pm - 6:30pmGroup B - May to August Birthdays take place from 6:45pm - 7:15pmGroup C - September to December Birthdays take place from 7:30pm - 8:00pm Smoking is not a lifestyle choice but a chronic relapsing condition needing treatment. This is recognised by the government's commitment for the NHS in England to become smokefree. Supporting smokers in contact with the healthcare system to quit is a prevention priority in the NHS Long Term Plan and every health and care professional has a role to play.    As a healthcare professional, you are best placed to motivate and support smokers on their quit journey. Smokers e ...

'All Our Health’ is call to action for all health and care professionals including student health and care professionals, to embed and extend prevention, health protection and promotion of wellbeing and resilience into practice. But why is it important that we understand prevention, protection and promotion as student health and care professionals? The NHS Long Term Plan, (2019) has a strong focus on prevention as a way to prevent poor health and to keep people living well for longer– ‘the NHS will take new action to strengthen its contribution to prevention and health inequalities. Wider action on prevention will help people stay healthy and also moderate demand on the NHS.’Viv Bennett ( Public Health England's Chief Nurse) builds on this ...

In England nearly 7 million people are living with cardiovascular disease (CVD), it contributes to over a quarter of deaths each year and health and social care costs in England relating to CVD are estimated at £7.4 billion each year. (PHE 2020)CVD remains an important issue as it’s a contributor to mortality, morbidity and health inequalities and stalling of reductions in CVD mortality. This is costly to the individual, the NHS and wider system.The infographic below identifies some of the risk factors for CVD:      (PHE 2020)To achieve a change in individual risk factors and an individual’s overall risk of CVD we need action which will enable behaviour change at population, community and an individual level.The behaviour change wheel (belo ...

1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem this year yet as a society we are often very reluctant to talk about mental health and wellbeing, and this can lead to people feeling ashamed, isolated and worthless.  (Time to Change 2020)Talking about mental health can really help to change lives and all health and care professionals have an important role in leading the way when it comes to mental health and well being. Wellbeing and mental health: Applying All Our Health (PHE 2019) states:Front-line health professionals can: use the Make every contact count resource, and take every opportunity to have brief conversations with people about making positive changesincorporate psychological aspects of care within all care pathwaysidentif ...

Excellent practice already exists in many care home settings, together with a wide breath of MDT input confirming the systems overarching and on-going commitment to quality improvement. However, as yet there is no systematic and care sector-wide approach to quality improvement, within UK Care Homes. Quality Cycles, are used in comparable settings such as healthcare, and clinical audit is well understood and utilised in care planning and as part of a complex regularly framework.  We want to find out from care homes in partnership with the MDT, what does quality improvement mean to you?To read Louise Brady's (Clinical Practice and Development) & Susan Barnes's (Registered Manager at Mais House) blog post ‘Ground Control to Major Tom’ - Qualit ...

Smoking is not a lifestyle choice but a chronic relapsing condition needing treatment. This is recognised by the government's commitment for the NHS in England to become smokefree. Supporting smokers in contact with the healthcare system to quit is a prevention priority in the NHS Long Term Plan and every health and care professional has a role to play.    As a healthcare professional, you are best placed to motivate and support smokers on their quit journey. Smokers expect healthcare professionals to ask about their smoking.   All healthcare professionals should identify and refer smokers using the method known as Very Brief Advice (VBA) which has 3 components - 'Ask, Advise and Act':   1.      Ask and record smoking status: is the patient ...

The background information to this tweetchat is in the form of a podcast ... simply click below to listen:    ...

n England nearly 7 million people are living with cardiovascular disease (CVD), it contributes to over a quarter of deaths each year and health and social care costs in England relating to CVD are estimated at £7.4 billion each year. (PHE 2020)CVD remains an important issue as it’s a contributor to mortality, morbidity and health inequalities and stalling of reductions in CVD mortality. This is costly to the individual, the NHS and wider system.The infographic below identifies some of the risk factors for CVD:      (PHE 2020)To achieve a change in individual risk factors and an individual’s overall risk of CVD we need action which will enable behaviour change at population, community and an individual level.The behaviour change wheel (below ...

The background information to this tweetchat is in the form of a podcast ... simply click below to listen:    ...

Allied Health Professions (AHPs) are the third largest workforce in Health & Care in England. In 2017 the “AHPS Into Action” strategy, produced by NHS England, identified the transformative potential of AHPs & provided a framework demonstrating how our workforce could support the NHS. The aim was to set out our collective commitments & priorities to deliver significant impacts for patients, their carers, & communities.This year the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) is further developing this strategy to focus on the delivery of the Long-Term Plan (2019, p82, section 4.20). Work has already begun with a citizen online workshop in March 2021. In May 2021 we will be asking Allied Health Professionals to respond to feedback from c ...