Wider Patient Engagement (WPE) – Listening to the Patient VoiceWhat is WPE and how can it help my nurse training?Special Guests: Kim Young, James Munro, Leanne Patrick“Hear the patient voice at every level – even when that voice is a whisper” BerwickReport, August 2013WPE provides student nurses opportunities to develop a greater understanding of the importance of listening to what matters to patients, family members and service users. WPE activity can be undertaken in a variety of ways; virtual, face to face or a blend of the two. Flexibility is key to its success.Kim Young, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Plymouth (UoP) School of Nursing and Midwifery, joins us to share her knowledge and experience as a pioneer in th ...

Previously, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) guidance on standards for learning and assessment in practice advises that Specialist Community Practice Qualification (SPQ) District Nurse (DN )students should be supervised and assessed in practice by a practitioner who holds a minimum of sign off mentor status and is recorded as a Community Specialist Practitioner with the NMC (NMC 2008). Frequently, many SPQ DN courses go beyond this and advocate the use of qualified practice teachers, similar to those supervising and assessing practice on sister courses such as Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (NMC 2004, NMC 2008).  The new guidance published by theNMC last year advised a new model for supervision and assessment, which introduce ...

Driving Forward Social PrescribingThis time last year, WeAHPs held a tweetchat exploring social prescribing, identifying next steps for AHPs getting involved in social prescribing:It was felt that a social prescribing toolkit should include an explanation of what social prescribing is, an overview for providers, case studies and patient stories, a Q&A section that covers the potential problems AHPs might face, guidance on how to find out what is happening in your local area and links to useful resources and training.”This conversation helped shaped the next steps in development for the publication Driving Forward Social Prescribing: A framework for AHPs, which was published in July in collaboration between NHS Improvement, Public Health Eng ...

On 26th September Southhampton Children's Hospital will be taking over the WeNurses Twitter account for the day: Southampton Children’s Hospital is the sixth-largest children’s hospital in the country and one of only four which provides all specialist services on one site and employs over 600 nurses. Staff treat 150,000 children from across the UK every year, including 25,000 who pass through the emergency department, 25,000 admitted for inpatient care and 100,000 at outpatient appointments. The hospital is part of University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS), one of the largest acute teaching trusts in the country, and provides specialist paediatric services including cardiac, cancer, neurosciences and intensive care to patie ...

What is professionalism? Seems like an easy question doesn't it? Until you try to find the words to describe it ... it seems so much easier to define what unprofessionalism looks like, but what is it to be a professional.The NMC Code sets "the professional standards that registered nurses and midwives must uphold" (NMC 2015) and is split into four distinct areas:Prioritising peoplePractise effectivelyPreserve safetyPromote professionalism and trust But perhaps being a professional is more than this? The Enabling Professionalism Framework (2018) states "Professionalism is characterised by the autonomous evidence-based decision making by members of an occupation who share the same values and education. Professionalism in nursing and midwifery ...

During the past few years we have seen a huge growth in the use of social media in the healthcare sector yet it was only a short time ago that Ferguson (2013) questioned whether health would start to leverage the potential of social media. The answer, some 5 years on, is still unclear.  Whilst there are a few social media pioneers there is still a long way to go in unlocking the true potential of social media. There are many who do not see the benefits and still regard it as a social pastime and not as a serious way for nurses to communicate, connect and make a difference to the people they care for. Forty-seven per cent of the UK population (Ofcom 2017) uses social media which equates to a large number of nurses potentially already using i ...