The 12th - 18th November is self care week ... this #WeMDT discussion is the first in our self care twitter discussions for the week and will focus on promoting self care for the people we care for.  The second discussion will be on Thursday 15th November and will explore self care for ourselves, as healthcare professionals. Self Care Week is an annual national awareness week that focuses on embedding support for self care across communities, families and generations.      ?"Self Care is the actions that individuals take for themselves, on behalf of and with others in order to develop, protect, maintain and improve their health, wellbeing or wellness." ?(Self Care Forum 2018) The definition of Self Care is the active participation of indivi ...

Pre chat information written by Eiri Jones As nurses (and other healthcare workers) we usually put others first. Our Code expects us to do all we can for our patients and others in our care. But we also have a duty to ourselves.The last 3 winters have become more and more challenging in the health service and with the current workforce pressures we all feel we should do more. In order to do this we need to ensure our own physical and emotional health and well being. That is what this twitter chat is about - looking after ourselves this winter so we can look after those in our care.So that we can care for others, it is important we start with ourselves. I learnt this the hard way when I was working in a Trust under huge pressure and I ended ...

It seems that nursing, nurses and healthcare are always in the news - this is the first in a new type of #WeNurses discussions that delves a little deeper into the headlines and gives you the opportunity to share what you think. Recently new measures were announced to clampdown on violence against NHS staff - the BBC reported on it HERE but in summary:Staff are to be given better training in dealing with violent situationsOffenders will be prosecuted quickerHealth Secretary Matt Hancock says the NHS will adopt a "zero tolerance" approach to violence against its staff.A bill to double the sentence for assaults on emergency workers from six months to a year is expected to become lawHSJ and UNISON (2018) state that "Reported physical attacks o ...

It seems that nursing, nurses and healthcare are always in the news - this is a new type of #WeNurses discussions that delves a little deeper into the headlines and gives you the opportunity to share what you think. A recent Guardian article (2018) outlined some interesting research around the "rise in early deaths from accidents, suicide, alcohol misuse, smoking, cancer and drug addiction in the north of England, deepening the north-south divide" The full article can be found HERE but the main points are:Northerners aged 25 - 44 years old are 47% more likely to die from cardiovascular complications, 109% from alcohol misuse and 60% from drug misuse.Between 2014 and 2016, 3,530 more men and 1,881 more women aged between 25 and 44 died in th ...