Open visiting in the NHS

Peripheral intravenous cannulation: reducing pain and local complications

Although peripheral IV cannulation has been part of the scope of professional practice for registered nurses and appropriately trained support workers, such as healthcare assistants and assistant...

Medical adhesive-related skin injuries associated with vascular access: minimising risk with Appeel Sterile

An 80-year-old woman had septic arthritis (Figure 2). She had a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and type II diabetes. She was an inpatient receiving intravenous antibiotics and...

Universal adhesive vascular access securement with Grip-Lok devices

The Grip-Lok range of catheter securement devices are available in a range of sizes and configurations so can be used universally. The devices secure IV catheters reliably, which minimises...

Improving patient safety

Central venous catheter infection in Canadian home parenteral nutrition patients: a 5-year multicenter retrospective study

This observational study was based on a 5-year retrospective chart review of adult patients participating in the Canadian HPN Registry between 2005 and 2009 from 3 HPN programs in 3 provinces...

Clinically indicated replacement of peripheral vascular catheters: is it safe for patients?

Nurses, as well as other clinical personnel, who have been certified as competent, insert PVCs in the hospital. Standard precautions training, including hand hygiene, is mandatory for all staff when...

Ultrasound-detected venous changes associated with peripheral intravenous placement in children

The purpose of this study was to identify, document, and describe venous changes associated with PIV placement using US imaging in order to better understand factors that may contribute to high rates...

Self-isolation and the homeless population

What is a therapeutic environment?

‘The ability to do something successfully or efficiently. Competence indicates sufficiency of knowledge and skills to enable someone to act in a wide variety of situations. Each level of...

The consequences of COVID-19 for gastroenterology nursing

The virus is predominantly related to lung disease, but there are ramifications for people working in the field of gastroenterology nursing..

Transanal irrigation: is it the magic intervention for bowel management in individuals with bowel dysfunction?

Bowel dysfunction includes both constipation and faecal incontinence. Although faecal incontinence is not as common as constipation, its incidence increases with age; it is defined as the recurrent...

Coronavirus: origins, signs, prevention and management of patients

In late December 2019, a cluster of patients were admitted to hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, with an initial diagnosis of pneumonia of an unknown aetiology. These patients were...

Care of children and young people who are dependent on technology

Owing to increased medical knowledge and capabilities, more children and young people are living with chronic conditions or long-term complications of treatment. And many are dependent on technology...

The potential role of nurses in leading positive behaviour support

While PBS is described as a multicomponent framework that is delivered through an multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach, nurses' views of PBS were lacking in literature until recently (Savarimuthu,...