Nicola Credland to host @wenurses chat on Twitter

Nicola Credland will be a guest host on the

@wenurses Twitter feed. She is hosting a discussion based on why we fail to recognise and rescue deteriorating patients in hospital. This will take place on 4 June 8-9 pm.

Tim Buescher in YouTube video

Well done to Tim Buescher who attended and presented his work at this innovative conference where diversity and creativity in research methods is welcomed and supported.  

Tim Buescher

This short clip identifies some of the challenges and joys that our more creative colleagues experience and it encourages us to embrace and support difference and creativity in research. 

Work by David Barrett reported in The Times

Telehealth evaluation work for Merck Sharpe and Dohme by David Barrett was reported in The Times in an advertorial entitled: 'How health devices bring NHS care into the home'.

David Barrett

The work was focused on COPD and heart failure using devices that patients can use to monitor themselves and report how they are feeling toa team of Closecare nurses,

Of the work, David was quoted as saying: 'Telehealth - remote patient monitoring - makes people feel reassured that someone is keeping an eye on them and taking their own blood pressure or weighing themselves each day may also help them to take more responsibility for their own health'.

Michelle Harris Memorial Presentation

The Michelle Harris Memorial Presentation took place on Friday 20 March 2015.  The winning student Rachel Kew (Sept 2013 cohort) had the highest aggregate mark in the first year and was presented with the trophy and a cheque for £210 from the Glandford and Lindsey Lions Club.

Operating Department Practitioners visit to Army Medical Services

We had a very successful day  at the Army Medical Services Training Centre (AMSTC), Strensall, York.  We took 20 ODP students to show them all the training facilities that the army offers there.

We were also shown the specific facility and given an overview of the training that military personnel who are being deployed to Sierra Leone, on Operational Gritrock to help with the Ebola crisis go through.

They informed us that this training facility is known all over the world as a place that excels in military training as it has the ability to mirror that environment to which the army will be deployed to i.e. it can regulate the temperature and  humidity and other environment factors.

The students also had the opportunity to go into the training Chinook helicopter that simulate the conditions that medics who are part of the Medical Evacuation Response Team work in when caring for wounded causalities in the air.  They also experienced the cramped dark space they have to work in with the noise that the rota blades make.  They were also shown the casualty simulation facilities that assist in training so that they are able to care and treat wounded personnel the minute they arrived at a location.  It was an excellent day and all the students appeared to enjoy themselves.  It was a great network opportunity for the Faculty.

New editor in the faculty

Judith Dyson has been appointed as an editor of the Journal of Infection Prevention.

Dr Judith Dyson

Journal of Infection Prevention is the professional publication of the Infection Prevention Society. The aim of the journal is to advance the evidence base in infection prevention and control, and to provide a publishing platform for all health professionals interested in this field of practice. The journal is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed publication containing a wide range of articles: Original primary research studies, Qualitative and quantitative studies, Reviews of the evidence on various topics, Practice development project reports, Guidelines for practice, Case studies, Overviews of infectious diseases and their causative organisms, Audit and surveillance studies/projects and Outbreak reports.This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing now indexed by Medline

The Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of Hull is honoured that some of its staff carry out editor roles in a number of nursing journals. One of these is Julie Santy-Tomlinson who is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing (IJOTN)

This week it has been announced that IJOTN has been sucessful in its applicaiton to be indexed in Medline. This is exceptionally good news as it means that the journal and its authors will now receive full exposure in medicine and healthcare's largest literature database. This has potential to increase both the journal's readership and the number and calibre of papers which are sumbitted. This will help to future-proof this important nursing publication and ensure its sustainability for many years to come.

Many people contribute to the sucess of a journal. This includes its  authors and reviewers without whom there would be nothing to publish. Significant work is carried out by passionate and hard working committee and board members as well as those who develop and lead special sections of the journal. All this work takes a great deal of effort and enthusism as well as skill, often in time that people should be relaxing during a break from their 'day jobs'. The editorial team also work alongside highly skilled individuals who beaver away in the journal office and whose dedication and hard work ensures the quality of each issue of the journal. Much of this work goes on quietly and is almost invisible to readers of the journal. 

We would like to convey our utmost gratutide to everyone who has, and does, support the International Journal of Orthopaedic  and Trauma Nursing in its aim of bringing knowledge and ideas to practitioners, researchers and leaders around the world. 

With warmest best wishes 

Julie & Sarah

Julie Santy-Tomlinson & Sarah Davies

Editor-in-Chief & Senior Publisher

Jane Wray reports from the RCN Education Forum Conference

Research Fellow Jane Wray writes: 

Jane Wray

The RCN Education Forum Conference was held at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham 10-11 March 2015 and I presented a paper “Evidence Based Innovation: the key to a successful and inclusive student experience” with colleague Kerry Pace of Diverse Leaners on 11 March 2015. It was delivered to a packed seminar room of nurse educators, researchers, practitioners and students, Kerry and I shared our experiences of collaboration and innovation over 5 years to promote a more inclusive and evidence based approach to teaching and learning in nurse education.

The conference lasted two days and a wide range of papers were presented covering themes such as partnership working , the student experience, curriculum innovations, leadership and practice learning. It was great to hear Jane Ball of University of Southampton talk about RN4CAST and present the evidence that will hopefully finally lay to rest the ‘too posh to wash/too clever to care’ views. Another conference highlight included hearing Lord Willis taking about the future of nurse education on the eve of the publication of the Shape of Caring Review. Looks like there are interesting times ahead!

If you would like a copy of my PowerPoint presentation or more information, please contact me or Kerry at Diverse-Learners; follow Kerry on Twitter @DiverseLearners

Another third year mental health student reports on the Future of Mental Health Conference

Romie Thompson writes: 

As third year students the opportunity arose to attend a conference in London surrounding the future of mental health nursing. Its overall aim: to bring together students, professionals and various support networks, who all are inspired to work together to celebrate innovative research, highlight the importance of networking and focus on the positive services we have .

My journey began as a true northerner: 8am rush and completely baffled by a multi-coloured tube map. Coffee in hand I fumbled my way around the underground excited and slightly nervous about what the day had in store. On arriving at the 0₂ we received our goodie bags, lanyards and the communication point #futuremhn. This small # opened up an area in which everyone could communicate with one another via social media - opening the floor for questions to speakers.

As the conference began introductions were given and it was straight into guest speakers looking at various topics via discussion, entertainments and social networking.

 Jo Brand and Dr Edana Minghella spoke about their experiences of training as nurses and their time as practising nurses.  The anecdotes allowed for messages to be translated across with both humour and sensitivity.  It was intriguing to find that student experiences could still be so relatable.  Both ladies provided an insight into how services have changed and possibility how the future of care may develop- with emphasis on the need of humour and compassion throughout tanning and qualification.

Following this we were introduced to a man named Tommy Whitehall. He spoke about the personal battle he and his mother faced when she was diagnosed with dementia. This truly heart-warming speech moved everyone in the room, with many shedding a few tears.  His main focus through his campaign is to empower and provide understanding to many who may feel lost and isolated.  Through Tommy’s story the message that stood clear was the ability to help someone with kindness and an understanding of their situation. This speech drew attention to the need for polices and strategies , but most importantly it’s the frontline staff who have the ability to transform the lives of services users and carers.

Next Justyn Rees Larcombe spoke about his crippling struggle with addiction. Speaking from the heart he shared intimate details of how his life went from perfect to rock bottom. Explaining how after an established career in the army, meeting his wife and having a child while moving into a high position in insurance. However Justyn spoke about how his life began to unravel and spiral out of control due to his gambling addiction. This addiction brought his life to a halt, with deceit and bets taking over. It was fantastic to listen to how he had turned his life around from rock bottom and still has a supportive family and children despite the heartache caused.

After lunch the discussions and talks continued with some student input among the various professionals and health education providers - who spoke about leading and innovative research, strategies across the trusts and how networking can be a beneficial support tool. Overall a fab day full of inspiration. Travelling home with fellow students allowed for reflection upon a wonderful day. Despite feeling tired all agreed that a someone throughout the day had stirred up emotions to motivate and inspire us to be the best nurses possible.

On of our 3rd yer students reports on The Future of Mental Health Nursing

Catherine Groke writes:

As a third year Mental Health Nursing student we were offered the opportunity for a small group of us to attend The Future of MentalHealth Nursing conference held in London at the O2.  The objective was to bring together mental health nursing students from all over England and to inspire and motivate us. We would get to meet fellow student nurses, like minded wide eyed students who are full of ideas  and brimming with potential on how to change things for the better and who want to put patient care first and create a better future for mental health services.

After eagerly booking my train tickets I looked forward to the adventure of travelling down to London.  Although it was a rather early bleary eyed 5 am start, as I sat on my train large coffee in hand surrounded by business men and women in suits I felt alive and very excited for the day ahead. After navigating the London underground I arrived at the 02. Almost 500 of us gathered at our conference tables with our conference lanyards around our necks, Programme guides and 'goodie bags' in hand eagerly awaiting a full day of guest speakers. We were not  disappointed. The conference began with introductions about the day ahead before the comedienne Jo Brand came onto the stage to talk about her previous career as a mental health nurse and about her training in the late seventies/ early eighties. She was interviewed by Dr Edana Minghella a lady who she trained and worked with and provided us with amusing anecdotes and tales of her life and experience as a nurse. It was both entertaining and informative as she told us how she used to work in the crisis centres of South London during the times of the Brixton riots.

Following Jo we were introduced to Justyn Rees Larcombe a former army officer who had never gambled a day in his life until he was almost 40 years old. He used a free bet and then from that point he was hooked. He gave a heart wrenching account of how his addiction and deceit caused him to loose everything, his job wife and family. He had attempted to seek help but felt he was not really understood until the love and support of his mother helped him to turn around and realise he had hit rock bottom.  He has now transformed his life and now helps others.  Leading on from this tale of gambling addiction we were taken on the emotional rollercoaster of listening to Tommy Whitelaw. He lost his mother to dementia and it is his life’s mission to raise awareness of dementia and to keep his mother’s memory alive.  He gave a heart breaking account of the devastation dementia causes in families and told us how truly lost and isolated he felt in looking after his mother who slowly but surely lost a piece of herself at a time which could never be returned. There was not a dry eye in the house as he described his pain and experience of being a doting and caring son looking after his mother and the feelings of desperation he must have felt.  He encouraged us to sign his pledge and name what we promise to do now as future nurses caring for someone with dementia. 

After a small spot of lunch and networking opportunity the rest of the day provided more speakers from a variety of backgrounds who talked about research in mental health, the role of social media, the importance of networking and the role of the modern mental health nurse in a world where there is an increasing amount of drug and alcohol misuse. After a very long day we finished in the 02 VIP lounge where we enjoyed a complementary drink or two and mixed with other student nurses. Overall this was a fantastic opportunity, I left London that night feeling exhausted but inspired and motivated to be the best nurse that I can be. 

New publication on feeding assessment in dementia by Roger Watson

Roger Watson has co-authored:

Professor Roger Watson

Bagnasco A, Watson R, Zanini M, Rosa F, Rocco G, Sasso L (2015) Preliminary testing usingMokken scaling of an Italian version of the Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia(EdFED-It) scale Applied Nursing Research doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2015.02.003

Of the paper Roger says: 'It is good to see continued application in different languages and cultures of work that started over 20 years ago in Edinburgh'