Is seeing a specialist nurse associated with positive experiences of care? The role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer careSpecialist nurses may play an important role in helping to improve the experiences of patients with prostate cancer, however there is concern that the specialist nurse role is under threat in the UK due to financial pressures in the NHS. This study explored the role and value of specialist nurses in prostate cancer care via a survey and patient interviews.
Family meetings in palliative care: Multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines Background: Support for family carers is a core function of palliative care. Family meetings are commonly recommended as a useful way for health care professionals to convey information, discuss goals of care and plan care strategies with patients and family carers. Yet it seems there is insufficient research to demonstrate the utlility of family meetings or the best way to conduct them. This study sought to develop multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines for conducting family meetings in the specialist palliative care setting based on available evidence and consensus based expert opinion.
Imbalance in the health workforce Imbalance in the health workforce is a major concern in both developed and developing countries. It is a complex issue that encompasses a wide range of possible situations. This paper aims to contribute not only to a better understanding of the issues related to imbalance through a critical review of its definition and nature, but also to the development of an analytical framework. The framework emphasizes the number and types of factors affecting health workforce imbalances, and facilitates the development of policy tools and their assessment. Moreover, to facilitate comparisons between health workforce imbalances, a typology of imbalances is proposed that differentiates between profession/specialty imbalances, geographical imbalances, institutional and services imbalances and gender imbalances.
International nurse recruitment and NHS vacancies: a cross-sectional analysisBackground: Foreign-trained nurse recruits exceeded the number of new British-trained recruits on the UK nurse register for the first time in 2001. As the nursing shortage continues, health care service providers rely increasingly on overseas nurses to fill the void. Which areas benefit the most? And where would the NHS be without them?
Methods:
Using cross-sectional data from the 2004 Nursing and Midwifery Council register, nurse resident postcodes are mapped to Strategic Health Authorities to see where foreign recruits locate and how they affect nurse shortages throughout the UK.
Prospective randomised controlled trial of laparoscopic versus open inguinal hernia mesh repair
Laparoscopy enables hernial orifices to be observed and
tension-free mesh repair to be carried out effectively. In
the first randomised controlled trial on hernia repair,
which compared laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal
(TAPP) mesh with open darn repairs, laparoscopic
repair was less painful and enabled patients to
return to work and normal activity more quickly.1 Since2 3 More4
then, several randomised controlled studies and systematic
reviews have largely confirmed these results.
recently in the United Kingdom, the National Institute
for Clinical Excellence reviewed the available early
results and published its guidance on the use of laparoscopic
surgery for inguinal hernias.
Definitive Surgical Treatment of Infected or Exposed Ventral Hernia MeshTo discuss the difficulties in dealing with infected or exposed
ventral hernia mesh, and to illustrate one solution using an
autogenous abdominal wall reconstruction technique.