UK Nurses Research Articles

Undertaking drug calculations for oral medicines and suppositories

Nurses are required to demonstrate knowledge and competence in undertaking drug calculations as part of their practice. This article aims to assist nurses in identifying their competence in undertaking drug calculations for oral medications and suppositories. Although nurses enter their professional register with an assessed level of medicines competence, nursing is a dynamic profession and competency can decrease over time, with literature demonstrating that nurses often have suboptimal drug calculation skills. This article enables nursing students to continue to enhance their knowledge and understanding of drug calculations, and registered nurses to revisit this element of an essential nursing skill. It provides examples of drug calculations, alongside methods and formulas that should be used. It also discusses issues that potentially compromise safe practice, and relates drug calculations to the professional standards outlined in UK nurses' code of practice.

Issues of Staffing, Salary, and Educational Funding Challenge UK Nurses.

Protests mount as economic pressures on nurses increase.

How nurses and midwives feel about revalidation: preliminary survey results.

The introduction in 2016 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council revalidation process, which involves several standardised steps, has represented a major change for UK nurses and midwives, and is now a compulsory requirement of reregistration. This article presents preliminary results of a survey about revalidation, undertaken in June 2016 at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Dartford, focusing on how nurses and midwives feel about the process. The article considers the effect of different variables, including pay band, seniority and directorate, on nurses' and midwives' perceptions of revalidation, and suggests it is regarded more positively by senior, more experienced staff than by those who are less experienced.

Nurses' and midwives' revalidation preparation experiences at one NHS trust.

Since 1 April 2016, UK nurses and midwives have been required to undertake revalidation to maintain their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. This article reports the results of a service evaluation to identify the revalidation preparation experiences of nurses and midwives at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH). Findings suggest that the revalidation preparation process at UCLH supports staff to seek opportunities continually for practice feedback, reflect on their everyday experiences and link their learning to ongoing professional development.

Nursing in the Middle East.

International assignments are a great way for UK nurses and other healthcare professionals to broaden their experience and work in some of the world's most modern hospitals.

Sickness, "sin" and discrimination: Examining a challenge for UK mental health nursing practice with lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

Western psychiatry has a history of pathologising and attempting to ‘cure’ same-sex attraction, the legacy of which can still affect mental health practice today. Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people have greater risk of experiencing certain types of mental distress, self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviour as well as at risk of experiencing discrimination within mental health services. The minority stress model is important for understanding the higher levels of mental distress among LGB people. A type of discrimination in mental health services is appearing that has its origins in certain practitioner religious beliefs where same-sex attraction is interpreted as sinful. This has led to the reappearance of the idea that LGB people can be cured of their same-sex attraction, but with religious rather than psychiatric conceptual underpinnings. This may have particular implications for mental health nursing practice, where nurses have religious beliefs that bring them into conflict with the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Conduct that forbids discrimination, and their legal obligation to work within the UK Equality Act 2010.

A heuristic study of UK nurses’ migration to WA: Living the dream downunder

BackgroundDemands on the health care system, a growing ageing population and the age profile within the current nursing workforce have placed Australia in a position to expect a future shortage of nurses. One solution to this shortage could be to attract overseas trained nurses, who may provide a readymade and experienced addition to the workforce. AimThis study aimed to investigate similarities found in the individual and unique migration journeys of 21 registered nurses. Each of the nurses in this study migrated from the United Kingdom to Perth in Western Australia. MethodsThe research methodology chosen was Heuristic inquiry. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling, and snowballing was utilised to provide ease of access to eligible participants. Data was collected through a focus group, individual semi-structured interviews, and a journal. FindingsIn this study, three main coping strategies were identified: (a) developing resilience; (b) finding a new professional identity; and (c) having the ability to adapt to a new life. It was found that feelings of belonging were necessary to make the move a success. Participants placed the need to develop new friendships and a replacement family as a high priority. DiscussionMigration offers a unique experience. Success during the complex migration process depended on the migrant RNs’ ability to adapt to a new country and to develop strategies that assist in dealing with the new and unfamiliar. ConclusionThis study highlighted many of the issues that need to be considered by future nurses migrating to Western Australia from United Kingdom. Learning from the experiences of past migrants can assist future nurses to “live the dream” that Australia offers, both professionally and personally.

Moving closer to gaining formal recognition.

Although nurses in the UK have been working at an advanced level of practice since the mid-1980s, the role has never been regulated, with neither a separate registry nor a recordable qualification. But change is around the corner, with the RCN preparing a programme offering accreditation for advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs).

Enacting open disclosure in the UK National Health Service: A qualitative exploration.

Open and honest discussion between healthcare providers and patients and families affected by error is considered to be a central feature of high quality and safer patient care, evidenced by the implementation of open disclosure policies and guidance internationally. This paper discusses the perceived enablers that UK doctors and nurses report as facilitating the enactment of open disclosure. Semistructured interviews with 13 doctors and 22 nurses from a range of levels and specialities from 5 national health service hospitals and primary care trusts in the UK were conducted and analysed using a framework approach. Five themes were identified which appear to capture the factors that are critical in supporting open disclosure: open disclosure as a moral and professional duty, positive past experiences, perceptions of reduced litigation, role models and guidance, and clarity. Greater openness in relation to adverse events requires health professionals to recognise candour as a professional and moral duty, exemplified in the behaviour of senior clinicians and that seems more likely to occur in a nonpunitive, learning environment. Recognising incident disclosure as part of ongoing respectful and open communication with patients throughout their care is critical.

Protest for those caring for civilians in Syria.

UK nurses and doctors staged a 'die in' outside the Houses of Parliament to call for protection for healthcare workers caring for civilians caught up in the war in Syria.

How do nurses facilitate shared decision-making in HIV care? An exploratory study of UK nurses knowledge, perspective and experience of facilitating shared decision-making in clinical practice

Background, objectives and aims: Shared Decision Making (SDM) enables clinicians to promote self-management and to empower patients with long-term health conditions. While it has been reported in other health conditions, there is little empirical research on the nature and practice of SDM in HIV care. This project aimed to explore current views and practices among UK HIV nurses regarding SDM. Methods: A mixed methods study utilised focus groups and an online survey to identify opportunities, challenges and training needs. Results: Nurses are supportive of SDM but face patient-related, organisation and health system challenges to implement it, especially in supporting complex patients. SDM is an important aspect of nursing care for people living with HIV. Conclusions: Nurses need more training and resources to implement SDM effectively. In order to develop such training and resources to better understand SDM in relation to HIV care, there is a need for research on patient perspectives and experiences in this area.

UK Nurse Infected with Ebola Cleared of Misconduct.

UK Nurse Infected with Ebola Cleared of Misconduct.

UK nurses are needed overseas.

Could UK nurse volunteers working overseas be instrumental in reducing healthcare inequalities? João Marçal-Grilo, writing in Nursing Older People, is adamant that UK-trained nurses have the potential to eradicate poverty worldwide and should be offered opportunities to volunteer abroad and practise alongside colleagues in low and middle-income countries. Not only will this have a positive effect on older adults who are affected by a lack of qualified staff working in developing countries, UK-trained nurses can gain new skills that can benefit nursing practice in the UK. The article provides examples of current voluntary projects in older person care taking place in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Big picture.

RCNi has produced an animation explaining everything nurses need to know about revalidation, the process all UK nurses and midwives must follow to maintain their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Nurse migration and the EU: how are UK nurses prepared?

Nurse migration and the EU: how are UK nurses prepared?

The expanding role of nurse prescribers

Since the first legislation back in the 1980s, UK nurses have earned increasing powers to prescribe. This article discusses the scope and limitations of nurses' prescribing role now and in the future.

The metaethics of nursing codes of ethics and conduct.

Nursing codes of ethics and conduct are features of professional practice across the world, and in the UK, the regulator has recently consulted on and published a new code. Initially part of a professionalising agenda, nursing codes have recently come to represent a managerialist and disciplinary agenda and nursing can no longer be regarded as a self-regulating profession. This paper argues that codes of ethics and codes of conduct are significantly different in form and function similar to the difference between ethics and law in everyday life. Some codes successfully integrate these two functions within the same document, while others, principally the UK Code, conflate them resulting in an ambiguous document unable to fulfil its functions effectively. The paper analyses the differences between ethical-codes and conduct-codes by discussing titles, authorship, level, scope for disagreement, consequences of transgression, language and finally and possibly most importantly agent-centeredness. It is argued that conduct-codes cannot require nurses to be compassionate because compassion involves an emotional response. The concept of kindness provides a plausible alternative for conduct-codes as it is possible to understand it solely in terms of acts. But if kindness is required in conduct-codes, investigation and possible censure follows from its absence. Using examples it is argued that there are at last five possible accounts of the absence of kindness. As well as being potentially problematic for disciplinary panels, difficulty in understanding the features of blameworthy absence of kindness may challenge UK nurses who, following a recently introduced revalidation procedure, are required to reflect on their practice in relation to The Code. It is concluded that closer attention to metaethical concerns by code writers will better support the functions of their issuing organisations.

Children's nurses' experiences of a revalidation pilot study.

All UK nurses and midwives will need to follow the revalidation process to renew their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and demonstrate that they practise safely and effectively. The system is designed to help nurses and midwives develop professionally throughout their careers, as well as ensuring public confidence in the professions. Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) in South Wales was one of 19 NMC revalidation pilot sites. This involved nurses and midwives, who were due to complete their self-declaration between January 1 and September 30 2015, testing the revalidation processes. The aim of the article is to describe the experience of three paediatric nurses who participated in the pilot.

Investigation of nurses' intention to leave: a study of a sample of UK nurses.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of the key antecedents of leave intention demonstrated by nurses employed in UK National Health Service (NHS). Survey assessment of a sample of 433 nurses employed within the NHS was undertaken, potential relationships relating to both affective commitment and leave intention and work-place experiences assessed through leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organisational support (POS) have been evaluated quantitatively, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equations modelling (SEM). The study indicates that both LMX and POS act as direct antecedents to nurses' leave intention. Additionally, both LMX and POS in combination, significantly effect employees' affective commitment, the latter further impacting on employee leave intention. This would suggest that both LMX and POS have a significant role to play in employee leave intention that is partially mediated by affective commitment, further analysis confirming this to be the case. Research limitations/implications - The sample of nurses is large in absolute terms, permitting the CFA/SEM analysis undertaken, although the data represented only two NHS trusts, hence generalisation across the NHS should be done so cautiously. Various other drivers of leave intention, personal and organisational, have not been assessed here. The implications of these results are that to safeguard nurse retention, appropriate line manager engagement is crucial, but this requires organisational support that is recognised by the employees, especially to enhance their levels of affective commitment. This is given by providing NHS-based assessment of the role of both POS and LMX in the realisation of both affective commitment and desire to remain with their current organisations amongst members of the UK nursing profession.

Increasing the frequency of physical activity very brief advice for cancer patients. Development of an intervention using the behaviour change wheel

BackgroundBeing physically active has multiple benefits for cancer patients. Despite this only 23% are active to the national recommendations and 31% are completely inactive.A cancer diagnosis offers a teachable moment in which patients might be more receptive to lifestyle changes. Nurses are well placed to offer physical activity advice, however, only 9% of UK nurses involved in cancer care talk to all cancer patients about physical activity.A change in the behaviour of nurses is needed to routinely deliver physical activity advice to cancer patients. As recommended by the Medical Research Council, behavioural change interventions should be evidenced-based and use a relevant and coherent theoretical framework to stand the best chance of success. ObjectiveThis paper presents a case study on the development of an intervention to improve the frequency of delivery of very brief advice (VBA) on physical activity by nurses to cancer patients, using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW). MethodThe eight composite steps outlined by the BCW guided the intervention development process. An iterative approach was taken involving key stakeholders (n = 45), with four iterations completed in total. This was not defined a priori but emerged during the development process. ResultsA 60 min training intervention, delivered in either a face-to-face or online setting, with follow-up at eight weeks, was designed to improve the capability, opportunity and motivation of nurses to deliver VBA on physical activity to people living with cancer. This intervention incorporates seven behaviour change techniques of goal setting coupled with commitment; instructions on how to perform the behaviour; salience of the consequences of delivering VBA; a demonstration on how to give VBA, all delivered via a credible source with objects added to the environment to support behavioural change. ConclusionThe BCW is a time consuming process, however, it provides a useful and comprehensive framework for intervention development and greater control over intervention replication and evaluation.