Bob Price
The older woman’s body image
Body image is an important concept that has a significant effect on a person’s self-esteem and self-confidence. Appreciating how the older body is perceived by a woman is an important first step to understanding how nurses might support patient dignity. This article reviews the latest literature on ageing and body image and suggests practical dialogues that nurses and patients can share.
Investigating a practice skill
Practice skills are at the heart of successful primary health care. They are used to channel the knowledge and expertise of nurses into care strategies that benefit patients. Practice skills contribute to our professional identity, what nurses do best, uniquely and to discernible effect. Our competence as a nurse and perhaps as an advanced practitioner of primary health care is often judged with reference to practice skills. It is important then to know how to investigate a chosen practice skill, determining what works well and what might yet be improved. This article examines the relevant areas of investigation and suggests that periodic skill review is a good example of professionalism at work in nursing.
Understanding patient accounts of body image change
Patients share a variety of accounts of their altered body image experiences associated with cancer and its treatment and these must be identified and understood if nursing care is to be arranged in a supportive way. This article leads the reader through several accounts of body image change and indicates why each is important for the role of the cancer specialist nurse.
Exploring attitudes towards older people’s sexuality
Sexuality is an important part of life, for older people as well as for others. Sexual attitudes, beliefs and lifestyles may be as diverse among older people as they are among younger age groups. But for nurses to plan care with patients in ways that take issues of sexuality into account, they need to feel more comfortable talking about sexuality with older people. This article uses case studies to help readers explore their own attitudes and those of colleagues towards sexuality in later years, and prompts discussions on what this might signify for future nursing care so that staff are better equipped to assist patients with this subject.
Becoming a governor of an NHS foundation trust
Nurses have a key role in the successful governance of NHS foundation trusts, either as staff governors or representatives of the public. This article explores the role of the governor in each of these contexts and indicates some of the opportunities and challenges of representing stakeholder interests.
Body image in adolescents: insights and implications
This article explores some of the key processes associated with the development of a normal body image in adolescence and considers the impact of illness on the same. Nurses are assisted to explore the ways in which their insights into body image change might assist adolescents to cope with illness, injury or disability in a more constructive way.
Supporting patients’ dignity in the community
Although dignity has been written about extensively, there is still an opportunity to explore the translation of the concept into community-based nursing care. Threats to dignity in the community are different from those in hospital, therefore the nursing approach should also be subtly different. An understanding of the relationship between integrity and dignity is central to care in the community and can help nurses demonstrate respect for patients.
Guidance on conducting a literature search and reviewing mixed literature
This article sets out recommendations for conducting a review of different categories of literature, known as ‘mixed literature’.
The intelligent workforce
IF THE healthcare service is to remain fit for purpose and the government’s skills agenda is to be addressed, the healthcare workforce must be developed ( Department of Health 2004 , Leitch 2006 , Skills for Health 2008 ).
Strategies to help nurses cope with change in the healthcare setting
Working in health care has never seemed more exciting or stressful. The rapid changes made to the ways in which services are delivered, the search for economies of scale and role change adjustments designed to ensure that provision is timely and consumer friendly, all have the potential to create a stressful working environment. There are no longer jobs for life and nurses are required to perform new duties or to apply for posts that they once counted as their own. Although change does not need to be threatening, this article examines the experience when it is and recommends supportive ways of dealing with it.
Case study research with children and their families
Because the care of children and their families requires an intimate knowledge of their world, the ways in which they understand health and cope with illness, case study research has much to offer the paediatric nurse. This feature summarises the key tenets of case study research and explores what a case study research design within childrens’ health nursing might look like.
Managing conflict in the care of older people
This article offers a case study skill analysis of conflict management as it applies to the care of older people and assists the reader to conduct a similar review of their own.
Exploring person-centred care
This article explores the philosophy of person-centred care. Person-centred care developed in response to the need for a more patient-sensitive healthcare service and is based on a rich understanding of the patient, his or her circumstances and needs.
Delphi survey research and older people
Delphi survey or Delphi technique has been described as an effective way of gathering information on a subject where there is currently scant evidence available. It provides an opportunity for participants to offer an expert opinion on the subject in question and helps to clarify what individuals consider to be most important about the topic under consideration. In this article the practical steps needed to construct a Delphi survey are reviewed in the context of the special circumstances associated with older adult participants.
Conducting sensitive patient interviews
Nurses are frequently engaged in the process of sensitive interviewing, whether taking a health history, dealing with a complaint or exploring a problem with a patient. This article explains key principles in the conduct of sensitive interviewing and highlights the use of a laddered question framework that can be used to manage necessary intrusion into the patient’s situation and promote understanding.
Understanding the origins of practice problems
Set against a background of modern-day nursing practice becoming ever more complex, this article aims to help nurses solve problems by understanding their origins and recognising them when they occur.
Phenomenological research and older people
Phenomenology has become one of the most popular research approaches used by nurses in health care today. Its inherent appeal is that it assists the researcher to explore the lived experience of others. Given nurses’ concern for the needs and problems of older people this has obvious appeal. Health problems in old age are complex and it is important to appreciate them from the individual’s perspective. However, phenomenology calls for thoughtful planning and skilful interviewing. Coding of data requires analytical skill and it is important not to make excessive claims about the significance of findings.
Mapping the social support networks of patients
The aim of this article is to provide you with a briefing on how to construct a social support network map with cancer sufferers. Cancer poses unique problems for patients who often feel vulnerable for months at a time. Following preliminary treatment, patients are not guaranteed a cure. Treatment programmes are often lengthy and designed to sustain a remission. As a result, the support needs of patients extend well beyond the confines of the hospital and into the community ( Sammarco 2001 , Ebright and Lyon 2002 ). Patients will need to draw extensively upon lay support and the question arises, ‘who might help me’ ( Bottomley and Jones 1997 ; Pistrang 1997 )? A key contribution of the nurse at the juncture of hospital and community based care is assistance with mapping social support ( Price 1999 ).