Nigel Cox

Subjects of concern: troubling categories

Nursing is described by many as ‘practice based’: an appealing and irresistible phrase, a salve for professional self-doubt, and a position that has great utility when communicating the essence of nursing to others outside the profession. Yet this is also a political position, situated in a particular configuration of relationships, identities and histories. Nursing is a practice-based profession, but it is certainly not unique in this respect. To refuse intellectually diverse scrutiny on the premise that this is somehow incompatible with the ‘art’ of nursing and a ‘practical’ closeness to the patient cannot be defended.

Oxpentifylline: an advance in the treatment of frostbite

Staff working in London teaching hospitals rarely see cases of cold induced injuries in men who are young and fit. At Charing Cross Hospital however, several such injuries presented in one month. All were initially seen by emergency nurse practitioners (ENPs).