Opinion

Comment

Nurse retention: steep rise in newly registered nurses quitting profession means action is needed to boost morale and reduce burnout

Nurse burnout busters: my staff retention to-do list for managers and nursing employers

Here’s how to give newly registered nurses – and all nurses – the workplaces they deserve

Free
Mental healthcare and digitalisation: picture shows computer screen with System Hacked warning – recent ransomware attacks and technology outages have underlined the need for robust cybersecurity measures and disaster recovery plans

Embracing digital innovation can be a benefit, but beware ransomware attacks

As long as digitalisation enhances human connection, the benefits are clear to see

Smiling nurse helps patient get up from bed, showing how ward nurse intervention is important in preventing inpatient falls

Staggered break times turns out to be a winning falls-prevention strategy for inpatients

How a hospital team has all-but eliminated falls in a simple but systematic way

Blurred image of healthcare professionals moving at high speed with a hospital trolley along a corridor, suggesting the time and workload pressures facing emergency department staff

DNACPR tragedy will prey on the consciences of nurses involved, but they are all of us

Patient’s death tells us what we already know, but will it change anything?

Patients can be misled when the word ‘nurse’ is part of the title of a non-registered role

‘Nurse’ title for unregistered roles is a dangerous deception and holds us in contempt

Healthcare support staff are invaluable, but inflated titles do them no favours either

Image shows a member of healthcare staff facing an open cupboard and holding a plastic bottle of medication

Paracetamol theft: does the punishment fit the crime?

Why I find it hard to swallow nurse’s six-month suspension for taking ward painkillers

Expert advice

Mpox: nursing care and treatment, recognising signs and reducing risk

Mpox: should UK be worried and are nursing staff at increased risk?

How to spot signs, identify risk factors and understand the treatment options

urses face a dilemma when friends and family ask them about health issues

My family and friends keep asking me for health advice. What should I do?

How to maintain professionalism when faced with health questions outside work

A girl on a bus seems pensive as she looks out of the window

How you can use social prescribing to boost children’s mental health

Social prescribing connects to community activities that meet social and emotional needs

Illustration of article about NHS mileage rates shows nurse filling her car at a petrol pump

NHS mileage rates and why no change should no longer be an option

With petrol price spikes hitting staff in certain communities extra-hard, what can be done?

A picture of a pig-shaped money box sitting on top of coin stacks of decreasing size, with a person’s hand hovering above about to place a £2 coin inside the money box

How you can take your pension and keep a salary

Find out whether a flexible retirement option, such as retire and rejoin, could be for you

A stoma bag is positioned on a patient’s abdomen by gloved hands

Stoma care: tips on how to support patients, dispel myths and banish stigma

Practical advice on nursing care and addressing individuals’ lifestyle concerns

Editorial

What is the role of a nursing associate in mental health?

Acceptance of the role is driven by the reality of nursing shortages

Looking back to the future of the mental health nursing profession

Neil Brimblecombe reflects on how practitioners’ roles have evolved over the years

2021 RCN Nursing Awards: search for the best innovations in mental health nursing is on

Entries are open for this year’s mental health nursing category of the RCN Nursing Awards. Be in it to win it

Have your say on Mental Health Act reforms

Nurses can contribute to the white paper consultation on replacing the Mental Health Act 1983

COVID-19: will you as a mental health nurse get vaccinated?

You may decide not to have the vaccine, but there are questions you should ask yourself first

Clarion call for more mental health nurses to enter the research leadership programme

Only nine practitioners applied for the first programme in 2019

Your views

Nurse choosing extra shifts

Extra shifts: would you be willing to do more to help clear the NHS backlog? 

NHS staff already work over their hours, often unpaid to help cut patient waiting times

Will revising job profiles change how nurses are valued?

Revisions to nursing bands may make little difference without appropriate pay rises

Illustration of weighing sometimes conflicting interests in nursing care of patient choice against harm prevention shows scales with one frowny face on one side outweighed by multiple, smaller smiley faces

Patient choice versus harm prevention: where do you strike the balance?

Shared decision-making means providing information that allows informed consent

Illustration showing an outstretched hand catching three floating squares bearing a heart design, suggesting a show of appreciation

Would a gratitude scheme help make you feel valued?

Giving ‘hearts’ colleagues can swap for gifts – our readers consider if it has an impact

Backlog

Fitness to practise cases: is the NMC doing enough to tackle the backlog?

We ask our readers if more money will resolve the growing FtP caseload

A nurse appears apprehensive while being questioned by a senior nurse

Can difficult personal circumstances excuse mistakes at work?

We ask our readers if factors outside of work should be considered relevant

Reviews

Recovery in Mental Health Nursing

The blurb on the back cover says this book is for nurses and other professionals in mental health practice, but the contents are clearly directed towards nursing students

Out of the Woods: A journey through depression and anxiety

Brent Williams provides a compelling insight into the experience of depression told mainly through pictures

Book review: Treating Body and Soul – A clinicians’ guide to supporting the physical,...

Little is added to the debate on spirituality and care by the outdated ideas in this book

Edinburgh Fringe review

Lesley Warner reviews plays with mental health themes at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Book review: Introducing Mental Health: A Practical Guide (Second edition)

Self-employed nursing advisor David Harding-Price reviews Introducing Mental Health: A Practical Guide by Caroline Kinsella and Connor Kinsella

Book review: Proper People: Early Asylum Life in the Words of Those Who Were There (...

Visiting teaching fellow Liam Clarke reviews Proper People: Early Asylum Life in the Worlds of Those Who were There by David Scrimgeour

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