It can be nerve-wracking, but the journey from student to nurse is well worth it

‘I was nervous in my new role, but I felt reassured when my colleagues told me that nobody expected me to know everything’ .

Protecting frontline workers and their patients from infection

In 2016, the NHS as a whole failed a major cross-government test of its ability to handle a severe pandemic. The results of this Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) exercise, known...

Clinical negligence claims following the COVID-19 pandemic

‘Grieving families of patients who have died after contracting coronavirus are exploring the possibility of taking the NHS to court, as unions warn litigation threats are piling added pressure on...

Academic essays part 1: the importance of academic writing

For most nurses who struggle with academic skills, it is usually not their innate academic ability that is the problem, but the lack of specific skills required to research the question and then...

Burnout: a continuing problem

‘Compassionate and collective leadership (individually and institutionally) are core to ensuring staff have the right support.’ .

The ‘transverse guard’ wound dressing technique to reduce faecal contamination after spinal surgery in neonates and infants

The transverse guard was introduced in November 2017, so a retrospective review of all neonates who had undergone open MMC repair between March 2016 and May 2020 was performed. Operations beyond 3...

Intertrigo: causes, prevention and management

Intertrigo is a common inflammatory skin disorder that occurs because of skin-on-skin friction in the skin folds (called intertriginous regions), as a result of moisture becoming trapped owing to poor...

Static overlays for pressure ulcer prevention: a hospital-based health technology assessment

Our aim was to investigate the properties and consequences of implementing static overlays based on an observational study comparing AAM with two different types of static overlay. The results showed...

Working in challenging times

Moisture-associated skin damage: causes and an overview of assessment, classification and management

It is well documented that the skin is the largest organ of the body. It is made up of three layers (epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous layer) (Figures 1 and 2) and performs several important...

Chronic enterocutaneous fistula: management in the community setting

In 1988, Tonn identified three key nursing objectives for providing effective fistula care:.

What is creativity?

‘It could be argued that the situation with COVID-19 has accelerated change and driven creativity and innovation in the health service at a pace unseen in recent times’ .