Equal efficacy of gastric and jejunal tube feeding in liver cirrhosis and/or alcoholic hepatitis: a randomised controlled study

All patients provided informed written consent to take part. Overall, the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The experimental protocol was approved by the Central...

Using dried blood spot testing for diagnosing viral hepatitis

A DBS sample is obtained by a finger-tip skin puncture using a lancet, then collecting capillary blood onto a filter paper test (see Figure 1). This technique was developed by Ivar Christian Bang in...

Supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sexual violence is a term that covers various serious violent crimes—it means that someone forces or manipulates another person into unwanted sexual activity without their consent. It is important to...

Communicating with children and young people

Clearly, when a nurse is communicating with a child or young person, they need to consider the client's age and level of development (Dos Santos et al, 2016), to acknowledge levels of understanding or...

Administration of the flu vaccination: required skills and knowledge

Those eligible will be offered a vaccine most effective for them, depending on age and inclusion criteria recognising their potential vulnerability, such as patients with a long-term condition. Adults...

Considering the switch to a latex-free glove policy to safeguard staff and patients

NRL is extensively used in the manufacture of medical gloves, but is also used in catheters, elasticised bandages and wound dressings (Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 2020). NRL is a milky fluid...

Setting up a successful nurse-led intravitreal injections service: pearls from Swindon

The number of intravitreal injections required in the UK is set to increase by about 30% over the next 10 years, corresponding to an increase in the number of patients being diagnosed with wet AMD due...

Mandatory vaccination for seasonal influenza: what are nurses' views?

This qualitative study formed phase two of a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study reported elsewhere (Flanagan et al, 2020). A self-selected sample of qualified nurses participated in five...

Do preceptorship and clinical supervision programmes support the retention of nurses?

This literature review aimed to address the following question. ‘Do preceptorship and clinical supervision programmes support nurse retention in hospital settings?’ A PICo (Population, Interest,...

Becoming fall-safe: a framework for reducing inpatient falls

The journey to reduce falls at BSUH began in April 2009. The catalyst for this work was, unfortunately, far from unique: a catastrophic fall leading to the death of a patient, a bereft family,...

A service evaluation: impact of nurse-led regional familial hypercholesterolaemia service on a hospital adult lipid clinic

The demographics and biochemical characteristics of patients classified with SBR definite FH (n=6) and possible FH (n=134) are shown in Table 2. In summary, a pathogenic FH mutation (pathogenic...

Letters to the Editor

I read with great interest Kirk and Bezzant's (2020) article drawing attention to the numerous barriers that prevent health professionals from screening women for domestic violence and abuse (DVA)....

Schools of nursing must represent UK diversity in their teaching programmes

A nurse will perform your operation today: how nursing roles are changing

Nurses carrying out procedures that require high levels of experience, competence and skill is not a new concept to the profession, however. In 2003, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reported that nurses...

Pandemic inspires innovative use of virtual simulation to teach practical skills

This teaching approach draws on experiential learning theory (Kolb, 2014) and uses transformational, pragmatic underpinnings of drama to develop nursing students' assessment and decision-making...