So many gardens: Press Release [ now ]

It had to happen. Twice over.

The irony that just as so many homes with older people living in them have gardens that are in a state of neglect, so too do many nursing and care homes.

Of course this is a sign in those domestics homes of reduced abilities.

In the residential care and nursing homes, garden neglect is reassuring.

A $ure sign that the love and spending is on the blooms inside?

The limitations of the healthcare sector

4

many

decades there 

have been recurring 

issues, austerity measures, 

requirements, policy challenges, 

policy initiatives, gaps between theory 

and practice, a crisis in compassionate care, 

rising waiting times and a plethora of other concerns.

All these then and much more 

affect the

 healthcare

 sector

Clearly, there is no 'magic wand', but there must be a way to address some of the difficulties? 

Within health and social care, locally, nationally and globally we need a tool to help improve interprofessional reflective practice, to support person-centered, holistic care across physical, emotional, social, political and spiritual domains of care. 

The future demands a resource (free, open, easy to learn) that can also facilitate self-care, health literacy and the many carers within families and communities.

 

So, how big is your picture?

Resistence is futile: give in to the obvious need for the 'nhm'

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

nhm	ohm + nhm
nhm	nhm (+ ohm!)

group - population

ohm: The ohm (symbol: Ω) is the SI derived unit of electrical resistance, named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. (Wikipedia)


nhm: The nhm (symbol: +).

However, the principles do not extend to problems posed by cognitive impairment as a result of the illness and the ever present danger of wandering, seeking old and familiar surroundings, or acting on memories from years gone by. Some patients become aggressive at times; the service must have mechanisms for managing patients effectively in ways that recognise their inherent worth and humanity. The stigma and abbreviated autonomy that is implied in managing people with dementia requires a new holistic method of managing their care that relates the care to the patients'/service users' values. p.80. [my emphasis]

Heginbotham, C. (2012) Values-Based Commissioning of Health and Social Care, Cambridge, CUP. (Review to follow).

Consultation on the proposed withdrawal of the SNOMED CT national care planning content

In addition to responding myself, I notice on the actual consultation page on 'Citizen Space' there is an option to share this consultation.

Dear Peter,

You are registered for the care planning content via the HSCIC Technology Reference data Update Distribution website.

The national Care Planning Content is designed for use to support care planning functionality across health and social care. This functionality crosses many professions/sectors which may have differing descriptions for a care plan in the traditional health record (e.g. treatment plans, birthing plans, support plans, intervention plans or care order sets). The content can support the interoperation of care plans across boundaries and paper based care plans based on the pack have also been used successfully to gain greater familiarity with structured terminology (SNOMED CT).

More details at: http://www.infostandards.org/careplanning

The absence of a declared owner or sponsor for this product means that we are proposing to withdraw it and are keen to hear views and understand the impact of not maintaining this content and its associated services.

We have a number of questions to determine how information Standards could best support the development of a standard for care planning, the consultation can be found at:

https://consultations.infostandards.org/bdea/snomed-ct-care-planning/consult_view

- and we would value and encourage your feedback on this proposal.

If you have any questions regarding the above you can contact us by sending an e-mail to information.standards AT hscic.gov.uk. This is the preferred form of communication.

You can also telephone for advice and support. Our telephone number is +44 845 13 00 114
We are available weekdays from 9am to 5pm.

Regards
The TRUD support team
Health and Social Care Information Centre

Time, History, Technology, Institutions, Transparency and Reflective Practice

Despite the passing of time

refactored as
institutional history
 and
 technical solutions,

reflective practice

and
transparency

in care
remain aspirational.

Image: Sculpture at Prague Congress Center

'Nursing the Nation' poem Molly Case at RCN Congress 2013

The past fortnight has been quite intense in terms of conferences and the focus upon nursing education; plus as was pointed out to me I travelled from Jordan to Jordanstown. The conference in Jordan began with a beautiful prayer and I heard of this poem while away:

RCN 2nd live chat Friday 25th January Emergency Care on Twitter

EMERGENCY CARE is the topic of the RCN’s second live chat on Twitter, taking place this Friday.


Is the hospital model of delivering care still fit for purpose? Is the pressure on emergency care services reaching breaking point? What does the future hold?
Join @theRCN for a live discussion on Friday between 12.45 and 1.15pm, using #RCNchat


The RCN (theRCN) on Twitter
Instantly connect to what's most important to you.
Follow your friends, experts, favorite celebritie...

(My source: Stu Young; Facebook - Royal College of Nursing Students)

Virtual International Day of the Midwife - start 10.00 5th May New Zealand

Hello everyone

For those of you who do not know me, I am one of the facilitators of the Virtual International Day of the Midwife. This is a free online conference that runs for:

24 hours starting 10.00 5th May New Zealand. 

The conference is designed for midwives and anyone interested in birth. And if you cannot attend, we'll be recording the conference sessions for you to watch in your own time.

I am delighted to announce that the program for the conference is now confirmed: http://internationaldayofthemidwife.wikispaces.com/

Please go to the website above for all information, including how to access the web conference room that we'll be using, as well as practice sessions where you can get one-to-one help with setting up your technology.

You can also follow us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/VirtualInternationalDayoftheMidwife
and Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/VIDofM

There is also a poster that you can download and print off, in order to advertise this event to your colleagues. Look forward to seeing you at the conference. If you have any queries about the program, or the technology, please let me know or leave a comment on our Facebook page.

regards Sarah
Sarah Stewart
EdD Student and Consultant
http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com
Skype: sarah.m.stewart
Twitter: SarahStewart

Masquerade in health care but on which level?

There is a Drupal module called Masquerade, the project page explains:

The masquerade module is designed as a tool for site designers and site administrators. It allows a user with the right permissions to switch users. While masquerading, a field is set on the $user object, and a menu item appears allowing the user to switch back. Watchdog entries are made any time a user masquerades or stops masquerading.

Life frequently asks more of us and the same applies for employees in whichever employment sector. For teachers and nurses they know the call. As a nurse you adopt the mask of the uniform and the role. You may not actually carry the lamp, but it's there. Sometimes it helps light the way; for the public, for you. If you are a 'bad' nurse - whether your attitude put the lamp out this morning, yesterday, or several years ago -  the darkness that follows you about speaks volumes.

It prompts Prime Ministers to make announcements:

PM announces new focus on quality and nursing care

06 January 2012 12:54

A new drive to free up nurses to provide the care patients and relatives expect has been announced today by Prime Minister David Cameron and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

The push will see nurses spending more time on front line care in wards and other services, a senior ward nurse with whom the buck stops, patients leading on inspections and a new 'friends and family test' to show whether nurses and patients had a good overall experience, or would want loved ones needing care to be treated at each hospital.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“We know the vast majority of patients are very happy with the care provided by the NHS. And I’ve seen the NHS at its very best. But we have heard recently that in some hospitals patients are not provided with the level care or respect they deserve and I am absolutely appalled by this.
“If we want dignity and respect, we need to focus on nurses and the care they deliver. The whole approach to caring in this country needs to be reset. And it needs to start with this simple fact. Caring for patients is what nurses do. Everything else comes second."

<->

While we all play masquerade there are many levels. As a 'nurse' it's difficult (but never impossible) to play the caring, skilled, knowledgeable, patient, warm, efficient ... representative AND ensure all records are maintained, letters written, all communications logged, targets achieved, electronic records and data gathering requirements met. ... If you need a steer-clear from the stereotypical image of Angels, then you should see the faces nurses pull behind the mask trying to satisfy the audience.

That audience does not just include managers, patient representatives, inspection agencies but policy makers and politicians. Of course the latter are expert proponents of masquerade (they practice through a 4-5 year cycle).

Closer to home and the Drupal module? Well, I can't see a role for masquerade on a new h2cm website, but the thought crosses my mind of general nurses masquerading as mental health nurses; social workers masquerading as nurses. ... Although I'm playing games :-) it makes you think about what we mean by 'multidisciplinary'. To what extent, for example, is care of people living with dementia being missed because these disciplinary distinctions - silos really do still prevail? Surely the nursing issue isn't just a lack of light?

This announcement is not exactly news given what has gone before in the UK media through 2011.

What is strange is that this policy should emerge in 2012: The Alan Turing Year.

Yes, nurses DO need time to care, but perhaps we also need a test for empathy and rapport and not just intelligence?