Winner of
Contents The Nursing Week
2012
2 5
7 9 Nurses are left to pick up cleaning duties
National survey reveals one in 10 patients experience avoidable harm
New initiative will tell the public that nurses are remarkable, says Peter Carter
The Big Question: should cleaning be part of the nurse remit?
Nursing Practice 11 12 16
Comment: expand HCA role to focus on older people’s rehabilitation
Discussion: dementia care: focusing on daily experiences
Innovation: using negative pressure therapy in wound healing
21 24 28 Chair: Dylan Jones, Editor, GQ
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Research: silver tube coatings in pneumonia prevention
Innovation: collaborative working to reduce VTE
NICE guidance: VTE: its diagnosis and management
Nursing Life 30 31
60 seconds with Trisha Grocott, reader in palliative wound care at King’s College London
Role model: Tony Jameson-Allen who uses sporting memories to improve life for people with dementia
Don’t miss
More than a thousand Nursing Times readers responded to our survey on cleaning (page 2). The results show this an area of large variation both in what is viewed as acceptable and what nurses are expected to do on the ground. A surprising number of respondents reported having to clean toilets, while more than 10% believed nurses should not have to do any cleaning at all. Sarah Calkin
Editor’s view
“It’s time to shout about the talents of nurses”
B
ravo to the Royal College of Nursing’s This is Nursing campaign, coming soon to a bus near you. The RCN’s vision is to emblazon the nation’s public transport sys- tems with images and messages that communicate just
how important, talented and special the profession really is. The advertisements will signpost the public to its website, which will further reinforce these ideas (see page 7). The effect may be to encourage more people into nursing as well
as to ensure the public have the right idea about what it takes to be a nurse and the skills and knowledge required. I was recently talking about the Nursing Times Awards to
someone who had nothing to do with the profession. They seemed shocked that we invite nurses into our offi ces to present their project ideas to the judges. They thought it was “mean” of us – believing nurses to be timid creatures, only allowed out in daylight to dutifully follow the instructions of doctors or change a bedsheet.
Amid all the diffi culty and challenge, the This is Nursing campaign reminds nurses of what is great about their career choice and the opportunities it off ers
Let’s not pretend that view is uncommon. Nurses do change
sheets, clean patients’ mouths, feed those unable to lift a knife and fork, and hold the hands of patients and just listen. Those are vital nursing skills. But they are not the only things that defi ne nursing. Nurses can work in academia, they can educate the next genera-
tion of nurses. Nurses can work in research and fi nd evidence to improve patient safety, experience and care. Nurses can run their own clinics, prescribe medicines, make their own clinical deci- sions and yes, speak out on behalf of the patient or carer – even if it means they disagree with doctors about the best course of action. Nursing is a precious vocation. It’s time the shining talents of
nurses were shouted about, instead of hidden in the background while the media launches another frenzied attack on nursing staff. The This is Nursing fi lm was fi rst played at the RCN Congress in
May. Its theme tune became the call back into the congress room at the start of sessions, and created a few lumps in the throats of even the most well-seasoned congress goers, according to nurse tweeters. Amid all the diffi culty and challenge, it reminds nurses of
what is great about their career choice and the opportunities it offers to make a real difference. Now it needs to have the same effect on the public – recreating a sense of pride in and respect for the profession, and challenging media suggestions that the entire profession has lost its way.
● Check out the video at
nursingtimes.net/ thisisnursing. Book your tickets for the Nursing Times Awards at
ntawards.co.uk
Jenni Middleton, editor
jenni.middleton@emap.com. Follow
me on Twitter @nursingtimesed
www.nursingtimes.net / Vol 108 No 36 / Nursing Times 04.09.12 1
EDITOR DIRECT Chat live with the editor and other nurses on Twitter every Wednesday at 1pm using the hashtag NTtwitchat
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