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Issue 07 - 4 December 2023

 

Books

  1. "Doctor, I feel funny": How to take the stress out of being in hospital, for patients and visitors
  2. How to disagree without being disagreeable: Getting your point across with the gentle art of verbal self-defense
  3. How we argue: 30 lessons in persuasive communication
  4. Nation dates: Timelines of significant events that have shaped the history of Aotearoa New Zealand
  5. Nursing a radical imagination: Moving from theory and history to action and alternate futures
  6. Seeking Comfort and Demanding Agency - An Autoethnographic Exploration of a Patient and Partner Experience

Articles – Patient Safety

  1. Patient safety: the care missed and compromises made
  2. The consequences of unsafe staffing
  3. Park hails safe staffing agreement
  4. ICN position statement on patient safety points to safe staffing as key

Selected Articles  - Nursing Management [RCN Journal]

  1. How to create a healthy 'speaking up' culture
  2. How to avoid blaming yourself for things you cannot control
  3. Ready to quit? How to fall back in love with nursing
  4. Does nursing past 50 have to mean 'tired out'?
  5. Nurse morale: leadership tips for supporting teams under pressure
  6. How psychological first aid can help nurses to cope
  7. Why ward managers need supernumerary status
  8. How to sustain best practice in infection control

Table of Contents

  1. American Journal of Nursing, September 2023

Events

  1. New Zealand College of Stomal Therapy Nurses Conference 2024 - Innovation
  2. APRC and Research Association of New Zealand (RANZ) Conference

National news

  1. Why we need an Aotearoa Centre for Disease Control (CDC)

International news

  1. One in four Australians suffering from eating disorders are male, yet research on muscle dysmorphia remains scarce
  2. Why knowing your blood sugar level is important and how you can manage it
  3. Rapid antigen tests should still be used for COVID-19, but some brands are better than others
  4. Chief medical officer's advice as cases soar during Australia's eighth Covid wave
  5. Doctor's to raise standard consultation fees due to biting living pressures
  6. Reducing anaemia in the developing world: why researchers are adding nutrients to salt and tea.

 

Books

NZNO members and staff can borrow these books for a period of 4 weeks.  Please provide a street address as the books may be couriered out to you.

1.“Doctor, I feel funny”: How to take the stress out of being in hospital, for patients and visitors

Cameron-Hill, P. & Yates, Dr. Shayne. Foreword by Patch Adams
Published 1999

This book tackles the everyday concerns of being in hospital with practical ideas and friendly advice which is easy to read and use. The cartoons and funny stories combine the facts with fun to cheer up anybody who is in need of a lift.

2. How to disagree without being disagreeable: Getting your point across with the gentle art of verbal self-defense

Elgin, S. H.
Published 1997

With her Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense techniques, you'll be able to respond clearly to hostile comments from others--or deliver necessary negative messages of your own--without sacrificing your dignity or principles. You'll learn to:

  • Keep domestic disagreements from escalating
  • Deliver criticism to co-workers, employers, or employees
  • Handle aggressive, negative comments about race, politics, or religion
  • Provide discipline without increasing hostility
  • Use language that reduces tension and creates rapport in every situation

3. How we argue: 30 lessons in persuasive communication

Tindale, C. W.
Published 2023

Arguing is an important form of communication in any society and a principal way in which ideas are exposed, discussed, and modified. The real-life examples examined in this book reflect the different considerations that go into composing arguments and the range of strategies that can be chosen as vehicles for our positions. They demonstrate the roles that emotion can play along with other modes of conveying evidence, from the use of images to the use of gestures. They show the power of threats, comparisons, and consequences.

4. Nation dates: Timelines of significant events that have shaped the history of Aotearoa New Zealand

McGuiness, W.
Published 2020

Nation Dates presents timelines of significant events that have shaped Aotearoa New Zealand as a nation. Threads link related events and illustrate patterns that have formed over time. The fourth edition includes four new timelines: Political Agreements, New Zealand Wars, Government Net Worth and COVID-19.

5. Nursing a radical imagination: Moving from theory and history to action and alternate futures

Dillard-Wright, J., Hopkins-Walsh, J. & Brown, B.
Published 2022

Examining the historical context of healthcare whilst focusing on building a more just, equitable world, this book proposes a radical imagination for nursing and presents possibilities for speculative futures embracing queer, feminist, posthuman, and abolitionist frames. Bringing together radical and emancipatory perspectives from an international selection of authors, this book reflects on the realities created by the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing that our situation is not new but the result of ongoing hegemonies and injustices.

6. Seeking Comfort and Demanding Agency—An Autoethnographic Exploration of a Patient and Partner Experience

Jenny Aimers & Peter Walker, (posthumous)
Illness, Crisis & Loss – Online First November 4, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/10541373231210370

This article applies an autoethnographic approach to the journey a patient and their partner undertook as they negotiated a medical adverse event. The resultant cascade of conditions lasted almost 4 years and resulted in the eventual death of the patient. This article illuminates the patient's experience of comfort across a continuum of healthcare settings and how both the patient and their partner were able to enact agency despite challenging institutional barriers, to become partners in their healthcare journey.

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Articles – Patient Safety

7. Patient safety: the care missed and compromises made

Pavan Amara
Nursing Standard. (2023, Nov). 38 (11), 14-17. doi: 10.7748/ns.38.11.14.s10

Understaffing on the front line is not new, but increased pressures have taken the consequences to new levels. Here, nurses discuss the challenges and barriers to reporting concerns

8. The consequences of unsafe staffing

Alaska Nurse (2023, Spring). 74(1), 8-10

This article examines the impact of unsafe staffing on nurses and patients, and explores the role of policy and regulation in shaping these outcomes. Despite the tireless efforts of nurses to advocate for safe staffing ratios and other solutions, progress has been slow, and the issue remains a ticking time bomb in the healthcare industry.

9. Park hails safe staffing agreement

Lamp (2023, Oct/Nov). 80(5), 16-17

The article discusses the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the state government and the NSWNMA on the implementation of safe staffing levels in public hospitals.

10. ICN position statement on patient safety points to safe staffing as key

World of Irish Nursing & Midwifery, (2023, Oct). 31(7), 14-15

The new position statement calls on governments to substantially increase investment and recruitment, development and training and retention of the health workforce as a critical action to reduce patient harm and advance patient safety.

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Selected Articles  - Nursing Management [RCN Journal]

11. How to create a healthy ‘speaking up’ culture

Adrian O’Dowd, Health journalist
Nursing Management (2023, Oct). 30(5), 10-11. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.5.10.s4

After the Letby case exposed faults in the NHS’s response to concerns, nurse managers must ensure staff can speak up. Even before this, an expert analysis by the National Guardian’s Office of the most recent NHS Staff Survey showed that workers’ confidence to speak up about concerns in the workplace has declined for the second year in a row.

12. How to avoid blaming yourself for things you cannot control

Pavan Amara Nurse, midwife and health journalist
Nursing Management (2023, Oct). 30(5), 6-8. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.5.6.s2

Service pressures can make nurses internalise others’ feelings or worries, so it is essential to recognise and manage the risks of shouldering guilt. Feelings of professional guilt affect nurses at all levels, say those involved in delivering psychological or emotional support to healthcare workers.

13. Ready to quit? How to fall back in love with nursing

Lynne Pearce, Health journalist
Nursing Management (2023, Aug). 30(4), 10-11. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.4.10.s4

Advice from those who have been there on how to refresh your perspective and reinvigorate your career. With a nursing vacancy rate of almost 11% in the NHS in England and about one in five of those who leave (18.3%) citing too much pressure as the reason, it is clear many nurses are unhappy at work and seeking alternatives. But is leaving the only choice if you find yourself in this situation, or is it possible to fall back in love with nursing?

14. Does nursing past 50 have to mean ‘tired out’?

Catherine Turnbull, Health journalist
Nursing Management (2023, Aug). 30(4), 6-8. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.4.6.s2

With many nurses staying on the register past retirement age, we look at the pros and cons of nursing beyond midlife, including through perimenopause and menopause. The nursing workforce is getting older – the latest data from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register shows that one in three nurses on the permanent register is aged 51 or older.

15. Nurse morale: leadership tips for supporting teams under pressure

Erin Dean, Health journalist
Nursing Management (2023, Apr). 30(2), 14-16. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.2.14.s6

What nurse managers can do to help staff feel appreciated and keep teams unified – including gestures that make a difference and gimmicks to avoid. With nurses working under crushing pressures, huge demands on health services and an ongoing staffing crisis, all amid a major pay dispute, there is no doubt that times are tough.

16. How psychological first aid can help nurses to cope

Lynne Pearce, Health journalist
Nursing Management. (2023, Apr). 30(2), 10-11. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.2.10.s4

Psychological first aid (PFA) is an intervention strategy to support people in severe distress following crisis events. These traumatic events might include natural disasters, accidents, violent crimes or trauma experienced in nursing work, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

17. Why ward managers need supernumerary status

Nicola Davis-Job, Acute care and leadership adviser, RCN Wales
Nursing Management. (2023, Oct). 30(5), 9-10. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.5.9.s3

Leadership takes time, so ward managers should not be counted as part of the nurse staffing needed for safe care. Ward managers provide valuable clinical leadership in the delivery of quality care to patients. Their role should be supernumerary – not counted as part of the staffing needed for safe care – affording those in post the time to lead and manage.

18. How to sustain best practice in infection control

Lynne Pearce, Health journalist
Nursing Management. (2023, Jun). 30(3), 10-11. doi: 10.7748/nm.30.3.10.s3

A new framework aims to encourage hand-washing and other daily practices that prevent and control infection. Infection prevention and control (IPC) is the clinical application of microbiology in practice, RCN guidance states.

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Table of Contents

Copes of these articles can be requested from the NZNO Library. library@nzno.org.nz

19. American Journal of Nursing, September 2023

19A. Editorial: From the patient to the human experience [Designing a health care system that is safe and equitable]

19B. Should nursing schools boycott traditional college ranking systems? [New measures would focus on advancing health equity]

19C. News: Gun-related deaths continue to rise [Report documents record gun sales during the COVID-19 pandemic]

19D. News: Casual pot use is harmful to teens [Study found similar risks among teens with and without cannabis use disorder]

19E. News: More home health care workers needed [Demand is projected to outstrip supply]

19F. Postpartum risks exist up to one year after childbirth [Report concludes that most U.S. deaths in this period are preventable]

19G. National drug shortages affect patient care [Navigating record-high, ongoing shortages]

19H. The clinical nurse specialist [These APRNs improve the workflow of nurses in health care systems]

19I. ‘Do I see myself?’ Exploring the potential for online images to attract a diverse nursing workforce  [Study findings indicate areas for improvement]

19J. Nurse-reported missed care and its association wit staff demographics and the work environment [Study findings provide insight and guidance to reduce missed nursing care]

19K. Exploring the human experience in health care [Understanding the psychological, emotional, and social aspects of health]

19L. Promoting diabetes self-management in a psychiatric hospital: A QI project evaluates the effectiveness of diabetes education

19M. Pneumococcal vaccination in adults [Updated recommendations and key considerations for nurses]

19N. A case of asymptomatic arrhythmia [A postsurgery finding on the ECG strip raises concern]

19O. The cluster randomized trial study design [A way to evaluate population – or public health-level interventions]

19P. The nurse in the waiting room: In grief and abandoned [Finding no guidance or support at a vulnerable moment]

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Events

20. New Zealand College of Stomal Therapy Nurses Conference 2024 - Innovation

Date: Feb 29 & Mar 1, 2024
Venue: Ellerslie Racecourse, Auckland

21. APRC and Research Association of New Zealand (RANZ) Conference

The future of insights: Where are all the humans?

This year's theme aims to get us thinking about the future of “us", the humans in the story. As large language models like ChatGPT rapidly weave their way into the insights industry, how will our role evolve? What are we doing now that we soon won’t need to do? What will we soon be compelled to do that we haven’t even considered yet? 

Date: 18 & 19 March 2024
Venue: Cordis, 83 Symonds Street, Grafton, Auckland.

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National news

22. Why we need an Aotearoa Centre for Disease Control (CDC)

PHCC, 16 November 2023
Michael Baker., John Crump., Amanda Kvalsvig., Jemma Geoghegan., Collin Tukuitonga., Maia Brewerton., John Kerr & Nick Wilson

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International news

23. One in four Australians suffering from eating disorders are male, yet research on muscle dysmorphia remains scarce

ABC News - Sun 12 Nov 2023

Sculpted men with bulging muscles, sweating it out at the gym or walking around in their tank tops is not commonly an image one would associate with eating disorders. However, with more than 1 million Australians suffering from an eating disorder, the reality is that 25 per cent of them are males, according to national eating disorders charity the Butterfly Foundation.

24. Why knowing your blood sugar level is important and how you can manage it

CBC News – 5 November 2023

Blood sugar levels can be affected by stress, sleep and a lack of exercise. But what role does food play when it comes to blood glucose? This week on The Dose, registered dietitian Anar Allidina talks about the role diet plays, how eating certain foods can help regulate your blood sugar and when to know it's time to see a doctor.

25. Rapid antigen tests should still be used for COVID-19, but some brands are better than others

ABC Health & Wellbeing, 2 November 2023

In 2022, a Cochrane review found enormous variation in the 'sensitivity' —  the ability to accurately pick up a positive case of COVID — between different brands of RATs. "When tests were used according to manufacturer instructions, average sensitivity by brand ranged from around 34 per cent to 93 per cent," said Emily MacLean, an epidemiologist at the University of Sydney. 

26. Chief medical officer’s advice as cases soar during Australia’s eighth Covid wave

Australia is in the grips of its eighth Covid wave, but the country’s chief medical officer has insisted it is “business as usual” in managing the disease.

1 November, 2023

There were 6605 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the country over the last week, reported on October 27, according to the country’s live Covid tracker.

27. Doctor’s to raise standard consultation fees due to biting living pressures

Australians are set to be charged more than $100 for a standard non-bulk billed GP appointment. The fee of a standard GP consultation will rise to $102 in November, after the Australian Medical Association (AMA) recommended doctors lift their prices to battle rising practice costs.

October 23, 2023

28. Reducing anaemia in the developing world: why researchers are adding nutrients to salt and tea.

Billions worldwide are affected by a lack of essential vitamins and minerals in their diets, but a team at Canada’s top university has developed a groundbreaking solution – fortifying staple foods with iron and other nutrient.

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