NEWS WORLD IN BRIEF Nurse shortages New Zealand is facing a critical shortage of nurses over the next three years because of its ageing workforce, a government study reveals. A report commissioned by the country’s ministry of health found nurse numbers had risen by more than 5,400 since 2009, taking the current workforce to 51,400. But New Zealand will need to train nurses in greater numbers by 2017 to account for the number who will retire by then, the report said. It also reveals a pressing shortage in end of life care, with 12 current vacancies in specialist nurse posts and 18 more likely over the next five years. Caseload concerns School nurses in the American state of Pennsylvania fear children could be at risk because some staff caseloads have more than doubled in a decade. The National Association of School Nurses wants two extra nurses to be hired in the Scranton School District, where the number of students seen by the existing team has increased by 63 per cent over the past eight years. Scranton meets state guidelines, which require districts to employ at least one school nurse for every 1,500 students, but the association says the guidelines are outdated and do not reflect the more complex cases that nurses deal with now. Staff killed Six nurses and an administrator were stabbed to death by a colleague at a sanatorium in northern China. Chinese state media said a man with a history of mental illness was detained following the attack in the early hours of November 20 at the sanatorium in Beidaihe, a seaside resort close to Beijing. A series of attacks on healthcare staff in recent years has led the Chinese health ministry to provide better security at hospitals. The most recent figures reveal there were 17,243 cases of violence or abuse against healthcare workers in 2010. Incidents included assaults, threats, kidnap and murder.
Nurses agree religion has a place in care By Alistair Kleebauer
@alistairbauer
Most nurses who attended a recent debate on religion in nursing agreed they should be able to exercise their faith openly when caring for patients. At the King’s College London and Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery annual debate, 65 per cent of the audience of around 70 nurses and students supported the motion that ‘nurses should be able, directly and openly, to apply their religion in caring for patients’. King’s College London chaplain, the Rev Keith Riglin argued: ‘Care by nurses is patient-centred but we approach the patient as full people, not as machines – we bring ourselves to our practice, and our world view is part of our being.’ Drawing on personal experience of praying with two nurses following his mother’s death, Mr Riglin said it would have been ‘dreadful’ if they had said they were not allowed to. Opposing the motion, Bryan Tully, a psychologist at St Thomas’ Hospital and pastoral support worker for the British Humanist Association, said
the wording of the motion was too broad. He said: ‘If the hospital began to sell prayer cards or had a bowl of holy water, you would think “that’s not right”.’ He added that nurses are expected to offer ‘secular delivery’ of health care nowadays. King’s College mental health nursing lecturer Niall McCrae, who chaired the debate, said: ‘As there have been several cases of nurses
THE NMC SHOULD SET A CLEARER POSITION ON RELIGION – Niall McCrae
being disciplined for praying or for wearing a cross, now may be the time for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to set a clearer position on this issue.’ The NMC’s draft code of conduct, which will be considered by the council this month, says nurses and midwives must ensure any expression of their religious beliefs does not exploit the vulnerability of patients or cause them upset or distress.
NICE addresses the obesity epidemic Weight-loss surgery should be offered to more patients who are obese to tackle a growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) urged. Updated guidance states that offering surgery such as gastric bypass to obese patients with type 2 diabetes could help prevent future complications and save the NHS money over the long term. One in 20 people in the UK has type 2 diabetes, which can cause heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lead to amputations. About 10 per cent of the NHS budget is used for treating diabetes.
NICE recommends all patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or over who have recently developed type 2 diabetes should be assessed for surgery, but only when all other weight loss methods have failed. Patients of Asian origin should be considered for surgery at a lower BMI, because they are particularly vulnerable to complications, NICE states. Rachel Batterham, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust head of obesity and bariatric services said: ‘The earlier you have the surgery in your diabetes course, the more likely you are to have remission or improvement,’ she said.
NURSING STANDARD december 3 :: vol 29 no 14 :: 2014 13 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 17, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Nurses agree religion has a place in care By Alistair Kleebauer
@alistairbauer
Most nurses who attended a recent debate on religion in nursing agreed they should be able to exercise their faith openly when caring for patients. At the King’s College London and Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery annual debate, 65 per cent of the audience of around 70 nurses and students supported the motion that ‘nurses should be able, directly and openly, to apply their religion in caring for patients’. King’s College London chaplain, the Rev Keith Riglin argued: ‘Care by nurses is patient-centred but we approach the patient as full people, not as machines – we bring ourselves to our practice, and our world view is part of our being.’ Drawing on personal experience of praying with two nurses following his mother’s death, Mr Riglin said it would have been ‘dreadful’ if they had said they were not allowed to. Opposing the motion, Bryan Tully, a psychologist at St Thomas’ Hospital and pastoral support worker for the British Humanist Association, said
the wording of the motion was too broad. He said: ‘If the hospital began to sell prayer cards or had a bowl of holy water, you would think “that’s not right”.’ He added that nurses are expected to offer ‘secular delivery’ of health care nowadays. King’s College mental health nursing lecturer Niall McCrae, who chaired the debate, said: ‘As there have been several cases of nurses
THE NMC SHOULD SET A CLEARER POSITION ON RELIGION – Niall McCrae
being disciplined for praying or for wearing a cross, now may be the time for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to set a clearer position on this issue.’ The NMC’s draft code of conduct, which will be considered by the council this month, says nurses and midwives must ensure any expression of their religious beliefs does not exploit the vulnerability of patients or cause them upset or distress.
NICE addresses the obesity epidemic Weight-loss surgery should be offered to more patients who are obese to tackle a growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) urged. Updated guidance states that offering surgery such as gastric bypass to obese patients with type 2 diabetes could help prevent future complications and save the NHS money over the long term. One in 20 people in the UK has type 2 diabetes, which can cause heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lead to amputations. About 10 per cent of the NHS budget is used for treating diabetes.
NICE recommends all patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or over who have recently developed type 2 diabetes should be assessed for surgery, but only when all other weight loss methods have failed. Patients of Asian origin should be considered for surgery at a lower BMI, because they are particularly vulnerable to complications, NICE states. Rachel Batterham, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust head of obesity and bariatric services said: ‘The earlier you have the surgery in your diabetes course, the more likely you are to have remission or improvement,’ she said.
NURSING STANDARD december 3 :: vol 29 no 14 :: 2014 13 Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 17, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
