Opinion
Reviews Beat Panic Jane Anderson-Hawkes Free App Store
THIS APP takes the form of a PowerPoint-style automated presentation that aims to assist the user in calming down during a panic attack. Each slide is designed in a soothing blue and green colour scheme, with a large and easily readable font. The app alternates between guiding the user through deep-breathing exercises and presenting calming messages. The strength of this app is its portability – people experience panic attacks in all sorts of different settings – so having this app installed on a mobile phone means it is instantly accessible. It could also encourage someone who fears going out in public because of panic attacks to venture outside. The app has no sound and so is unobtrusive. These days, it is not uncommon for people to be looking at their mobile phones for five
minutes or more at a time, so using this app during a panic attack will not result in any unwanted attention. Although the lack of sound makes it less accessible for people with visual impairment, overall this is a useful app for anyone who experiences panic attacks. ■ The app requires iOS 4.0 or later, and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Andrea Shaw is a nursing student at the University of Nottingham
Pain is Really Strange Steve Haines and Sophie Standing Singing Dragon £8.65 | 36pp ISBN: 9781848192645
WRITTEN BY chiropractor Steve Haines and illustrated by Sophie Standing, this book ‘attempts to look at how pain works and
what you can do about it’. Definitions of pain are covered and the book attempts to simplify complex concepts such as neuroplasticity. It also looks at how to desensitise the body and retrain the brain’s habitual reactions using movement. It talks about changing the ‘neurotags’ of pain by using more positive language, such as saying ‘disc under pressure’ rather than ‘slipped disc’. Pain is a biopsychosocial phenomenon. This book embraces the ‘bio’ but not the psychosocial aspects of pain. The profound effect pain can have on mood and on the person experiencing it, in terms of work and family life, is neglected. This may make patients who are unable to ‘move themselves out of pain’ feel like failures. The most useful and enjoyable parts of the book are the illustrations. Some of the text is somewhat patronising, so I would suggest selecting the people to whom you recommend this book carefully. Karin Cannons is a nurse consultant in pain management at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Sara Morgan
Bigger picture ONE OF the best parts of nursing as a profession is that there are many opportunities to take a break from the regular job and try something new for a short period. This can be in a secondment, acting up or taking a career break. But after each temporary change comes an inevitable transition back into the regular job. Having just returned from maternity leave, there are a few key things that I have found helpful as I ease back into my post. It may seem that there have been lots of changes, but most of these will be little things When I got back, there were many new faces in the department, new pieces of equipment and new policies that everyone seemed to know about except me. Within a few days, I realised that the fundamental things remained exactly the same: care was 12 October 2015 | Volume 23 | Number 6
provided in the same way and the daily challenges were largely unchanged. All of this meant that, by the end of my first week, I felt as though I had never been away. There will be a new set of hot topics that you will hear much about The NHS has a changing menu of themes that dominate the agenda and are exhaustively covered in the media and discussed by politicians. Before I left, we seemed to talk about nothing but the friends and family test and meeting the target for the number of responses we obtained each month. Now I am back, it is rarely mentioned and we spend our time talking about handover times for the ambulance service. You will need to be able to shift your attention and focus from what was high priority when you left to what is high priority now that you are back.
You have new skills you can apply to your current post Whatever you have been away doing, you will have gained a new perspective and new experiences that can be applied to your current post. Perhaps you have a better understanding of NHS finances now and this may affect the dressings or consumables you choose when treating a patient. Just finished a secondment in the community? You will now write much more effective referral letters to the community nursing team when you are discharging your patient from the emergency department (ED) because you will know what information they need to do their jobs. And, if you are returning from parenting leave, you will have unparalleled powers of multitasking, which always prove to be useful in the ED. Sara Morgan is a steering committee member of the RCN Emergency Care Association
EMERGENCY NURSE
Reviews Beat Panic Jane Anderson-Hawkes Free App Store
THIS APP takes the form of a PowerPoint-style automated presentation that aims to assist the user in calming down during a panic attack. Each slide is designed in a soothing blue and green colour scheme, with a large and easily readable font. The app alternates between guiding the user through deep-breathing exercises and presenting calming messages. The strength of this app is its portability – people experience panic attacks in all sorts of different settings – so having this app installed on a mobile phone means it is instantly accessible. It could also encourage someone who fears going out in public because of panic attacks to venture outside. The app has no sound and so is unobtrusive. These days, it is not uncommon for people to be looking at their mobile phones for five
minutes or more at a time, so using this app during a panic attack will not result in any unwanted attention. Although the lack of sound makes it less accessible for people with visual impairment, overall this is a useful app for anyone who experiences panic attacks. ■ The app requires iOS 4.0 or later, and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Andrea Shaw is a nursing student at the University of Nottingham
Pain is Really Strange Steve Haines and Sophie Standing Singing Dragon £8.65 | 36pp ISBN: 9781848192645
WRITTEN BY chiropractor Steve Haines and illustrated by Sophie Standing, this book ‘attempts to look at how pain works and
what you can do about it’. Definitions of pain are covered and the book attempts to simplify complex concepts such as neuroplasticity. It also looks at how to desensitise the body and retrain the brain’s habitual reactions using movement. It talks about changing the ‘neurotags’ of pain by using more positive language, such as saying ‘disc under pressure’ rather than ‘slipped disc’. Pain is a biopsychosocial phenomenon. This book embraces the ‘bio’ but not the psychosocial aspects of pain. The profound effect pain can have on mood and on the person experiencing it, in terms of work and family life, is neglected. This may make patients who are unable to ‘move themselves out of pain’ feel like failures. The most useful and enjoyable parts of the book are the illustrations. Some of the text is somewhat patronising, so I would suggest selecting the people to whom you recommend this book carefully. Karin Cannons is a nurse consultant in pain management at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Sara Morgan
Bigger picture ONE OF the best parts of nursing as a profession is that there are many opportunities to take a break from the regular job and try something new for a short period. This can be in a secondment, acting up or taking a career break. But after each temporary change comes an inevitable transition back into the regular job. Having just returned from maternity leave, there are a few key things that I have found helpful as I ease back into my post. It may seem that there have been lots of changes, but most of these will be little things When I got back, there were many new faces in the department, new pieces of equipment and new policies that everyone seemed to know about except me. Within a few days, I realised that the fundamental things remained exactly the same: care was 12 October 2015 | Volume 23 | Number 6
provided in the same way and the daily challenges were largely unchanged. All of this meant that, by the end of my first week, I felt as though I had never been away. There will be a new set of hot topics that you will hear much about The NHS has a changing menu of themes that dominate the agenda and are exhaustively covered in the media and discussed by politicians. Before I left, we seemed to talk about nothing but the friends and family test and meeting the target for the number of responses we obtained each month. Now I am back, it is rarely mentioned and we spend our time talking about handover times for the ambulance service. You will need to be able to shift your attention and focus from what was high priority when you left to what is high priority now that you are back.
You have new skills you can apply to your current post Whatever you have been away doing, you will have gained a new perspective and new experiences that can be applied to your current post. Perhaps you have a better understanding of NHS finances now and this may affect the dressings or consumables you choose when treating a patient. Just finished a secondment in the community? You will now write much more effective referral letters to the community nursing team when you are discharging your patient from the emergency department (ED) because you will know what information they need to do their jobs. And, if you are returning from parenting leave, you will have unparalleled powers of multitasking, which always prove to be useful in the ED. Sara Morgan is a steering committee member of the RCN Emergency Care Association
EMERGENCY NURSE
