Letters
Send your views by email to [email protected], the letters editor @RogerEvansE1, post on the Nursing Standard Facebook page or visit www.nursing-standard.co.uk
Please keep letters to a maximum of 200 words, and include your full name and a daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited
Recruiting people with the right core values into the profession The report into the failings at Mid Staffs revealed a culture of poor care, where staff were practising without values or the basic standards expected of those working professionally within a healthcare setting (Art&Science January 21). It pointed to the need to recruit people into nursing who can demonstrate the values of compassion, commitment and integrity. We need to recruit team players into nursing who already fly the flag for the core values of care – who think of people as individuals, have the integrity to do what is right, respect people’s dignity and strive for excellence. More time and energy need to be invested into the recruitment process, with follow-up research on what works in terms of values-based recruitment – and what doesn’t. We need to encourage people with experience and maturity into the profession. They don’t necessarily need to be older – just to have had some connection with real life and the outside world. Selection interviews at undergraduate level are key, particularly with group work where good candidates can reveal their skills and talents. We need team players in nursing to help forge links between patients, doctors and the multidisciplinary team, with good communication at every level underpinning the best care management. We need nurses who can communicate and lead by example. Naomi Lyth, by email
WARD ROUNDS HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY’S HOSPITAL SETTINGS Joan Smith harks back to the old ward rounds – the back rounds – as being an essential component of good basic care (Letters January 21).
Going from bed to bed on a dormitory-style Nightingale ward may have worked in days of old, when nurses undertook obs, gave out pills, did the washing and toileting, and left all the technical side of things to the doctors. But today’s inpatients and nurses are different. The patients are generally sicker, with complex conditions and needs, and the nurses are multi-skilled and confident, capable practitioners able to prioritise their work. Bringing back the ward rounds would be a retrograde step for nurses – and patients. Helena Soni, by email
THE RIGHT-TO-DIE CAMPAIGNER WHO WON A KEY LEGAL RULING Right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy died in the Marie Curie Hospice in
Bradford on December 23, aged 51, having been diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis more than 20 years previously. Her death prompted me to read her book, It’s Not Because I Want to Die, published by HarperCollins in 2010 (ISBN: 978 0 0073 5869 4). Debbie was an active campaigner to change the law on assisted dying in England. In 2009, her long fight was finally rewarded with a court ruling that the legal lack of clarity is a violation of the right to a private and family life. She won a ruling to get clarification on whether her husband Omar Puente would be prosecuted if he helped her to end her life. Debbie was a strong-minded individual who thought that quality not quantity of life was important. Omar supported her in this campaign.
34 february 4 ::from vol 29 no 23 ::by2015 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 26, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
In her book, she said she wanted Omar’s face to be the last she sees before she died. Omar felt it was his life’s work to make her life happy, to want go on living and having adventures. I hope that Debbie and Omar got their wishes. Debbie, rest in peace. Omar, grieve and live until you feel alive again. Louise Boole, Derby
AGENCIES CAN HELP OVERSEAS NURSES FIND JOBS IN HOSPITALS Polish nurse Agnieszka Wroblewska is having difficulty getting a job in a hospital (Letters January 21) and asks are nurses from the European Union only permitted to fill the gaps in nursing homes in the UK? I am a Polish nurse and have been living in the UK since 2004. I worked as a healthcare assistant for a year until I received my PIN number. I applied for hundreds of jobs, without success. Joining a nursing agency was the turning point. I started working shifts in different hospitals, was soon offered a full-time job and my nursing career started moving forward. There are many nurses from Europe working in UK hospitals. We are highly skilled and highly regarded. But we all had to start from scratch. There are tremendous opportunities for training and education in the UK. I work as a band 6 oncology nurse and would never be able to achieve that in Poland. Hospitals in south west London are crying out for nurses, and in the hospital where I work there are many vacancies. Elzbieta Nestorowicz, by email
EBOLA TRACKER APP PANDERS TO THE ‘PARANOID WELL’ IN THE WEST I was disappointed that you gave a ‘very good’ rating of four stars to the Ebola Tracker app (Reviews January 21). It is clear that promoting the hysteria associated with Ebola virus disease makes for lucrative business.
But it is less clear why you would appear to endorse this app with such a positive review. The app is of no use to the health professionals in Africa supporting people with Ebola. It panders to the ‘paranoid well’ who live elsewhere. The app’s preview on iTunes describes the Ebola outbreak as ‘currently spreading throughout the world’. This is an absurd claim. The app allows users to input their location in the West and receive updates on their ‘distance to the nearest Ebola case’. Rather than actually working to combat the outbreak in Africa, the app serves to add to western hysteria – and all for $2.99 (£2.29).
TWEETS OF THE WEEK Speaking as an ex cardiothoracic scrub nurse, I’ve never known surgeons to walk away from the table cos they ‘need a break’! #holbycity @cheekynurse11
The only way to change negative behaviours by doctors, nurses or anyone else is to give feedback. If you don’t, then it becomes a habit @DrUmeshPrabhu
If you’re going to lead nurses, do you have to think like a nurse? @MrsGracePoole
Daniel Lynch, Boston, Massachusetts
BROADLAND JUNE 1985 SET TO CELEBRATE 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY I am helping to organise a 30-year reunion for the June 1985 nursing students and pupil nurses who trained at the Broadland School of Nursing in Norfolk. The reunion will take place on Saturday May 30 in Norwich, and it will be great for us all to meet up again. Please email me at c.sargisson@ mdx.ac.uk for further details.
Certainly to think like a leader and a nurse IMO but most importantly think what the experience is like for our #patients @maggiedavies
Arrived at ward: ‘Yes?’ is the greeting from nurse. Oh dear. ‘Go and sit over there.’ Not going well so far #Hellomynameis not happening here
Caroline Sargisson, by email
@lucyjmarsters
REUNIONS Are you planning a reunion or trying to trace former colleagues? Email [email protected] with the details and we will post them at www.nursing-standard.co.uk
I have a student nurse volunteer with me and #SalfordDadz action research on dad wellbeing. He asked me. I said yes. Simples. #WeNurses
CORRECTION Dame June Clark, emeritus professor of community nursing at Swansea University, is funding a travel scholarship for nurses in Wales. In ‘Broadening horizons’ (Careers January 21), it incorrectly states that application forms are available from RCN Wales. All scholarship application requests should be emailed to Professor Clark at [email protected]
Being a nurse – the proudest achievement of my life. Preparing the next generation of nurses – my greatest responsibility and enduring passion
@HeatherHenry4
@Bartontd
Follow Nursing Standard @NurseStandard and join the #NScomment chat on Thursdays at 12.30pm
NURSING february 4 other :: vol uses 29 no 23 :: permission. 2015 35 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 26, 2015. For personal use only. No without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
Send your views by email to [email protected], the letters editor @RogerEvansE1, post on the Nursing Standard Facebook page or visit www.nursing-standard.co.uk
Please keep letters to a maximum of 200 words, and include your full name and a daytime telephone number. Letters may be edited
Recruiting people with the right core values into the profession The report into the failings at Mid Staffs revealed a culture of poor care, where staff were practising without values or the basic standards expected of those working professionally within a healthcare setting (Art&Science January 21). It pointed to the need to recruit people into nursing who can demonstrate the values of compassion, commitment and integrity. We need to recruit team players into nursing who already fly the flag for the core values of care – who think of people as individuals, have the integrity to do what is right, respect people’s dignity and strive for excellence. More time and energy need to be invested into the recruitment process, with follow-up research on what works in terms of values-based recruitment – and what doesn’t. We need to encourage people with experience and maturity into the profession. They don’t necessarily need to be older – just to have had some connection with real life and the outside world. Selection interviews at undergraduate level are key, particularly with group work where good candidates can reveal their skills and talents. We need team players in nursing to help forge links between patients, doctors and the multidisciplinary team, with good communication at every level underpinning the best care management. We need nurses who can communicate and lead by example. Naomi Lyth, by email
WARD ROUNDS HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY’S HOSPITAL SETTINGS Joan Smith harks back to the old ward rounds – the back rounds – as being an essential component of good basic care (Letters January 21).
Going from bed to bed on a dormitory-style Nightingale ward may have worked in days of old, when nurses undertook obs, gave out pills, did the washing and toileting, and left all the technical side of things to the doctors. But today’s inpatients and nurses are different. The patients are generally sicker, with complex conditions and needs, and the nurses are multi-skilled and confident, capable practitioners able to prioritise their work. Bringing back the ward rounds would be a retrograde step for nurses – and patients. Helena Soni, by email
THE RIGHT-TO-DIE CAMPAIGNER WHO WON A KEY LEGAL RULING Right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy died in the Marie Curie Hospice in
Bradford on December 23, aged 51, having been diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis more than 20 years previously. Her death prompted me to read her book, It’s Not Because I Want to Die, published by HarperCollins in 2010 (ISBN: 978 0 0073 5869 4). Debbie was an active campaigner to change the law on assisted dying in England. In 2009, her long fight was finally rewarded with a court ruling that the legal lack of clarity is a violation of the right to a private and family life. She won a ruling to get clarification on whether her husband Omar Puente would be prosecuted if he helped her to end her life. Debbie was a strong-minded individual who thought that quality not quantity of life was important. Omar supported her in this campaign.
34 february 4 ::from vol 29 no 23 ::by2015 STANDARD Downloaded RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 26, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
In her book, she said she wanted Omar’s face to be the last she sees before she died. Omar felt it was his life’s work to make her life happy, to want go on living and having adventures. I hope that Debbie and Omar got their wishes. Debbie, rest in peace. Omar, grieve and live until you feel alive again. Louise Boole, Derby
AGENCIES CAN HELP OVERSEAS NURSES FIND JOBS IN HOSPITALS Polish nurse Agnieszka Wroblewska is having difficulty getting a job in a hospital (Letters January 21) and asks are nurses from the European Union only permitted to fill the gaps in nursing homes in the UK? I am a Polish nurse and have been living in the UK since 2004. I worked as a healthcare assistant for a year until I received my PIN number. I applied for hundreds of jobs, without success. Joining a nursing agency was the turning point. I started working shifts in different hospitals, was soon offered a full-time job and my nursing career started moving forward. There are many nurses from Europe working in UK hospitals. We are highly skilled and highly regarded. But we all had to start from scratch. There are tremendous opportunities for training and education in the UK. I work as a band 6 oncology nurse and would never be able to achieve that in Poland. Hospitals in south west London are crying out for nurses, and in the hospital where I work there are many vacancies. Elzbieta Nestorowicz, by email
EBOLA TRACKER APP PANDERS TO THE ‘PARANOID WELL’ IN THE WEST I was disappointed that you gave a ‘very good’ rating of four stars to the Ebola Tracker app (Reviews January 21). It is clear that promoting the hysteria associated with Ebola virus disease makes for lucrative business.
But it is less clear why you would appear to endorse this app with such a positive review. The app is of no use to the health professionals in Africa supporting people with Ebola. It panders to the ‘paranoid well’ who live elsewhere. The app’s preview on iTunes describes the Ebola outbreak as ‘currently spreading throughout the world’. This is an absurd claim. The app allows users to input their location in the West and receive updates on their ‘distance to the nearest Ebola case’. Rather than actually working to combat the outbreak in Africa, the app serves to add to western hysteria – and all for $2.99 (£2.29).
TWEETS OF THE WEEK Speaking as an ex cardiothoracic scrub nurse, I’ve never known surgeons to walk away from the table cos they ‘need a break’! #holbycity @cheekynurse11
The only way to change negative behaviours by doctors, nurses or anyone else is to give feedback. If you don’t, then it becomes a habit @DrUmeshPrabhu
If you’re going to lead nurses, do you have to think like a nurse? @MrsGracePoole
Daniel Lynch, Boston, Massachusetts
BROADLAND JUNE 1985 SET TO CELEBRATE 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY I am helping to organise a 30-year reunion for the June 1985 nursing students and pupil nurses who trained at the Broadland School of Nursing in Norfolk. The reunion will take place on Saturday May 30 in Norwich, and it will be great for us all to meet up again. Please email me at c.sargisson@ mdx.ac.uk for further details.
Certainly to think like a leader and a nurse IMO but most importantly think what the experience is like for our #patients @maggiedavies
Arrived at ward: ‘Yes?’ is the greeting from nurse. Oh dear. ‘Go and sit over there.’ Not going well so far #Hellomynameis not happening here
Caroline Sargisson, by email
@lucyjmarsters
REUNIONS Are you planning a reunion or trying to trace former colleagues? Email [email protected] with the details and we will post them at www.nursing-standard.co.uk
I have a student nurse volunteer with me and #SalfordDadz action research on dad wellbeing. He asked me. I said yes. Simples. #WeNurses
CORRECTION Dame June Clark, emeritus professor of community nursing at Swansea University, is funding a travel scholarship for nurses in Wales. In ‘Broadening horizons’ (Careers January 21), it incorrectly states that application forms are available from RCN Wales. All scholarship application requests should be emailed to Professor Clark at [email protected]
Being a nurse – the proudest achievement of my life. Preparing the next generation of nurses – my greatest responsibility and enduring passion
@HeatherHenry4
@Bartontd
Follow Nursing Standard @NurseStandard and join the #NScomment chat on Thursdays at 12.30pm
NURSING february 4 other :: vol uses 29 no 23 :: permission. 2015 35 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 26, 2015. For personal use only. No without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
