Types of Nursing: Nursing News, Jobs, Opportunities

Nurses who trained outside the European Union or European Economic Area must pass the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s competency test to practise in the UK.

The NMC says the test is based on current UK pre-registration standards and aims to ensure overseas nurses can practise safely and effectively.

The regulator’s quest to ensure high standards and protect the public must be commended. However, it is vital that the standards required of overseas nurses really are the same as those expected of nurses trained in the UK.

The second part of the competency test is the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). In the first three months of this year 1,499 OSCE examinations were undertaken by nurses in the UK, with a pass rate of only 51%.

This suggests that either half the nurses applying to register in the UK are unsafe and ineffective practitioners or perhaps the standardised marking criteria used to assess their performance is not fit for purpose.In my experience the latter is the case; it is too rigid, unreasonable and unrealistic

At Walsall Hospitals Trust, we have a cohort of nurses from the Philippines, who I have been teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in preparation for their OSCE.

While I was disappointed that some subsequently failed, I was dismayed when I learnt of the reasons why they failed – for example, one nurse’s chest compression rate was 95/minute (instead of 100-120/minute). Does this really mean the nurse is an unsafe and ineffective practitioner?

I have been teaching CPR for 25 years, but I would be very nervous about sitting the NMC’s CPR OSCE because frankly, I probably wouldn’t pass.

The other clinical skills assessed in the OSCEs also appear to be very strictly and – some would argue – pedantically assessed. It would be interesting to see how nurses trained at our local university faired if they undertook the NMC’s competency test OSCEs.

High standards are important but we do need to ensure that the assessment process is fair, realistic and not pedantic – and that nurses from overseas are not held to higher standards than those trained in the UK.

Lisa Hamilton, our professional development nurse told me: “These nurses from the Philippines are excellent. Their culture demonstrates the very best in humanity of care, compassion and empathy to patients, colleagues and to each other.”

Before applying for their visa each of these nurses had to pass international English language tests and computer-based competency tests, paid for by themselves on a very small salary or none at all.

Having jumped through those hoops to get here they are then made to jump through more when they arrive.
As a trust we have spent thousands of pounds in OSCE fees and preparing the nurses to sit the OSCEs.

We want to ensure they are capable of practising to the required standards, and to help them secure NMC registration so that they can work for us and look after our local population.

Like other trusts, we are struggling to recruit safe and effective nurses, and the shortage in the UK means we have to look abroad.

If we apply our standards too rigidly not only are we being unfair to the nurses who come here in good faith to work in the NHS but we are denying our patients the opportunity to be cared for in fully staffed wards by compassionate and effective nurses who just happen to have trained overseas.

Phil Jevon is academy manager, medical education, Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust, Walsall

Conflict of interest: Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust’s application to become an approved test centre for the NMC’s Competency Test OSCEs was unsuccessful.
Credit: Nursing Times

Now run Anaesthesia Nursing

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria has accredited four courses of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital’s (ABUTH) Post Basic School of Nursing.

The Registrar of the council, Alhaji Farouq Lawal Wurno, made this known yesterday while speaking at a 4-week refresher programme organised by the Alumni of the school.

The four courses accredited, according to Wurno, were Post Basic Anaesthesia, Post Basic Midwifery, Post Basic Ophthalmic Nursing and Post Basic Paediatric Nursing.

He said 45 post basic programmes have been registered across the country with Kaduna State leading the 19 northern states.

He added; “the council has constituted a special tribunal to deal with quacks, unlicensed nurses and midwives.

This is in a bid to sanitise the profession and ensure best practice. In order to achieve this objective, we have commenced online registration of nurses and midwives.”
The Chief Medical Director of ABUTH, Professor Lawal Khalid, represented by Professor Adamu Ahmed, pledged to continue to support the school to achieve the desired goals.

Speaking on the accreditation, the principal of the school, Hajiya Salamatu Hassan Idris, said she made the issue her priority since assumption of office, adding that the 4-week refresher programme was in line with the accreditation protocol.
Source: Daily Trust

The National Association of Nigerian Nurses And Midwives has directed its members to hold their National General Unit Elections. This was contained in a memo signed by the General Secretary T. A. Shettima dated 3rd July 2018 to the National President, NAC Members, State Chairmen/Secretaries, Specialist and Pressure Groups which read:

In consonance with the provision of our noble Professional Association, Notice is hereby given to conduct Unit Elections in all the recognized units of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) in all the local, state and federal health institution, irrespective of the date the unit exco were elected.

The unit elections shall commence in October 2018 and must be concluded on or before end of November 2018.

Consequently all state councils are by this letter directed to communicate the units under its jurisdictions as required by our rules and regulations/constitution.

You may wish to contact the National Headquarters for further clarifications (if any). I wish to you free and peaceful unit elections in Advance.

Thank you

“Even in my lifetime, nursing has drastically changed. Nurses are beginning to smash the old stereotypes and, for the first time, performing operations and running doctors’ surgeries”

Game Of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has spoken about the devastating experience of losing her father as she praised the nurses who helped care for him and called for cuts to their funding to stop.

The actress, whose father died of cancer in July 2016, detailed the expertise and compassion of the people caring for him in his last days.

Speaking at an awards ceremony in London, the Royal College of Nursing ambassador, 31, said: “Even in my lifetime, nursing has drastically changed. Nurses are beginning to smash the old stereotypes and, for the first time, performing operations and running doctors’ surgeries.

Our NHS, and other health services around the world, simply could not function without you. But even with the support you give, you aren’t getting it in return.
“Today’s nurses appear an easy target for cuts, not the priority for investment.”

She added: “This reality breaks my heart, as two years ago on the 10th of July I lost my darling dad.

“Our experience was shaped by the care he received. I was given the opportunity to be involved in the intricacies that made up a day of trying to save his life and it showed me with such clarity, not only the awe-inspiring skill that the nurses clearly had, but the emotional intelligence that came along with it.

“After a panic at hearing bells and buzzers I didn’t understand; the hug that came my way and the words that accompanied it both reassured and comforted me.

“I know my dad received the best care and medical support from our nurses that dealt with every second of those dark days.”

Urging nurses to take action to campaign against cuts, Clarke said: “The money the NHS has to keep our nurses trained and at the forefront of healthcare has been cut in half this year in England.

“This has to stop, we have to make a change. We all know the frustrations that go along with student debt.

“Young people who have the drive and commitment are being put off by the new fees they now must pay to train.

“To force the people who save our lives to live on food stamps has to stop. Now, more than ever, we must value nursing.

“Nursing is about more than just medicine; it’s about engaging with another person on a human level. Like hugging a daughter who knows that she is about to lose her dad.

“As ambassador I want to help fund and engage a new generation of specialist nurses. Who, in turn, will deliver innovative practice, improve survival rates and reduce hospital stays; and help those with long-term conditions to live their lives to the full.

“I vow to champion nurses and support workers and to help you gain the recognition and money you deserve. Together, we must support the next generation to innovate and become the powerful nurses of tomorrow.”

– Press Association
Irish Examiner

A nurse in southeast China’s Jiangxi province has been using cartoons to improve her patients’ standard of care.
Wen Tingting, a nurse working in the intensive care unit, takes care of patients who are often elderly, illiterate, or unable to move.

Many of her patients have trouble expressing their needs.

So the creative nurse took it upon herself to draw pictures that facilitate communication with her patients.
“The patients can’t talk freely with a tube in their trachea… and sometimes we can’t guess what the patients want,” said Wen. “If we don’t understand each other after multiple guesses, we both get very anxious.”

“As a family member of the patient, I feel really touched by such caring acts,” said Hu Ying, a local resident.

Wen has drawn some 20 pictures to pinpoint common discomforts felt by patients. She adds that the bright colors of the cartoons bring a bit of color into their lives.
The nurse plans to keep drawing cartoons to help her patients.
Source: Ink Stone

Nurses in an Auckland hospital are arming themselves with safety alarms as attacks against hospital staff are on the rise.

At the Counties Manukau District Health Board meeting last week, a Middlemore Hospital nurse said only about one in 50 nurses was very confident in dealing with aggressive patients.

New Zealand Nursing Organisation professional nursing adviser Suzanne Rolls said while it was not a new problem, it was getting worse.

“The nature of the aggression and violence is escalating, and the frequency of this violence is escalating.”

Despite this, Middlemore emergency department nurse Elyse Oh said at the meeting staff found complaints “are not being made”.

“There’s about three incidents per day, which equates to 1000 a year.”

The number of violent incidents reported by Middlemore staff rose to 85 in 2017 from 30 in 2016, a report on violence presented to the board last week showed.

The most common incidents were insults, swearing and personal threats against female staff, and multiple accounts of physical aggression.

As a result, nurses were being given personal alarms to use if their safety was at risk.

In the report Counties Manukau Health said it was in the process of implementing de-escalation education as part of a national roll-out.

Staff also had access to a new app created by police which warned them of incoming patients under the Mental Health Act who could have an increased risk of aggression.

Rolls said it was not just emergency department nurses at risk of violence, but those in the community and in mental health sectors.

Some community workers were now using locators as a step to keep themselves safe, she said.

But being able to keep people safe went beyond an individual or an individual report – it was about looking at the whole system, Rolls said.

“While there is a chronic unsafe staffing situation, this is a risk factor for violence and aggression.”

Why Nurses Aren’t Speaking Up

At the board meeting, Middlemore’s acting chief medical officer Vanessa Thornton said a lot of people had not had practical experience in dealing with violence and de-escalation.

It’s very hard for junior staff to have an approach. Generally in the ED we try get a charge nurse involved early so a junior nurse can learn from them.

What Elyse and ED staff have done here is consistent with what’s known across the region. Staff accept aggression and we need more awareness that maybe it isn’t acceptable,” she said.

Counties Manukau Health acting chief executive Gloria Johnson said the incident reporting system the board relied on “is actually not a very good way of measuring it.

A teenage bomb victim has vowed to become a nurse after her life was saved by the NHS.

Eve Senior, 15 – seriously hurt in the Manchester Arena atrocity – was among dozens of patients and celebrities saluting the health service’s 70th birthday today.

She was seen limping, bloodied and bandaged, from the blast at an Ariana Grande gig in May last year.

Eve was left with 18 shrapnel wounds, burns and a severed nerve in her leg when she was caught up in the bombing as she left the concert

She said: “Before Manchester, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grow up, but staying in hospital and seeing what the nurses do and how good they are, when I am older, I want to be a nurse.”

The teenager said that the staff who treated her at the Manchester Children’s Hospital over the course of nearly a year can “now be classed as friends”.

Eve spoke at York Minster tonight – one of several celebration services held around the country to mark the NHS anniversary.

She was given a standing ovation by an audience of health leaders and NHS staff past and present following her speech.

It was one of thousands of Big 7Tea parties held, and buildings including the Houses of Parliament and Blackpool Tower were lit up in NHS blue.

TV stars including Cheryl Tweedy and Katie Piper tweeted their thanks, with both saying they owed the NHS a huge debt of gratitude.

Another Manchester bomb survivor, 15-year-old Freya Lewis – saved by 70 hours of surgery – told a Westminster Abbey reception: “I don’t have the words to express how grateful I am to all the amazing staff. I’m only alive and here today because of the incredible care I received.”

NHS nurse Erika Boulton, 31, had extra cause to celebrate as her daughter was born at 5.44am.

The unnamed 9lb girl was delivered at University College Hospital, London. Erika, with husband James, 33, said: “This is a special day for us, because we have just become parents for the first time. It means a lot to me that my baby’s birth date is also the birth date of the NHS.”

Dr Martin Griffiths, a leading trauma surgeon who ran a team treating victims of the London Bridge terrorist attack, said: “There is a part of me that still finds it amazing to be a part of this fantastic institution that provides top quality medical care to any citizen that needs it, regardless of their income or background.

“I stand with my brothers and sisters who defied the monsters in Manchester and I stand with my friends and colleagues who served London so magnificently at Westminster, London Bridge, Finsbury Park, and of course, Grenfell.”

June Rosen, 78, told how, as a child, she served Nye Bevan his breakfast on the morning the founding father launched the NHS at Manchester’s Trafford Hospital.

He had stayed at her home as her father was a local Labour councillor.

Mrs Rosen, who went on to be an NHS physiotherapist, said: “I remember him sitting up in bed in striped pyjamas with a shock of grey hair. Then off he went. A little cameo of history.”
Source: UK Mirror

The Federal Government of Nigeria donated over 400 equipment of various types to the Ogun State School of Nursing. The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, while presenting the items said the gadgets would assist in improving the quality of knowledge, skills and ability of the health care providers.

He explained that the equipment would help to sustain its accreditation and also ensure provision of quality healthcare services to the people. He added that the equipment would also reduce key morbidity/mortality indicators. Adewole said the initiative would provide in-service career advancement incentives for health workers.

‘‘Let me reiterate the objectives of this initiative.

They are to improve the quality of knowledge, skills and ability of the Nigerian health professionals, provide classroom resources and reduce key morbidity and mortality indicators,’’ Adewole said.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Babatunde Ipaye, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Nafiu Aigoro, commended the Federal Government and Carter Centre Nigeria, for the gesture.

He gave assurance that the equipment would be judiciously used and adequately maintained, to meet the objectives to which they were given. The equipment and materials donated include, students’ desks with chairs, tutor’s chairs with tables, microscopes, stethoscopes, white board and packets of markers.

Others are neo-natal lines and tubes, foetal skull, mucus extractors, desktop computers, printers (HP laser pro M series) and photocopy machines, among others.