Past Issues: Vol 2 Issue 1 - Spring 2012
Clinical review
The importance of recognising depression following a stroke
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the UK and the single most common cause of disability. Depression following a stroke occurs in approximately one-third of stroke sufferers. It is a distressing symptom and has been found to have a significant effect on post-stroke morbidity and mortality. Various opinions exist regarding the causes of post-stroke depression (PSD), i.e. that it...
Nursing case review
Assessment of a breathless patient in end-stage heart failure in A&E
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
Breathlessness is a common reason for the hospitalisation of people with chronic heart failure (CHF). It is a distressing symptom for both patients and their informal carers. Breathlessness in CHF derives from physical, psychological, social, spiritual and environmental factors. Optimal management of breathlessness in CHF requires both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. This...
Clinical skills
Communication Vignettes: Telling a child that her dad is dying
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
Traditionally, palliative care emergencies are associated with physical, often reversible, clinical signs (e.g. spinal cord compression and hypercalcaemia). However, palliative care practitioners can sometimes find themselves in a situation where there is an urgent need to communicate with a family member or friend of a terminally ill patient (Pickering and George, 2007). Nurses working in...
Personal narrative
A palliative holistic approach to MND using music therapy
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
This article details the role of music therapy (MT) in the palliative care of a 66-year-old woman (Liz) living with severe disabilities caused by motor neurone disease. It forms part of a small but growing body of case-related evidence designed to support the use of MT in palliative care. It describes how music gave Liz a renewed sense of meaning, purpose, control and usefulness that she...
Legal discussions
Case law on artificial nutrition and hydration since Bland
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
The legal basis and principles for the lawful withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) from people in a persistent vegetative state (now termed permanent vegetative state), was laid out in the case of Anthony Bland, who sustained catastrophic and irreversible brain damage as a result of being crushed during the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989. Anthony Bland was medically...
National end of life care programme update
Achieving quality end-of-life care in the acute hospital setting: the new 'How to' guide
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
Introduction
Since the publication of the national End of Life Care Strategy (Department of Health, 2008), a number of initiatives, tools and publications have been produced to support improvement in end-of-life care service provision. In 2010, the National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP) published The Route to Success in End of Life Care: Achieving Quality in Acute Hospitals to raise...
National end of life care programme update
Achieving quality end-of-life care within the prison population: new guidance
Published: 2012 Vol: 2 No: 1
Introduction
Over 85,000 people are currently being held in prisons across England and Wales (Ministry of Justice, 2011; Berman, 2012), and this figure is expected to rise to nearly approximately 95,000 by 2017 (Ministry of Justice, 2011). The number of older prisoners is therefore expected to increase and predictions indicate that this will lead to more deaths from natural causes in prisons...