What’s at stake with Kidneys – Dr Simon Fraser

Doctor Simon Fraser is part of a team conducting the Hampshire Acute Kidney Injury study which is part of the Public Health and Primary Care theme of NIHR CLAHRC Wessex. He writes:

Kidneys are incredibly important to the human body. Among other things, they deal with fluids that we drink and help to regulate important functions like blood pressure.

Dementia care at meal times in acute hospitals – Naomi Gallant

Almost a year on from my last post here and I’ve done a lot of work on my developing my research proposal – reading, learning, literature reviewing – but sadly not a lot has changed for people with dementia in acute hospitals. My desire to improve the quality of care, especially at meal times has certainly grown.

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON EMERGENCY CARE AND TREATMENT PLAN: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TREATMENT ESCALATION PLAN (TEP) PROJECT? Professor Alison Richardson

Having conversations about the best course of action in the event a person’s condition deteriorates is difficult for everyone involved, whether it is the patient themselves, their family or carer and the clinician.

After an initial study on Advance Care Planning (A. Richardson, S. Lund¹), research into the current application of treatment escalation plans across the country, and early engagement with some of the acute trusts in the Wessex region, it was apparent there was a desire to improve this process.

Maths without equations: Dr Tom Monks insights into patient flow from queuing theory

Previously I have written about using a detailed computer model to ask ‘what-if’ an emergency department could be run differently.   Hidden away in complex models like these are important rules of thumb that tell us how to efficiently manage patient flow.

Getting a grip on high risk older inpatients with low grip strength -Dr Kinda Ibrahim and Dr Helen Roberts, Associate Professor in Geriatric Medicine

Our muscles play an important role in our health and grip strength is a good way of measuring how well our muscles are doing. Our grip strength builds through young adulthood to reach its peak in our 30s after which it gradually tails away. It is a reliable and valid way of evaluating someone’s hand strength, which in turns provides an objective measure of the skeletal muscle strength and function in their whole body.

Evidence Brief – 12 hour shifts: Nurse burnout, job satisfaction & intention to leave – by Chiara Dall’ora

Job satisfaction and burnout in the nursing workforce are global concerns. Not only do job satisfaction and burnout impact on the quality and safety of care, but job satisfaction is also a factor in nurses’ decisions to stay or leave their jobs. Shift patterns may be an important aspect influencing wellbeing and satisfaction among nurses. Many hospitals worldwide are moving to 12 hour shifts in an effort to improve efficiency and cope with nursing shortages. But what is the effect of these work patterns on the wellbeing of nurses working on hospital wards? In this digest we report on the results of a study performed in 12 European countries exploring whether 12 hour shifts are associated with burnout, job satisfaction and intention to leave the job.

Love thy neighbour – why friends may be the answer to staying well.

Professor Anne Rogers is Professor of Health Systems Implementation in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton and Research Director of the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex

Professor Anne Rogers explains how weaker social ties play a role in helping people manage a long term illness.

With ever more attention on the NHS and how many nurses and doctors are needed to give people the best care, one part of the health equation is going unnoticed – What attention is being paid to the role of the patient and their extended network of relationships? In early 70s West Coast America a piece of research by Anselm Strauss and colleagues examined a set of questions on ‘self-care’.

I want to go home: Can modelling the whole health care system reduce the number of patients waiting to leave hospital?

Dr Tom Monks puzzles the opportunities and pitfalls of modelling large parts of the health care system and how this might help patients waiting to leave hospital.

I work as a modeller for CLAHRC Wessex. In part that means I spend a lot of time speaking to health care professionals and commissioners about their priorities and teasing out if modelling could help.  More and more often I am asked “can we model the whole health care system?”.

Dr Chris Kipps – Dementia. Younger people, brain scans and how we are trying to understand the bigger picture

So it’s been a few months since the last update on our work, so where are we now?

Well our Younger Onset Dementia Assessment project is now starting to interview patients, carers and clinicians about their experiences of care in younger onset dementia. This will help define our assessment toolkit for testing and implementation in a wider group of people with younger onset dementia. An important part of this study will be to improve the recording of quality of life (QoL) in people with younger dementia, and helping better understand what factors influence QoL in this particular group of patients and their carers.

Why we need to deal with the realities of Dementia in our hospitals – Dr Jackie Bridges Associate Professor, Older People’s and Dementia Care

Dr Jackie Bridges – Associate Professor, Older People’s and Dementia Care, Faculty of Heath Sciences at the University of Southampton

When people with dementia get admitted to hospital, their need for fundamental care can be high. Everyone coming in to hospital wants to be treated with respect and dignity by health care workers who have the time, resources and training needed to keep them safe and well cared for.  But having dementia can put people at higher risk of not having these needs met.