NEWS
COMFORT EATING IN NURSES LINKED TO STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES OR LIFESTYLE Nurses experiencing stress as a result of a trauma such as treating a severely injured patient are three times more likely to comfort eat than their unstressed colleagues, a study found. Researchers in the United States questioned 49,000 nurses – all women aged between 25 and 42 – about their lifetime experiences of trauma and assessed them for food addiction. Food addiction is defined by three or more symptoms, including eating when no longer hungry four or more times per week, or feeling the need to eat more to ease feelings of stress. Eighty one per cent told the University of Minnesota study that they had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. Only 6 per cent with no lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were addicted to food, but the rate rose to 18 per cent for nurses with six or seven symptoms of PTSD. The researchers, led by Susan Mason, also found that the earlier the onset
of symptoms of stress, the higher the prevalence of food addiction. The study concluded that efforts to reduce obesity in people affected by PTSD should include psychological interventions.
Workplace pressures
The results come as Nursing Standard conducts a UK-wide survey on nurses’ eating habits as part of our Eat Well, Nurse Well campaign. One question focuses on how workplace pressures – such as stress, staffing levels, lack of breaks or places to eat and heat food – can affect diet. Another question looks at the type of foods time-pressured nurses may turn to while at work, including takeaways, fast food or snacks from vending machines. To take part in our survey and be in with the chance of winning one of 30 £10 supermarket vouchers, go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/ eatwellnursewell by October 5
‘NEED FOR CHANGE’ IN SCOTLAND’S HEALTH SERVICES
A renewed focus on the challenges facing the NHS is now required in the wake of the Scottish referendum, the RCN’s Scotland director has said. Theresa Fyffe was speaking after the Scottish people voted last week to reject independence. She said: ‘The way health services are delivered needs to change. Only by working together and developing sustainable solutions that continue to meet patients’ needs and involve all healthcare professionals will we find solutions to the pressures facing our health services.’ Following the result, prime minister David Cameron vowed to honour his promises to give Scotland more devolved powers. But he also said proposals to prevent Scottish MPs voting on English-only issues would be fast-tracked, hinting similar proposals could apply to Welsh and Northern Irish MPs in the future.
Safe staffing group broadens focus to community A leading nurse campaign group is to turn its focus to the community sector in its fight for safe nurse staffing levels. The Safe Staffing Alliance, a group of leading nurses brought together by Nursing Standard, says patient care is at risk when there are more than eight patients to one nurse on adult acute wards. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the first-ever guidelines for safe nurse staffing levels on acute inpatient wards in England in July. NICE has said it will produce guidelines for community settings in future, but a publication date has yet to be announced. The alliance last week decided to broaden its focus to the community sector, and has invited the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) chief executive Crystal Oldman to join the group. The QNI’s ongoing campaign Right Nurse,
Right Skills calls for increased investment in community nursing to improve nursing care in people’s homes. The RCN has also called on the government to boost community nursing numbers by 10,000, warning that the role could ‘face extinction’ by 2025.
‘THE ALLIANCE HAS DONE GREAT WORK IN ACUTE SECTOR’ – Crystal Oldman
Dr Oldman said of the invitation: ‘I think the alliance has done some great work in the acute sector and it is right that they should be turning their attention to community nursing. ‘The QNI has campaigned for the right nurses with the right qualification in the right volume when it comes to caring for people in their own homes. But we still
have a long way to go before staffing levels are sufficient.’ NICE was asked to draw up the guidance for adult acute wards following a recommendation by Sir Robert Francis QC in his inquiry into care failings at Mid Staffs. The guidance is designed to be used by hospital boards and senior managers and nurses to set ward staffing on a shift-by-shift basis. Nurses in charge of wards should raise the alarm when faced with ‘red flag’ events – patients not being provided with basic care such as pain relief or help to visit the bathroom, for example –that could indicate a need for more skilled nurses or increased staff numbers. Safe staffing guidance for maternity settings will be published in January, and accident and emergency settings in May 2015.
8 september 24from :: volRCNi.com 29 no 4 ::by2014 STANDARD Downloaded ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 24, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
COMFORT EATING IN NURSES LINKED TO STRESSFUL EXPERIENCES OR LIFESTYLE Nurses experiencing stress as a result of a trauma such as treating a severely injured patient are three times more likely to comfort eat than their unstressed colleagues, a study found. Researchers in the United States questioned 49,000 nurses – all women aged between 25 and 42 – about their lifetime experiences of trauma and assessed them for food addiction. Food addiction is defined by three or more symptoms, including eating when no longer hungry four or more times per week, or feeling the need to eat more to ease feelings of stress. Eighty one per cent told the University of Minnesota study that they had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. Only 6 per cent with no lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were addicted to food, but the rate rose to 18 per cent for nurses with six or seven symptoms of PTSD. The researchers, led by Susan Mason, also found that the earlier the onset
of symptoms of stress, the higher the prevalence of food addiction. The study concluded that efforts to reduce obesity in people affected by PTSD should include psychological interventions.
Workplace pressures
The results come as Nursing Standard conducts a UK-wide survey on nurses’ eating habits as part of our Eat Well, Nurse Well campaign. One question focuses on how workplace pressures – such as stress, staffing levels, lack of breaks or places to eat and heat food – can affect diet. Another question looks at the type of foods time-pressured nurses may turn to while at work, including takeaways, fast food or snacks from vending machines. To take part in our survey and be in with the chance of winning one of 30 £10 supermarket vouchers, go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/ eatwellnursewell by October 5
‘NEED FOR CHANGE’ IN SCOTLAND’S HEALTH SERVICES
A renewed focus on the challenges facing the NHS is now required in the wake of the Scottish referendum, the RCN’s Scotland director has said. Theresa Fyffe was speaking after the Scottish people voted last week to reject independence. She said: ‘The way health services are delivered needs to change. Only by working together and developing sustainable solutions that continue to meet patients’ needs and involve all healthcare professionals will we find solutions to the pressures facing our health services.’ Following the result, prime minister David Cameron vowed to honour his promises to give Scotland more devolved powers. But he also said proposals to prevent Scottish MPs voting on English-only issues would be fast-tracked, hinting similar proposals could apply to Welsh and Northern Irish MPs in the future.
Safe staffing group broadens focus to community A leading nurse campaign group is to turn its focus to the community sector in its fight for safe nurse staffing levels. The Safe Staffing Alliance, a group of leading nurses brought together by Nursing Standard, says patient care is at risk when there are more than eight patients to one nurse on adult acute wards. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published the first-ever guidelines for safe nurse staffing levels on acute inpatient wards in England in July. NICE has said it will produce guidelines for community settings in future, but a publication date has yet to be announced. The alliance last week decided to broaden its focus to the community sector, and has invited the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) chief executive Crystal Oldman to join the group. The QNI’s ongoing campaign Right Nurse,
Right Skills calls for increased investment in community nursing to improve nursing care in people’s homes. The RCN has also called on the government to boost community nursing numbers by 10,000, warning that the role could ‘face extinction’ by 2025.
‘THE ALLIANCE HAS DONE GREAT WORK IN ACUTE SECTOR’ – Crystal Oldman
Dr Oldman said of the invitation: ‘I think the alliance has done some great work in the acute sector and it is right that they should be turning their attention to community nursing. ‘The QNI has campaigned for the right nurses with the right qualification in the right volume when it comes to caring for people in their own homes. But we still
have a long way to go before staffing levels are sufficient.’ NICE was asked to draw up the guidance for adult acute wards following a recommendation by Sir Robert Francis QC in his inquiry into care failings at Mid Staffs. The guidance is designed to be used by hospital boards and senior managers and nurses to set ward staffing on a shift-by-shift basis. Nurses in charge of wards should raise the alarm when faced with ‘red flag’ events – patients not being provided with basic care such as pain relief or help to visit the bathroom, for example –that could indicate a need for more skilled nurses or increased staff numbers. Safe staffing guidance for maternity settings will be published in January, and accident and emergency settings in May 2015.
8 september 24from :: volRCNi.com 29 no 4 ::by2014 STANDARD Downloaded ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 24, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
