Opinion
App reviews WellMind Blue Step Solutions Free iOS 6.0 or later Android 2.3.3 or later
RESEARCH SUGGESTS that one in four of the UK population will be diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in his or her life. Considering the number of people affected by the condition, therefore, this handy, portable app could become a useful and much-needed source of support. Drawing from work done by Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, the WellMind app is divided into six sections. One section allows users to record and monitor their moods, and write about what makes them feel grateful. Other sections offer instant access to advice about stress, anxiety and depression. The app’s real strength is an interactive body map that allows users to tap various body parts and find out how stress can take its toll.
Links to crisis helplines are included, as well as relaxing games and audio content to help users unwind. This app could be used by mental health nurses to supplement advice from healthcare professionals, and to offer clients immediate help when it is needed. ■■ The App Store version is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Relax: Stress and Anxiety Relief Saagara Free on App Store £1.99 on Google Play (Free for Lite version) iOS 6.0 or later Android 2.3.3 or later
FINDING TIME to relax can be difficult. Research published in the journal Current Opinion in Psychiatry suggests that chronic stress and anxiety can damage those areas
of the brain that deal with memory and thinking, so relaxation is important. Interactive and visually pleasing, this app is effective in combating stress in five minutes. Proven benefits of practising deep breathing for five minutes a day include a reduction in anxiety, lowering heart rate naturally and pain management. The app’s features include a structured course that helps users to reduce their breathing rates as they progress through its sessions. Each phase is accompanied by calming music to promote relaxation. A section on guided meditation features an eight-minute session that focuses on different parts of the body. Nurses may suggest to patients who are experiencing stress and insomnia that they should use this app as a sleep aid. Nurses can also attempt the breathing and meditation techniques themselves when they are between shifts. ■■ The App Store version is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. There is also a version available for Apple TV Layla Haidrani is RCNi editorial assistant
Susan Williams
International outlook THIS YEAR marks the RCN’s 100th anniversary and, in recognition of its commitment to the development of nursing at home and abroad, there will be a strong international dimension to the RCN centenary conference in November in London. The conference programme was being finalised as Nursing Management went to press, but themes include: society, communities and relationships; technology and innovation; knowledge for change and improvement; populations, health and economic growth; and conflicts, disaster and recovery. This is also the year when the UK decides whether or not to remain part of the European Union. If the answer is ‘no’, the consequences for nurses seeking to practise in other parts of Europe, and for collaboration between nurse education 18 March 2016 | Volume 22 | Number 10
and research institutions in the UK and Europe, are unknown. At a global level, the United Nations (UN) agreed last autumn on a new set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years. Unlike the UN’s millennium development goals, SDGs are for all member states, not only those in the developing world. Strategic issues One of the SDGs is to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all people at all ages. The UN recognises that for this goal to be achieved, all countries must provide universal health coverage, and must address national and international economic and social inequalities. They will also be expected to invest more in the development, recruitment and retention of health workers.
The UK government is discussing how it should best address these ambitious goals at home and, where appropriate, overseas. As part of this process, the RCN is helping an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on global health to undertake a review of nursing globally, particularly in terms of delivering the SDGs. The APPG will examine issues such as education, recruitment, retention, role definition and regulation around the world, and consider nurse numbers, capacity and finances. It will then attempt to pick out the most important strategic issues, and focus on what the UK can do to support the development of nursing and nurses globally. For nursing internationally, 2016 is already shaping up to be an important year. Susan Williams is RCN senior international adviser
NURSING MANAGEMENT
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App reviews WellMind Blue Step Solutions Free iOS 6.0 or later Android 2.3.3 or later
RESEARCH SUGGESTS that one in four of the UK population will be diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in his or her life. Considering the number of people affected by the condition, therefore, this handy, portable app could become a useful and much-needed source of support. Drawing from work done by Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, the WellMind app is divided into six sections. One section allows users to record and monitor their moods, and write about what makes them feel grateful. Other sections offer instant access to advice about stress, anxiety and depression. The app’s real strength is an interactive body map that allows users to tap various body parts and find out how stress can take its toll.
Links to crisis helplines are included, as well as relaxing games and audio content to help users unwind. This app could be used by mental health nurses to supplement advice from healthcare professionals, and to offer clients immediate help when it is needed. ■■ The App Store version is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Relax: Stress and Anxiety Relief Saagara Free on App Store £1.99 on Google Play (Free for Lite version) iOS 6.0 or later Android 2.3.3 or later
FINDING TIME to relax can be difficult. Research published in the journal Current Opinion in Psychiatry suggests that chronic stress and anxiety can damage those areas
of the brain that deal with memory and thinking, so relaxation is important. Interactive and visually pleasing, this app is effective in combating stress in five minutes. Proven benefits of practising deep breathing for five minutes a day include a reduction in anxiety, lowering heart rate naturally and pain management. The app’s features include a structured course that helps users to reduce their breathing rates as they progress through its sessions. Each phase is accompanied by calming music to promote relaxation. A section on guided meditation features an eight-minute session that focuses on different parts of the body. Nurses may suggest to patients who are experiencing stress and insomnia that they should use this app as a sleep aid. Nurses can also attempt the breathing and meditation techniques themselves when they are between shifts. ■■ The App Store version is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. There is also a version available for Apple TV Layla Haidrani is RCNi editorial assistant
Susan Williams
International outlook THIS YEAR marks the RCN’s 100th anniversary and, in recognition of its commitment to the development of nursing at home and abroad, there will be a strong international dimension to the RCN centenary conference in November in London. The conference programme was being finalised as Nursing Management went to press, but themes include: society, communities and relationships; technology and innovation; knowledge for change and improvement; populations, health and economic growth; and conflicts, disaster and recovery. This is also the year when the UK decides whether or not to remain part of the European Union. If the answer is ‘no’, the consequences for nurses seeking to practise in other parts of Europe, and for collaboration between nurse education 18 March 2016 | Volume 22 | Number 10
and research institutions in the UK and Europe, are unknown. At a global level, the United Nations (UN) agreed last autumn on a new set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years. Unlike the UN’s millennium development goals, SDGs are for all member states, not only those in the developing world. Strategic issues One of the SDGs is to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all people at all ages. The UN recognises that for this goal to be achieved, all countries must provide universal health coverage, and must address national and international economic and social inequalities. They will also be expected to invest more in the development, recruitment and retention of health workers.
The UK government is discussing how it should best address these ambitious goals at home and, where appropriate, overseas. As part of this process, the RCN is helping an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on global health to undertake a review of nursing globally, particularly in terms of delivering the SDGs. The APPG will examine issues such as education, recruitment, retention, role definition and regulation around the world, and consider nurse numbers, capacity and finances. It will then attempt to pick out the most important strategic issues, and focus on what the UK can do to support the development of nursing and nurses globally. For nursing internationally, 2016 is already shaping up to be an important year. Susan Williams is RCN senior international adviser
NURSING MANAGEMENT
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Jun 27, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
