British journal of community nursing
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With campaigns from the RCN, Nursing Times and Patients' Association promoting dignity and choice in healthcare district nurses need to be aware of the legal principle that lie at the heart of autonomy, consent. In the first of a series of articles on the principles of patient consent Richard Griffith and Cassam Tengnah outline the elements of a valid consent and how important obtaining consent is to the propriety of a district nurse's practice.
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Br J Community Nurs · Nov 2011
Spirituality in end-of-life care: attending the person on their journey.
Spirituality is a fundamental element to the human experience of health and healing, illness and dying. Spiritual care is an essential component of palliative and end-of-life care provision and is the responsibility of all staff and carers involved in the care of patients and families. ⋯ The aim of is to encourage self reflection and open dialogue about the subject, thus enhancing community nurses' understanding of spiritual care practice. By reflecting and generating talk about the practice of spiritual care, it may become more normalized, recognized, and practically meaningful, thereby retaining its significance in holistic nursing.
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Community nurses have a central role in the provision of palliative and end-of-life care; helping people to die with dignity is an important component of this care. To conserve dignity, care should comprise a broad range of actions addressing the distress that might impact on the patient's sense of dignity. These care actions need to be defined. ⋯ Data were collected by focus group interviews and analysed by framework analysis using the Chochinov model of dignity as a predefined framework. Suggestions on care actions were given in relation to all themes. As part of a multi-phase project developing and testing a dignity care pathway, this study might help community nurses to conserve dying patients' dignity.
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Community nurses are likely to encounter people with a stoma, most commonly a colostomy. An appliance is used to collect and contain the stomal output. There are various appliances available, each designed to specifically care for a particular type of stoma. ⋯ There are many accessories available, which can make choice difficult. However, an understanding of why accessories are used can assist in the assessment and treatment choice. It may be necessary to request the assistance of the stoma specialist nurse.