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Background: Specialist Community Practitioner (SCP) and Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) students are required to evidence their competency by the use of reflective practice as part of the NMC proficiencies. A reflective café trilogy comprising of three reflective teaching sessions was developed and introduced into a university programme to support and encourage alternative methods for deeper reflection within this student group. Aim: It was important for educators to evaluate if a reflective café met the student's needs and understand the usefulness of a 'reflective café' as a technique to support the process of reflecting on practice. Methods: Evaluation was undertaken using an online questionnaire. Findings: Students evaluated if the reflective café was useful for their own development and identified that the number of sessions met their developmental needs. Conclusion: The potential to develop alternative methods to reflect was recognised and the team plan to develop other reflective processes to support students in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As populations rise and many global health policies point towards community care, it is important that health care delivery meets demand. In Ireland, a study was undertaken on the level and context of missed care in community nursing. The study used a survey to identify the quantity of, and reasons for, missed care; a reference group to develop possible health economic implications for missed care, and a small sample of semi-structured interviews to consider the macro-environment within which missed care occurred. This paper presents the findings of the health economics and qualitative data, and the study's implications for community nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The extent of self-neglect on public health nurses' (PHNs) caseloads in Ireland is unknown. People who self-neglect may be vulnerable or hidden and, as a consequence, difficult to profile. PHNs in Ireland profile their areas to identify the nursing needs of their population. Aim: This paper aims to: collate caseloads on self-neglect on the basis of a review of community profile and health need assessments (CPHNA) and identify the geographical and demographic factors within which self-neglect cases were found. Method: A retrospective review of the CPHNA of student PHNs (n=88) was undertaken from 2010 to 2014 in a university in Ireland. In all, 88 community profiles were manually reviewed. Results: A total of 374 self-neglect cases were identified--79 cases were aged between 18-64 years and 295 were over 65 years. The range of self-neglect cases per profiled area was between 0 to 25. The geographic and demographic factors linked to self-neglect across profiles were higher rates of older people, deprivation, disadvantage, and cultural factors. Conclusion: This retrospective review illustrates that self-neglect is a prominent feature in PHN caseloads, which has not been identified previously. Early identification is important to promote the mental health and wellbeing of self-neglecting clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on various aspects of the integration of hospital-based midwifery services into a community, and it mentions the National Maternity Strategy for the Republic of Ireland's publication of a midwifery-related proposal. The continuity of care is addressed, along with midwives' skills and communication in medicine in places such as Great Britain and the Netherlands. Irish maternity services are assessed, as well as Registered Public Health Nurses and health promotion.

The report 'Visible, accessible and integrated care' (VAIC) proposes a new Community Health Nurse (CHN) model which involves the combination of the four current disciplines of district nursing, public health nursing (health visiting and school nursing) and family health nursing into a single generic role (Scottish Executive, 2006b). The Queen's Nursing Institute in Scotland (QNIS) wished to identify the implications of the VAIC report; a series of national focus groups were held throughout Scotland during 2007 with key stakeholders, initially including managers and senior nurses, practitioners, staff nurses and educationalists, and later family health nurses, practice nurses, school nurses, and General Practitioners. Finally, a patient and carers' focus group was held to establish a public perspective on the changes. This article summarizes the key findings from the QNIS focus groups and highlights the emerging themes concerning the implementation of VAIC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can the perspective of the service user be made real and helpful in the professional education of community nurses? This article presents one answer to this question through encouraging nurses to write fictional accounts of how their practice appears to their own service users. Arising from a research project on the 'patchwork text' assignment format in a professional degree course at Angilia Polytechnic University, the article presents two such accounts by community nurses undertaking the course. Their accounts illustrate the insights into professional issues that are produced by an explicitly imaginative exercise. A particularly important outcome, not expected by the researchers, was that the commentaries written by the nurses on their imagined scenarios, led, not to a discussion of 'issues' (as in many cases) but to a precise and practical critique of their actual practice, suggesting a further dimension of the educational value of writing fiction as part of professional education courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-random sample of 331 community-based clients aged 75 years and over, who were cared for at home, were involved in a longitudinal study to asses cognitive impairment (CI). The clock drawing test (CDT) using the Watson et al (1993) scoring protocol was used to determine its utility as a tool for community nurses to assess CI. In the first phase of the study 294CDTs were used in analysis and 50.8%(n=172) of participants were cognitively impaired. Subsequent assessments at 9 months and 18 months using both the CDT and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) confirmed the high initial level of cognitive impairment among the sample. Over the course of the study 37 participants who had high CDT scores were admitted to institutional care and their cognitive status continued to decline. Among those who remained in the community, the percentage with some degree of cognitive impairment remained high, and over the course of the study there was a significant linear decline in the mean MMSE score. The CDT takes less time to administer than the MMSE and appears to be a more sensitive tool for detecting early changes in cognition. The CDT could therefore be useful as an initial assessment tool by community mental health nurses to help facilitate early intervention for older clients who are beginning to experience cognitive changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the results of a survey of public health nurses who work with families with infants in Ireland. Working relationships of nurses with speech therapists, area medical officers and community welfare officers; Use of statistical correlation; Implications for communication and teamworking in primary care.

With the imminent roll-out of Agenda for Change, most nurses will be busy checking their job profiles and ensuring they get the most out of the process. In this article, Yvonne Savage provides a timely overview of what all this effort will mean in the longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the competencies and needs required from public health officials, nurses and doctors when disaster strikes, not only to deal with the initial rescue but also during rehabilitation and counseling. He believes that one of the primary skills health workers should have is cultural competency, in order to adapt to the victims' needs and situations. He suggests workers should enroll in courses that explore culture, values and attitudes to improve the process of disaster relief.