Developing Practical Nursing Skills

Nicola Neale is currently an Associate Lecturer with Bucks New University, was trained at St Thomas’ Hospital and has since worked extensively in the NHS in medicine and in higher education as a Senior Lecturer. She has an MA in Education and a PG Diploma in Cancer Care. Her main areas of interest are cancer care, long-term conditions and psychological care within an adult setting. In 2011, Nicola set up a Macmillan Cancer Information Centre for an NHS Foundation Trust and managed this for seven years and was awarded The Henry Garnett Award as a Macmillan Professional for outreach activities to local communities. Joanne Sale is a registered nurse primarily of working-age adults with mental health needs, both in-patient and community settings. Jo also has an interest in psychology, holding a BSc and an MSc in this subject and enjoys applying this knowledge to the nursing arena. She is particularly interested in service user recovery and co-production in education. Along with colleagues in her local trust and the partner university, she was instrumental in the setting up of the Recovery College, which now forms a major pathway in an individual’s recovery from mental ill health. Jo has recently retired but continues to offer her support and input to the University of Bedfordshire. Both Nicola and Joanne have co-authored all previous editions of the communication chapter in this book. However, following the retirement of Lesley Baillie, Nicola and Joanne were very happy to be asked to co-edit this fifth edition.

1.Practical nursing skills: a caring approach. 2.Communication: a person-centred approach. 3.Fundamentals of mental health assessment for non-mental health practitioners. 4.Measuring and monitoring vital signs. 5.Meeting personal needs: hydration and nutrition. 6.Meeting personal needs: elimination. 7.Meeting personal needs: hygiene. 8.Promoting comfort and sleep. 9.Assessing and managing pain. 10.Medicines management. 11.Caring for people with impaired mobility. 12.Infection prevention and control. 13.Principles of wound care. 14.Assessing and responding to sudden deterioration in the adult. 15.Managing care at the end of life