Nursing Standard

25/01/2025

Money advice for nurses: 5 changes you should know about in 2025

Get practical tips on how to cut your costs, protect your savings and maybe even boost your pension prospects.

Tips for nurses on staying on top of household finances in 2025. Nursing staff are feeling the effects of recent National Insurance, child benefit and state and NHS pension changes – as well as the continuing impact of inflation and income tax thresholds. This means it’s essential to know how to...

25/01/2025

Staying at band 5: how to make the most of your nursing role

Band 5 nursing roles usually involve direct clinical practice and patient contact.

Find out the pros and cons of remaining at this level.

Not all band 5 nurses are seeking promotion – some embrace the benefits of these roles, such as more patient contact, flexible working and a range of opportunities

24/01/2025

Are overworked nurses risking incontinence?

Heavy workloads and understaffing are leaving many nurses no time to go to the toilet during shifts, which could be damaging their bladder health.

Click here to read more >

Nurses often find it difficult to take toilet breaks during long and busy shifts on wards or in the community, but this could create a greater risk of developing continence issues. We look at the reasons behind the increased incidence of bladder problems among nurses, the mechanisms behind the risk....

23/01/2025

Nasogastric tube feeding under physical restraint is a clinical intervention that may be required when a child or young person is medically unstable secondary to restrictive eating.

This article discusses the effects this has on parents and how to support them.

Nasogastric tube feeding under physical restraint: understanding the effects on parents and how to support them

23/01/2025

A hospital has been told to urgently address its nurses’ awareness of their duty to ensure documentation is up to date, after staff repeatedly failed to complete prescription charts for a patient who later died following a pulmonary embolism.

Coroner tells Worcestershire Royal Hospital it must urgently improve its nurses’ awareness of their professional duty to complete important patient documentation, after record-keeping failure in case of patient who died following a pulmonary embolism. An inquest into Vauna Leeming's death heard th...

22/01/2025

What advice do you have for nursing students on completing patients’ notes?

This Nursing Standard article gives advice on how to keep your patient notes clear and factual to ensure safe, effective patient records.

Nursing students need to be able to maintain accurate, clear and timely patient notes to ensure effective communication, safety and continuity of care. Students should learn how to keep patient records professional, yet free of jargon, avoiding abbreviations. Patient notes can also serve as legal ev...

21/01/2025

Revalidation for nurses: how to renew your NMC registration

Here’s what it entails and what you need to do to prepare.

https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/careers/career-advice/revalidation-for-nurses-how-to-renew-your-nmc-registration-210601

21/01/2025

Nurses to be offered choice of pension benefits

NHS staff including nurses may soon be able to choose from two pension benefit options in a bid to address historic discrimination against younger staff.

NHS staff including nurses may soon be able to choose from two pension benefit options as the McCloud remedy aims to address age discrimination against younger staff. The McCloud remedy is a set of changes that address this age discrimination in two parts. The first part took place in 2022, when all...

21/01/2025

A nurse who performed ‘ineffective’ CPR on a nursing home resident who choked to death on toast had insufficient training.

The coroner's report described deficiencies in nurse education, and said the nurse was the only staff member at the time to have valid life support training.

A nursing home nurse who performed ‘ineffective’ cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a woman with swallowing difficulties who was choking to death had been insufficiently trained – and was the only staff member to have valid life-support training. A coroner’s report pointed to lack of ess...

20/01/2025

Violence against nurses: are the penalties tough enough?

Nurses face elevated risk of verbal assault or violence at work, yet many don’t report it.

We look at what to do if abuse happens and how perpetrators are punished.

https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/newsroom/analysis/violence-against-nurses-are-penalties-tough-enough-210556

20/01/2025

As the trial was set to begin today over the Southport murders, it was a reminder that nurses who provide care in the aftermath of such attacks may be vulnerable to the profound after-effects of such traumatic incidents.

Read more here >

A nurse who provided patient care following the knife attack in Southport in July, in which three girls were killed, discusses the profound effects of traumatic incidents on nursing staff and the heavy toll it can take on their mental health and well-being. Though there is no right way to process tr...

19/01/2025

Cycle syncing for nurses: managing your menstrual cycle at work

We detail the different phases of the menstrual cycle and hear from a nurse leader who uses cycle syncing to plan her working month.

Cycle syncing is a way to monitor the changes in mood, energy and confidence experienced as hormone levels change during the phases of your menstrual cycle. By noticing trends, nursing staff can adjust elements of their life and working month to accommodate times of low and high mood and energy. We....

19/01/2025

How to lead change as a nurse, whatever your role or seniority

Leading change might initially feel challenging, but it’s also exciting, can help reinvigorate your practice, and can bring benefits for patients and staff.

Follow our tips to get started.

Nurses are in a good position to see when improvements can be made to areas of practice in their workplaces, for the benefit of nursing staff, employers and patients. You don’t have to be in a leadership role or senior position to drive through changes that improve efficiency and patient experienc...

18/01/2025

How can I overcome fears about making a mistake as a nurse?

Liz Charalambous gives advice on what you can do when the fear of making mistakes starts to affect your work and wellbeing.

https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/opinion/expert-advice/how-can-i-overcome-fears-about-making-a-mistake-a-nurse-210076

18/01/2025

Shift work health risks for nurses: can the right food help?

Nurses often have trouble accessing healthy food at work, with a lack of breaks and limited options.

Get tips on planning nutritious meals and snacks.

Nursing staff often have trouble accessing healthy food during shifts, as well as taking breaks to consume it. Shift work is associated with health risks including a higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders and metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diab...

17/01/2025

Public understands nurses’ value, but pay needs to catch up

Our investigation into gifts given to NHS nursing staff shows how the public values the profession.

So, why do government pay awards continue to ignore this reality?

Nursing Standard’s annual investigation into gifts given to NHS nursing staff attests to the public’s high regard for the profession and how much they value nurses’ skills and compassion. Gifts range from toasters and teapots to cash and money left in wills, but such gestures from patients and...

17/01/2025

Are flu jabs a moral duty for nurses or should they remain a personal choice?

Mandatory vaccination for nursing staff during the winter influenza season has long been a contentious issue. Vaccine uptake rates among front-line healthcare professionals have fallen since the pandemic, for both flu and COVID-19. We look at what the figures reveal about attitudes to vaccination am...

16/01/2025

Care in corridors, toilets and cupboards: nurses’ harrowing stories

More than 5,000 nurses shared powerful testimonies on the state of the NHS in a damning report by the RCN, published this week, describing corridor care as ‘exhausting and soul-destroying’.

More than 5,000 nurses have shared distressing accounts of delivering care in corridors, toilets and storage spaces in testimonies and a new report. Nursing staff described the experience as ‘soul-destroying’ and ‘exhausting’, with some resigning after witnessing patients' inhumane condition...