#NurChat to discuss "Basic care in nursing" 25/10/2011
“Nursing skills such as maintaining personal hygiene and assisting patients with food and fluid intake are often dubbed 'basic', but are vital for improving health and wellbeing.” (McNaughtan 2011) With this in mind w
hat is basic care, should we even call it basic care – maybe fundamental care or essential care would be more appropriate ? What are the basic essentials that should be provided for every patient in our care?
Basic care is a very hot topic at the moment – opinions on whether modern nurses are forgetting the basics rage daily in the press. CQC have recently produced a report on their inspection findings of 100 hospitals and stated “Around half of the hospitals needed to do more to ensure that they were meeting people’s needs – with twenty of the hospitals visited failing to meet essential standards required by law” So is basic care being provided in all care environments and by all nurses? Are student nurses being shown the basics as part of their training? Are we as nurses getting involved in basic care? And is it important that we get involved in basic care?
Thanks you to Stu Robson for suggesting this discussion.
Click the picture to download a printable PDF for notice boards
There is a lot of material surrounding this highly emotive subject – but here are just a few articles that you may want to read. Please feel free to add to this list if you find anything else of interest.
Summary by Teresa Chinn RN
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Post Chat Summary
This chat was a highly emotive subject and kicked off by asking if we should even call basic care "basic" ? the words 2fundemental" and "essential" were proposed to be more appropriate. it was suggested that there is nothing basic about basic care. In the end the general opinion was that it really did not matter what it was called so long as the patient felt that they had recieved good care that was all that mattered.
The downgrading of basic care was discussed and if these tasks were beneath nurses. it was agreed thatwe should all do the basics consistently and it is the essence of good nursing. basic care was discussed as being an opportunity to do so much more.
The debate then explored the theory that nurses are too academic and opinions ranged from "this is a red herring" to "maybe in trying to keep up with the world we have shifted our focus"
Socio - political issues were raised and provided some debate- some though that staffing levels, devaluation of care, devauluation of old age, and skill mix were causative factors in poor basic care. All agreed that good positive role models were essential for the provision of good basic care.
Everyone agreed that basic care tasks such as bathing, feeding, washing were an important part of nursingand they enable nurses to do so much more- get to know patients, assess patiemts and build trust.
Some solutions to improve failing hospitals were discussed and ideas included empowering nurses, employing more nurses, developing staff and standing proud as a profession. The idea that a ward made up of NurChat nurses being a truly amazing ward was retweeted all round!
Thanks to all those who took part in this discussion - the entire transcript is below, please feel free to share this with anyone who missed the chat.
Summary by Teresa Chinn RN
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Chat Transcript (in reverse chronological order)
Feature | Block PamNelmesFoH Nurse power - we can make a difference. PS....Sorry I'm behind the curve tonight #nurchat ters! Keep caring :-)) goodnight tweeps x 9:03 PM
Feature | Block NurChat Of course, carry on chatting :) and follow and enjoy your colleagues and fellow NurChatters beyond these sessions! #nurchat 9:00 PM
Feature | Block PamNelmesFoH My heart gets heavy (and my breath wasted) as nurses continue to blame each other as too old, too educated/academic, too young, #nurchat 9:00 PM
Feature | Block NurChat As usual the tanscript will be online with a summary, if you would like an attendance certificate please DM us #nurchat 8:59 PM
Feature | Block NurChat Thanks all for joining us this evening, special thanks and a warm welcome to a few first time NurChatters :) #nurchat 8:58 PM
Feature | Block BennyGoodmanUoP groupthink, bystander apathy, socialisation and other psycho-social factors turns 'thinking' sour without the nurse knowing it #nurchat 8:58 PM
Feature | Block gemslunix i think and its sad to say that now its all looked at financially by businessman rather than the on the ground care/patient needs. #nurchat 8:56 PM
Feature | Block stuartrobson Try teaching the 'individual factors' of changing a persons wet bed at 3am. It becomes obviously hard to teach without a role model #nurchat 8:54 PM
Feature | Block Hhaylo #nurchat Not Political? My wards staff cut for efficiency savings, 6 patients need feeding, only 3 staff, what suffers first? basic care. 8:53 PM
Feature | Block PamNelmesFoH Role modelling is critical- mentors need time to mentor. Nurses need to be valued by society and 'cared' for by their employer. #nurchat 8:50 PM
Feature | Block stuartrobson lets get the media & filmmakers on board to help highlight things - media can be so influential! They could help change attitudes?! #nurchat 8:48 PM
Feature | Block gemslunix as said before so many people are far to politically correct now that all aspects of care are so covered ! #nurchat 8:45 PM
Feature | Block Nursey_Shez #nurchat, being able to assist patients with tasks they may struggle with is a privilege, i really value nurse/patient relationships i build 8:44 PM
Feature | Block SophieLer #nurchat I was taught basic care ie washes, oral care etc via HCA's on my placement as my first year of training was mainly study 8:39 PM
Feature | Block gemslunix what better way to give this trust back to patients- should be by utilising our basic care in a high standard. #nurchat 8:39 PM
Feature | Block stuartrobson I feel like i have to stand up for old peoples rights, in my work (sorry - i know it sounds cheesy!!) & that drives me... #nurchat 8:35 PM
Feature | Block stuartrobson Yeah, workloads, staffing levels etc.. = frustrations, and these can draw peoples focus away from basic care & onto other things?? #nurchat 8:30 PM
Feature | Block i_de_serve RT @Hhaylo: #nurchat I make sure everyone stops what they are doing at meal times. every member of stops and concentrates on feeding patients, so simple 8:28 PM
Feature | Block nursiedeb #NurChat the 'basics' of all nursing care is actually giving a hoot about what you are doing. Being a nurse isn't what I do, its what I am. 8:28 PM
Feature | Block MacMoomin Kate in Hampshire. Had a good chat with some commissioners today. It included basic/fundamental care. Encouraging. #nurchat 8:28 PM
Feature | Block cathieb Should 'hourly nursing rounds' be introduced to ensure patients receive quality nursing care?? #nurchat. 8:28 PM
Feature | Block Christellesongs #nurchat I've always found that 'essential' nursing care is individual, in collaboration with what the patient feels is essential to them. 8:26 PM
Feature | Block STNNurse_Mikey #nurchat Perhaps focusing less on infection control,IT solutions,PCTwelfare provision, we should be focussing on teaching lost art of caring 8:25 PM
Feature | Block Hhaylo #nurchat has compassion really gone or have the Telegraph and Daily mail taken hold of all of us, I see real compassion here. 8:25 PM
Feature | Block Nursey_Shez #nurchat as a student the first thing i wanted to learn was basic nursing care, pts have expressed to me that is what nursing lacks 8:24 PM
Feature | Block nursiedeb #nurchat been offered mouth care. Given basin to wash in post loo. Really follow up on pain score. Good info at all times and lots of smiles 8:23 PM
Feature | Block stuartrobson being Academic has its place for sure, but maybe in trying to keep up with the world, we have shifted a bit of our focus?? #nurchat 8:22 PM
Feature | Block gemslunix one could say that this world is becoming to PC that the simplest of basic care can be difficult (not in all cases) #nurchat 8:22 PM
Feature | Block Hhaylo #nurchat I make sure everyone stops what they are doing at meal times. every member of stops and concentrates on feeding patients, so simple 8:20 PM
Feature | Block stuartrobson unfortunately i have come across some Nurses who don't like to get their hands dirty, but Basic care isn't just about that.. #nurchat 8:18 PM
Feature | Block nursiedeb #NurChat Hello its Debbie from her hospital bed. Op went ok. Superb care here. How all care should be. Individualised to the patients needs 8:18 PM
Feature | Block gemslunix none everyone has a duty of care no matter what there role .. a nurse a domestic a cook ! you all have a duty of care. #nurchat 8:17 PM
Feature | Block NurChat RT @Safer_ICU: #nurchat We should all strive to raise the floor of healthcare, that begins with doing the basics consistently to every person, every time. 8:15 PM
Feature | Block Hhaylo #nurchat The Nursing role is being sold as a 'junor doctor' type role and disregards the basic human needs of the vulnerable patient. 8:15 PM
Feature | Block Safer_ICU #nurchat We should all strive to raise the floor of healthcare, that begins with doing the basics consistently to every person, every time. 8:13 PM
Feature | Block Hhaylo #nurchat student nurses often feel that they are let down if they are asked to perform 'basic' nursing care. Herein lies the problem. 8:13 PM
Feature | Block BennyGoodmanUoP #nurchat we can have a discussion around the word but from a patients prspctive the issue is how they experience care not what its called 8:10 PM
Feature | Block mikkywatt Hi, Michelle in Edinburgh here :) Basic is the wrong word, takes a huge amount of skill to do those tasks well #nurchat 8:10 PM
Feature | Block cathieb Hi #nurchat. Nothing 'basic' about nursing care. Always highlight to students that quality care is a fundamental & essential skill. 8:05 PM
Feature | Block NurChat Hi All -As always please remember the NMC code of conduct when tweeting tonight & that your opinions are all your own #nurchat 8:00 PM
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