While lifestyle-related conditions such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes are on the rise, district nurse numbers are falling. At the same time, traditional methods for providing lifestyle advice on factors such as smoking, alcohol intake and exercise have proven to be ineffective. This article examines how a technique called motivational interviewing, which seeks to build a partnership with the client, can promote positive change by strengthening the person's own motivation to change.
Stroke is a major cause of mortality and lifelong disability, despite advances in diagnosis and treatment. The risk factors of stroke are well-known and many are modifiable through lifestyle adjustments, however, the incidence of first-time stroke is increasing year-on-year. Primary stroke prevention is an important health promotion issue and successful implementation could lead to a reduction in the incidence of stroke and relieve a costly burden to the NHS. Nurses play an important role in providing information and advice to patients in secondary prevention of stroke, and could play an equal role in primary prevention. Providing advice on lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise all fall under the remit of the nurse in health promotion and in secondary stroke care. By providing a primary prevention service, community nurses could work as case managers for a larger multidisciplinary team and provide prevention advice and treatment.
Many of us work for the NHS and experience first-hand its challenges both as nurses on the frontline and as users of the service. With the population living longer and therefore presenting with more complex conditions, this is adding to the pressure being placed on both the NHS and the staff working within it. This situation is not unique to a particular area; in fact the whole of the UK, and indeed the world, is experiencing the same pressures. Undoubtedly, one of the answers would be to recruit more experienced and skilled staff, but what if there was a simpler solution?
I recently attended the annual Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) conference in London and came away feeling inspired, both because I am a nurse, but most importantly because after the conference I felt that things can and will improve and everyone (not just frontline NHS staff) can do their bit to help.
In each issue of the Journal of Community Nursing we investigate a hot topic currently affecting our readers. In this issue, as we face an obesity epidemic and growing lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, JCN takes a look at the community nurses’ role in health prevention and asks the question...
