Putting the pieces together in practice
Is your practice evidence-based? And what does that mean anyway? Those of you who came to the HNA meeting will recall Martin Bedford’s presentation in which he defined evidence-based practice as “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of best current evidence in making decisions about care for clients.” It was, he said, a strategy for bridging …
Keep talking – we’re listening
Don’t you just love it when plans start to work? A year ago, an innocent little conversation started on Haemnet. Sarah asked whether anyone had any experience of setting up Link Nurse groups for bleeding disorders in DGHs. She thought “it would be a useful way of sharing information and knowledge with colleagues from different …
Nurses: Your Service Needs You!
Commissioning of haemophilia care is set to change in the latest NHS shake-up. Although most of the new structures have now been set in place, there is still an opportunity for nurses to determine the shape of services. Michele Davis, assistant director of London Specialist Commissioning Group and the Commissioning Representative on the National Clinical …
Reflections on the art and risks of conference planning
So when one of the industry delegates asked over dinner if conference organising was my main job, I had to confess. The HNA meeting in Oxford was the first meeting I’d organised. Well, confession is good for the soul. I’ve worked at or helped out on lots of conferences over many years but this was …
How do you see the future of haemophilia nursing?
Last year, we asked HNA members to complete a Survey Monkey questionnaire that aimed to reveal more about members, their banding, educational needs and so on. The results will be presented at HNA in Oxford this week, and will be summarised in a newsletter that you’ll find in your delegate bag (we’ll post it on …
Of tortoises, hares, and future hopes and fears
Good report in Nature Medicine this week summarizing how the future landscape in haemophilia care is likely to change as the new long-acting products come through. (It gets the report for bad headline pun of the week: “The clot thickens for long-lasting drugs that stop hemophilia short”). It contains a table showing the current US regulatory …
We all need suspicious minds
What do you think when a patient presents to your clinic with blood in the urine? Do you think bleeding disorder or do you investigate for something more sinister? Most people do not seek medical advice soon enough when they see blood in their urine, even though almost 1 in 5 will have a urinary …
How well do your patients take their treatment?
“Treatments don’t work in people who don’t take them.” Seems obvious doesn’t it? According to the World Health Organization, research consistently shows that adherence to long-term therapy for chronic illnesses in developed countries averages 50%. No matter what disease you look at, patients experience difficulty in following treatment recommendations. A recent study conducted in the …