Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Hind.
Martin Hind reviews the proposals about professional profiles with special reference to their implications for theatre nurses. He asks a number of questions to which the UKCC will give answers and one or two others which may bear thought.
In the current climate of changing nursing and medical roles, discussions about the role of the operating theatre nurse have been rekindled, with particular emphasis being placed on the role of the nurse as 'assistant' to the surgeon. This article examines perioperative roles and identifies and discusses the factors that have stimulated their development. It is argued that these roles are not necessarily new and that their recent re-emergence may have as much to do with the sustained drive to reduce junior doctors' hours as the need to enhance the quality of patient care. However, they may offer operating theatre nurses clearer direction and purpose to practice. Provided they can improve the quality of patient care and are given careful consideration, they may prove to be an opportunity worth exploiting.
The 1999/2000 winter demands on the NHS have once again highlighted deficits in UK critical care provision (Daily Telegraph, 2000; London Evening Standard, 2000) Recent years have seen the development of the role of health care support workers in the NHS; some critical care units now employ health care support workers This research examined the views of critical care unit staff on the introduction of health care support workers into the critical care unit It is concluded that the role is viable within the setting of this study A framework is outlined that could form the basis for a critical care health care support worker training programme