Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Mandy Howell.
Pulse oximetry is a valuable method of monitoring a patient's oxygenation levels and is an increasingly common test. It is important that any health-care professional conducting pulse oximetry is aware of the various factors that may influence the results obtained, ranging from incorrect use of the equipment to the effect of the patient's condition.
Specialist post-registration education is available for cancer nurses. But to what extent does it help them improve the care that patients receive? A focus group-based study of nurses, along with an audit of patient notes, found nurses in one trust are reluctant to carry out some aspects of care, even after receiving education, which is reflected in documentation and care plans.
Pulse oximetry provides continuous, non-invasive monitoring of the oxygen saturation of haemoglobin in arterial blood, which is updated with each pulse wave. The primary advantage is that it detects immediately deviations to a patient's baseline. Care givers can therefore detect changes before the patient becomes hypoxaemic. However, staff are reported to have limited education, if any, in the correct use of the pulse oximeter and what may affect the readings. In order to test this theory, an audit was conducted on 50 staff within a large general hospital, comprising trained and untrained nurses and medical staff. Participants' responses to a questionnaire and to six clinical scenarios were analysed. Overall, there was a deficit in participants' knowledge on pulse oximetry. The answers given by the medical staff to the clinical scenarios showed no greater level of knowledge than many of the trained nurses. The recommendations made following this audit were to improve the education and training of all staff in the understanding of this technique.
Foot care is an integral part of a patient's daily hygiene requirements, yet the authors have found it to be an area often neglected by nurses. Foot and toenail problems present a considerable challenge to nurses in all healthcare settings, especially for patients with diabetes. However, patients without diabetes also suffer from minor foot abnormalities or injuries that might have been preventable. One acute hospital ward has worked closely with the chiropody department to improve the nursing team's competence and confidence in foot hygiene assessment and toenail clipping and has, therefore, improved the patient experience during hospital admission. This article describes how the nursing team used education to improve the foot care services offered to patients.
An audit of nurses in a district general hospital found that there were gaps in their knowledge about the management of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. The author suggests ways in which their knowledge could be updated and patient care improved.