Using Health Policy in Nursing Practice

Transforming Nursing Practice Series

by Georgina Taylor

This book is part of the Transforming Nursing Practice series, written specifically to support nursing students on the new degree programme.     Health policy can appear complex and remote from nursing practice. This book demystifies health policy and helps you understand how policy decisions relate to your daily practice. Through the exploration of selected hot topics, such as patient involvement and dignity, the book helps you to consider how not only to use policy in practice, but also how to use practice to influence policy. Patient narratives and case studies are followed through each chapter to show how policy issues can impact on real life care. The book also shows how you can use an understanding of policy to develop your career.   Key   - Shows how policy impacts on the real world and how you can use it to improve care or change practice - Regular activities help you to engage with policy issues - Enables you to see how to use policy in practice yourself - Supports you in meeting the NMC requirements for registration   About the series   Transforming Nursing Practice is the first series of books designed to help students meet the requirements of the NMC Standards and Essential Skills Clusters for the new degree programmes. Each book addresses a core topic, and together they cover the generic knowledge required for all fields of practice. Accessible and challenging, Transforming Nursing Practice helps nursing students prepare for the demands of future healthcare delivery.   Series Proffesor Shirley Bach , Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Brighton. Co-series editor for learning skills Dr Mooi Standing , Independent Academic Consultant at national and international level, and an accredited Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) reviewer.     Georgina Taylor was a Principal Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Sciences at Middlesex University for many years, and has recently retired. She taught research methods to a range of healthcare professionals and aspects of health policy and interprofessional working to third year nursing students. Research interests include the health of refugees and asylum seekers, health inequalities, intercultural care, and patient safety.

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Description:

This book is part of the Transforming Nursing Practice series. This has been written principally for nursing students on the degree programme.
This book helps nurses to comprehend how policies fit in with ongoing practice. Nurses sometimes find it difficult to realise that these are used in everyday care for the patient. This book sets out to raise the awareness and teach them the tools to enable them to put this into practice.
This book sets out to improve patient care.

Highlights:

This is book written in the UK by an academic at Middlesex hospital. It is so apt for today’s nurses.
This book is so apt following the Francis report and makes the links between policy and practice clear.
The author writes clearly and does not use jargon that could confuse the reader.


Strengths and weaknesses:

The case studies are excellent and was it was important to include Victoria Climbie’ although this was eleven years ago, it is vital healthcare professionals ensure workable policies are in place to safeguard vulnerable children and adults.
Patient safety is included and highlights the difference between system and human errors these are explained alongside fair blame. Healthcare professionals need to work in a safety culture. Otherwise bad practice will continue and patient care will not be able to improve.
Within each chapter there are a number of activities that can be carried out in class and on placements.
The referencing is up to date and there are good websites for further reading.
The text charts across the new NMC (2010) sphere to identify that all nurses have a part to play in taking this forward.

There were no weaknesses found.


Potential Readers:

Although this book is aimed for nursing students undertaking a degree course this is relevant to all nurses working today within healthcare environment.
All levels of nurses need to be aware of health policies and how this affects all area of practice. Staff also need to have the knowledge to take this forward effectively.

Patients and their relatives need to be assured that staff carry out the highest standard of care in line with current healthcare policies. This book will help nurses to achieve this.