Urine tests for renal function: What tests detect different levels of damage?
Venous thrombosis and thromboembolism
Venous thromboembolism (VTE), comprising deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a major public health problem affecting around 100 per 100,000 population per year and causing thousands of deaths annually. Large population-based studies have shown that factors associated with hospitalisation account for half of the attributable risk of VTE.
When to use aspirin in CVD prevention: acting on the latest evidence
Standing up, sitting or lying down: what do these BP readings mean?
Maintaining a healthy blood pressure (BP) is important in preventing cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, and measuring BP is a key step in cardiovascular risk assessment. However, it is not always measured correctly. Readings should be taken from both arms and the higher reading of the two, if there is a difference, should be used and a record should be kept of the preferred arm for future readings. But what about the patient’s position? Does a lying and standing measurement need to be done in all patients? What is an ‘acceptable’ difference? And does it matter?
Making sense of HDL cholesterol in cardiovascular risk
Lowering LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) with statins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has rightly become a core activity for primary care health professionals. However, despite effective lowering of LDL-C, many patients still suffer cardiovascular events. Experts have called this ‘the residual risk’ and have speculated whether further cardiovascular events can be prevented by attention to other lipoprotein fractions, particularly HDL cholesterol (HDL-C).
Helping patients with diabetes to win the battle to control their weight
Many people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese at diagnosis and continue to struggle to control their weight. This article looks at why people with diabetes find weight control more of a challenge than the rest of us and how practice nurses can help patients to remain positive, particularly when starting insulin to optimise blood glucose control.
Back to Basics: How to use a nasal spray
Travel tips for patients with respiratory conditions and allergy
Many of your patients will be planning their holidays, but some may be worrying
unnecessarily about their respiratory condition. There are a host of resources and
information available for them, and practice nurses can make sure they provide the
right information about travelling with asthma, COPD or allergies. This article
provides practical tips on how best to advise patients who are thinking of going on holiday.
Scoring Top QOF Points for COPD
Making the most of self-management plans in COPD
The Department of Health’s Expert Patient Programme recognises the role of selfmanagement
in many different disease areas and its report Self Care recommends the
concept of encouraging people with long-term conditions to self-manage where
possible. Diabetes management would never succeed without the active participation of
the person with the condition and asthma management plans have been advocated for some
time for people with asthma. What can self-management plans achieve in chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD)?
Editorial: Winter
You may have thought you were safe from dire warnings about global warming in the pages of BJPCN. But hayfever is one of the themes of this issue and the mild winter has meant that some people suffered symptoms much earlier than usual as pollens which can trigger allergic reactions were found in the air as early as January.
Anxiety in Patients with Respiratory Disease
Anxiety is a significant problem for many patients with respiratory disease and can have
a very negative impact on the disease course and prognosis. Practice nurses have an
important role to play in identifying anxiety and referring patients for appropriate
treatment. This article will focus on anxiety in such patients and aims to help you
understand what anxiety is, how anxiety affects patients, how to recognise symptoms of anxiety
and how to use the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. A second article, to be published in
the next issue, will focus on management of anxiety.
