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Support in practice August 2012
For all HCAs and assistant practitioners
This quarterly supplement looks at:
- A solid grounding - Rhia Davies describes her journey from support worker to nursing student
- RCN principles also apply to HCAs and APs
- Ways into nursing
- Keep up the records
- Monitoring vital signs
- Variable training for assistant practitioners
- The meaning of accountability
Legal advice: Richard Griffith on HCAs and the law
Accountability means being legally answerable for your work and conduct. It is fundamental to the protection of people in the care of healthcare assistants (HCAs).
‘I am free from the managerial work that ties the nurses up’
Paul Smith-James, an assistant practitioner at Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust, works on a urology ward.
A fresh perspective
Nursing student Rhia Davies returned to operating theatres where she used to work as a healthcare support worker
Vital signs are vital for a reason
Healthcare assistants need to record patient observations accurately and consistently, writes Robin Lewis
A role defined by local need
The band 4 assistant practitioner qualification fuses the vocational and academic, but how can fitness to practise be measured? Claire Thurgate reports
Put it down on paper
Clear, concise record-keeping is a vital part of good patient care, explains Jane Redfern Jones
The right qualifications
Frances Pickersgill explains some of many ways to access pre-registration nursing education
Humanity and dignity for all
The RCN principles of nursing practice are relevant for all nursing staff, writes Tanis Hand
Mentorship
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Mentorship enables student nurses to apply their theoretical knowledge and put it into practice in a clinical situation.
Working abroad
Read and learn from others' experience of working in different countries.
The RCN Publishing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing, the world's largest organisation for nurses. RCN Publishing produces one weekly, eight monthly and two quarterly nursing publications. Nursing Standard, the flagship journal, is the UK's biggest selling weekly for nursing. It is produced by RCN Publishing Company along with a suite of specialist nursing journals - Cancer Nursing Practice, Mental Health Practice, Learning Disability Practice, Nursing Children and Young People, Nursing Management, Emergency Nurse, Nursing Older People, Nurse Researcher and Primary Health Care. RCN Publishing Company also produce the RCN Bulletin, a major source of up-to-the-minute information for RCN members in all specialities, grades and working environments. With the latest nurse vacancies from trusts nationwide, it has become the most cost-effective nurse recruitment magazine available.