Booklets and guides

The essential guides and resources in this section have been developed to offer guidance and practical assistance for nurses in clinical practice.

Most are also frequently used as a teaching appliance. Some include video clips of patients, a summary of a larger guide or policy, and patient or client input. All are easy to read, have a practical use and will help nurses to update themselves clinically and improve patient care and outcomes.

Administration of depot and long-acting antipsychotic injections

The aim of this guide is to inform all practitioners, managers, service users, and carers about the use of intramuscular (IM) depot and long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic medication.

Author Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Nursing Standard. Please follow the Author Guidelines if you wish to submit articles to the printed journal for consideration.

Burnout - a spiritual crisis

Burnout and stress are often found close together in the literature, the one (burnout) being presumed to flow from an extreme experience of the other.

Calculation Skills - Paediatric Nursing

This guide is for all nurses working with neonates, children and young people to support their learning and revision of calculation skills.

Caring for Older People in Acute Care Settings (Interactive)

A free interactive version of this guide is available which features embedded video content. You can turn pages and zoom in and out in the same way as with our digital editions. (Opens in new window.)

Caring for Older People in Acute Care Settings

At a time when the care of older people in homes and hospitals has been under scrutiny, new guidelines have been published to support and guide the practice of individual nurses working in acute settings.

A guide to cultural and spiritual awareness

African/Caribbean, Asian, Chinese, Travellers Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Baha'i, Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Rastafarianism, Seventh Day Adventists, Other faiths.

Childhood obesity and lifestyle

This guide looks at the findings of a pan-European research study (Kellogg's 2005) examining children's attitudes, knowledge and behaviour in relation to healthy eating and physical activities, compared with the views of their parents.

Dermatology supplement 2009

This supplement contains articles on the topical treatments for managing patients with eczema, providing patients with information on caring for skin, the role of emollients in the care of patients with dry skin and a practice profile on taking a patient’s viewpoint of a dermatology consultation.

Discharge planning

A summary of the Department of Health’s guidance Ready to go? Planning the discharge and the transfer of patients from hospital and intermediate care.

Genetics

The series of articles aims to raise awareness of genetics and help readers develop confidence in dealing appropriately with genetic issues that arise in their area of practice.

Health care assistants and assistant practitioners: Delegation and Accountability guide

The purpose of this guide is to address some of the key issues regarding the delegation of tasks to health care assistants (HCAs), and to offer practical guidance on a number of topics, including: Training, Supervision, Liability, accountability and responsibility.

Improving quality of care for people with dementia in general hospitals

This essential guide covers a wide range of subjects connected with the care of people with dementia in general hospitals.

Infection Control

This guide will help you to increase your knowledge about the importance of cleaning and the role of nurses in keeping the patient environment clean and safe.

Insulin pump therapy

This guide looks at the use of insulin pumps for people with diabetes, including a patient’s perspective. Written by Katharine Barnard, chartered health psychologist, and Steve Dixon, Sky News presenter, who describes life with an insulin pump.

Innovations in smoking cessation

A Nursing Standard Essential guide - Written by Jennifer Percival RN RM RHV FETC Dip Counselling, national NHS stop smoking trainer.

Let's Respect - The mental health needs of older people

This guide gives a brief overview of the signs and symptoms of each condition, and explains how best to care for older people with dementia, delirium and depression. For more information about the Let's Respect project see the outside back cover of this guide.

Living Well With Dementia in a Care Home

This essential guide highlights key issues from the National Dementia Strategy for care homes and implications for providers and managers of care home services. Information is drawn from the strategy document and page numbers are referenced.

Management of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration

This guide discusses the requirements of a patient care pathway that reflects best practice, and offers practical advice for general and ophthalmic nurses in light of NICE and SMC guidance for the treatment of wet AMD.

Nutrition and older people

This guide outlines the importance of nutrition and hydration, the nurse's role and highlights some examples of good practice.

Patient Pictures

RCN Publishing and Health Press Ltd have created a partnership to provide you with the Patient Pictures series of books. These offer a valuable resource for you to use when advising patients. The series covers key clinical areas and, in total, there are approximately 800 pages for you to help patients.

Research article guidelines

If you wish to submit research articles to the printed Nursing Standard, it is important that you follow the guidelines printed in the journal or downloadable here.

Spirit of Nursing Conference Presentations

Links to the PowerPoint presentations shown at the conference, as well as the abstracts PDF document detailing the aims and focus of each speaker.

Urinary continence management in older people

This guide is designed for care staff dealing with older people who have bladder problems. It uses data from the National Audit of Continence Care for Older People (NACCOP) to illustrate the type of problems encountered by respondents and to suggest up to date, evidence-based, practical management strategies.

Vulnerable adults

In recent years the media has put child abuse under the spotlight with high-profile cases of neglect by carers and catastrophic system failure producing harrowing accounts of children's suffering. It is an issue that evokes great public concern. We hear less about the abuse of vulnerable adults and, as a society, are not comfortable with acknowledging that it exists...

Wound care supplement 2006

This supplement from October 2006 contains articles on the treatment of superficial wounds and management of associated pain, scar management, silver therapy, wound management in palliative care, oedema, lymphovenous oedema and lymphoedema. With further articles on delayed wound healing, exudate and care of peri-wound skin.

Wound care supplement 2008

This supplement from November 2008 contains articles on non-cancer-related lymphoedema of the lower limb, the impact of exudate and odour from chronic
venus leg ulceration, the role of emollients in the care of patients with dry skin and a practice profile on assessing leg ulcers.

Wound care supplement 2009

This supplement from November 2009 contains articles on pain assessment and management in patients with chronic wounds, maintaining standards for pressure ulcer management in care homes, recognising infection in wounds and a practice profile on the use of Doppler ultrasound to assess leg ulcers.

Free digital copy of Who cares? by Amanda Steane

Every patient should experience the best possible care when they go into hospital. But sometimes things go badly wrong, as they did for Amanda Steane's husband Paul. Nursing Standard is offering a free digital copy of Amanda's book Who cares? to all Nursing Standardreaders.