Resources

The following information may be of interest to DNF members. The Committee will update this information periodically. In the meantime, if you have any information you would like to share with members on this page then please contact Capt Chris Carter via email

ALS Qualified?

Are you aware of recent changes in legislation allowing ALS Providers to administer Adrenaline and Amiodarone without prescription to adults in cardiac arrest? For more information, please visit the Resuscitation Council (UK) webpage relating to frequently asked questions on adult advanced life support.

 Are you a Student Nurse or working with Students?

Recently the Royal College of Nursing asked Lord Willis of Knaresborough to chair the commission into ‘Quality with compassion: the future of nursing education’. The report was published in November 2012 and provides key messages and recommendations on:

  • Theme 1: The future nursing workforce.
  • Theme 2: Degree level registration
  • Theme 3: Learning to Nurse
  • Theme 4: Continuing professional development
  • Theme 5: Patient and public involvement in nursing education
  • Theme 6: Infrastructure

The executive summary and full report can be found on the Commission website, www.williscommission.org.uk

Military Consensus Statements on Clinical Care

The following military consensus statements on clinical care have been devised to guide deployed clinical practice:

  • Internal Fixation on Deployment
  • Non operative management of trauma
  • Decision making in junctional trauma
  • Extremity wound debridement
  • Optimal clinical timelines
  • Lower limb amputations
  • Pre-Hospital burns
  • Crush injury & syndrome
  • Pre-Hospital Fluid Resuscitation

The consensus statements in full can be found on the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps consensus statements webpage

BSc (Hons) Defence Health Care Studies

This is a new programme which updates, refreshes and replaces the current BSc (Hons) Defence Nursing Studies, delivered by the Department of Post-registration Courses (DPC) in liaison with Birmingham City University (BCU).
An in house’ bachelors’ degree for nurses has existed since 2002. The new programme means that the pathway is accessible to all members of the defence medical services (DMS) and offers a fantastic opportunity to study defence focussed health care modules in a collaborative and interprofessional manner.

The modules are designed so that while the content is general to defence health care, the individual focus can be profession or person specific. Supporting Learning and Assessment in Practice (SLAiP) is still offered and delivered by DPC, but is not listed as a degree module here.

The modules available on the BSc (Hons) Defence Health Care Studies are listed below:

  • Defence health care governance.
  • Evidence based practice in defence health care.
  • Law and ethics in defence health care.
  • Infection prevention and control in defence health care practice.
  • Keeping defence healthy.
  • Mental health in defence.
  • Dimensions of acute and polytrauma care in the defence health care setting.
  • Professional issues in defence health care.
  • Clinical leadership in defence.

For further information contact Maj Heather Scripps on 0121 331 6032 or 01543 4343315

Armed Forces Ethical Decision Making Tool Kit

The British Medical Association recently launched the Armed Forces Ethical Decision Making Tool Kit. The kit covers the following areas:

  • Guiding principles
  • Introduction to the tool kit
  • Managing dual loyalties
  • Consent and capacity
  • Confidentiality
  • Competence
  • Treating detainees
  • Identifying and reporting unethical practices and abuse

The tool kit can be accessed via the ethics section of the BMA website

Joint Doctrine Publication 4-03.1 Clinical Guidelines for Operations

The current version of Clinical Guidelines for Operations can be found at on the Documents section of the Gov.uk website 

National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) - A Review of the Care of Adult Tracheostomy Patients

 NCEPOD has recently launched a national research project on tracheostomies, with an aim to:

  • Estimate the number of tracheostomies performed annually in intensive care.
  • Explore remediable factors in the care of patients undergoing the insertion of a tracheostomy tube
  • Explore (percutaneous and surgical) tracheostomy related complications following insertion in the operating theatre or critical care complex.

More information on this research and tracheostomy care can be found at: http://www.ncepod.org.uk/trachy.htm

Want to know more about tracheostomies?

National Tracheostomy Safety Project has published joint professional information covering all aspects of tracheostomy and laryngectomy management. For more information, please visit the resources section of the National Tracheostomy Safety Project website