I was recently reminded how a good article can inspire nurses to question practice and work towards finding solutions to problems in the workplace.
This was seen when a group of nurses on a Continuing Personal and Professional Development (CPPD) course were discussing an article one of them had used for a presentation. The article in question concerned discharge criteria and the resulting discussion centred on issues related to discharge from the Post-Anaesthetic Care Unit (PACU) to the ward, in particular delayed discharges. As part of this, we discussed an audit that I had been involved in, that looked at the extent of delayed discharges and the reasons behind this at the Trust I was working at (with the results from this work presented at the last British Anaesthetic and Recovery Nurses Association (BARNA) conference). After this session, one of the nurses went back to her Trust and with the help of her colleagues undertook an audit to investigate the extent of the problem with delayed discharges within her PACU. As a result of this audit, areas for improvement were identified and changes were made to local practice.
Chatting with nurses on CPPD courses there are many issues in peri- and post-anaesthetic practice that are faced by many of us. As these are not always reported in the nursing press, the extent of these issues are never fully appreciated and it is only when a group of nurses from different Trusts get together that we realise that we are not facing these in isolation. This was evident to me at the last BARNA conference following my presentation of our delayed discharge audit findings, when the subsequent discussion raised similar issues that we had faced, as well as new ones that other PACUs had encountered.
There are many problems that we come across in our everyday practice, and as medicine is constantly evolving and our patients are becoming more complex, we need to be more aware of the latest practices and share our experiences of these. One way in which we can share our problems and highlight common issues is through articles and letters in specialist journals. There are many different types of articles that can be written that allow us to share what is happening in practice for both anaesthetic and post-anaesthetic nurses. By sharing our experiences we can address common problems together and find workable solutions, which allow us to move forward in the ever-changing world of healthcare.
The British Journal of Anaesthetic and Recovery Nursing is a journal for both anaesthetic and PACU nurses and our aim is to deliver a journal with news, opinions, research, clinical education and more, which will appeal to practitioners of all levels from the student nurse through to senior practitioners. In order to do this we need your help, through the contribution of articles that will be of interest to our readers and allow us to learn more about peri- and post-anaesthetic care. Suggestions for topics for articles can be found on page 33. We look forward to reading your submissions.
