How to take and record a manual blood pressure measurement.

Accurate measurement of a patient's blood pressure (BP) is essential to identify hypotension or hypertension and to inform subsequent management and treatment decisions. The auscultatory, or manual, method remains the gold standard for non-invasive BP measurement, so it is vital that nurses are able to undertake this procedure accurately. This article explains how to take and record a manual BP measurement using an aneroid sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope.

A scoping review on the psychosocial interventions used in day care service for people living with dementia.

Background: Adult Day care centres provide an important aspect of care provision through all phases of the dementia illness from diagnosis to the end of life (Dabelko HI 2008) supporting the well-being of both older people living with dementia and their care partners. Services within adult day care settings are designed to provide biopsychosocial health benefits to participants as well as care partner respite.

Objective: To examine research studies, literature reviews and grey literature and identify and map the literature on psychosocial interventions used in day care services for older people living with dementia and chart their use, evaluation and outcomes.

Final year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students' perspectives on simulation-based education: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Simulation-based education is a teaching and learning approach that can enhance learning experiences for students on healthcare programmes. Within undergraduate nursing and midwifery education, simulation can support students in developing graduate attributes necessary to become practice-ready professionals. This paper reports on the evaluation of a simulation-based education initiative, which was introduced to support final year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in preparation for their upcoming clinical internship in practice.

Fourth year intellectual disability student nurses' journey and future work intention: a qualitative study.

Background: The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the views and experiences of final year BSc intellectual disability nursing students' journey, future work plans and examine factors influencing their migration intentions following graduation.

Methods: A qualitative component of a mixed methods study where a focus group interview was conducted with final year BSc intellectual disability nursing students (n = 10) from one University in Ireland in June 2019. A topic guide was utilised, and participant's were interviewed about their programme, future work plans and migration intentions.

Quality of life following formation of an ileal conduit due to urinary bladder neoplasm: A systematic review.

Aim: To present the findings of a systematic review on reported quality of life following the formation of a urinary diversion as a result of cystectomy due to urinary bladder neoplasm.

Background: Bladder cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer of the urological system. Treatment often involves undergoing a radical cystectomy with an ileal conduit formation.

COVID-19 healthcare policies in Ireland: A rapid review of the initial pandemic response.

Aims: Healthcare systems urgently required policies to guide the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this review was to document the healthcare policies developed during the initial wave of widespread COVID-19 transmission in Ireland. We further sought to determine the key focus and impact of these policies.

Cultural competence development: The importance of incorporating culturally responsive simulation in nurse education.

The continued reports of declining standards of care for culturally diverse patients, highlights the urgent need for nurse educators to critically examine how cultural competence development is facilitated in everyday teaching. Nurses frequently report experiencing difficulties when adapting caring practice to culturally diverse groups. Subsequently, there needs to be a rooting of continuous cultural competence development threaded throughout undergraduate curricula.

Fourth year nursing students' perceptions of their educational preparation in medication management: An interpretative phenomenological study.

Background: Medication safety is an integral aspect of patient safety. Nurses, as advocates of patient safety, actively consider medication safety in the course of their daily work. Hence, it is important to consider the educational preparation of nursing students in medication management, as future caregivers.

A comparative study of hand hygiene and alcohol-based hand rub use among Irish nursing and medical students.

Background: In Ireland, the setting for this study, the national prevalence rate of health care-associated infection (HCAI) in acute-care facilities is 5.2%. Hand hygiene and in particular hand rubbing using alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) is highly efficacious in preventing HCAI transmission.

Hand hygiene: Attitudes and practices of nurses, a comparison between 2007 and 2015.

Background: Hand hygiene reduces health care-associated infections significantly. However, international evidence suggests that practices are suboptimal. The objective of this study was to compare and contrast hand hygiene attitudes and practices and alcohol-based handrub (ABHR) use among nurses between 2007 and 2015.

Survey of attitudes and practices of Irish nursing students towards hand hygiene, including handrubbing with alcohol-based hand rub.

Background: Hand hygiene is widely recognised as the most important measure a healthcare worker can take in preventing the spread of healthcare associated infections. As a member of the healthcare team, nursing students have direct patient contact during clinical practice; hence, good hand hygiene practice among nursing students is essential. Low to moderate levels of hand hygiene knowledge and poor attitudes and practices are reported among nursing students.