Conclusion
The results indicate that the loving-kindness and compassion meditation program was effective for empathy improvement and stress management of nursing college students.
TUS: Midlands Nursing and Health Blog
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
NCCIH Mind and Body Approaches for Stress and Anxiety
Read more at National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health
Monday, June 22, 2020
10 ideas for a self-care day at home
 |
| Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay |
The benefits of taking time to look after yourself have long been studied; researchers say that investing in self-care can help us to reduce stress, improve our emotional health and have an overall better quality of life.
Self-care is essentially any activity that we do purposefully in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health – it could range from something small, like catching up on missed sleep with a lie-in, to a larger activity, like going for an invigorating swim in the ocean.
With many of us taking ‘lockdown leave’ during the current pandemic, there’s never been a better time to nourish your mind and body, by booking in a self-care day.
Instead of telling yourself that you have to make a dent in writing your novel, run a half marathon or record a podcast episode, spend your next free day indulging in one or many of these self-soothing ideas.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
WHO hails 'great news' from Covid-19 steroid treatment
The World Health Organization (WHO) hailed as "great news" initial clinical trial results that showed a cheap and widely used steroid called dexamethasone can help save the lives of critically ill Covid-19 patients. Researchers in Britain said Tuesday that dexamethasone, used to fight inflammation in other diseases, reduced death rates of the most severely ill Covid-19 patients by around a third.
"This is the first treatment to be shown to reduce mortality in patients with Covid-19 requiring oxygen or ventilator support," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement late on Tuesday.
"This is great news and I congratulate the government of the UK, the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Coronavirus: Adults should take vitamin D, researchers say
 |
| Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay |
The Government should immediately change recommendations for vitamin D supplements as a matter of urgency by urging all adults to take them during the coronavirus pandemic, according to scientists at Trinity College Dublin.
This follows evidence highlighting the association between vitamin D levels and mortality from Covid-19 produced by Dr Eamon Laird and Prof Rose Anne Kenny, who lead the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.
They analysed European adult population studies completed since 1999 which measured vitamin D, and compared vitamin D and death rates from Covid-19.
Monday, May 11, 2020
How Meditation Changes the Brain
We’ve all heard that meditation leads to greater mental clarity, lower levels of stress and reduced anxiety. But how does meditation benefit the brain? Studies have shown that mindfulness practice brings about positive physiological changes that make the connection between meditation and the brain even more profound.
In recent decades, meditation has become more conventional. People are spending time working with their minds, following their breath and learning to appreciate the power of the present moment. Meditation groups are popping up everywhere – in schools, communities, senior centers and beyond. It’s become so mainstream that even the business community has joined the movement – as described in a recent article from Business Insider entitled “Silicon Valley is obsessed with meditation, and there’s new evidence it changes the brain for the better.”
Thursday, April 23, 2020
The Challenge of Tracking COVID-19’s Stealthy Spread
 |
| Image by Abhilash Jacob from Pixabay |
As our nation looks with hope toward controlling the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic, researchers are forging ahead with efforts to develop and implement strategies to prevent future outbreaks. It sounds straightforward. However, several new studies indicate that containing SARS-CoV-2—the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19—will involve many complex challenges, not the least of which is figuring out ways to use testing technologies to our best advantage in the battle against this stealthy foe.
The first thing that testing may help us do is to identify those SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals who have no symptoms, but who are still capable of transmitting the virus. These individuals, along with their close contacts, will need to be quarantined rapidly to protect others. These kinds of tests detect viral material and generally analyze cells collected via nasal or throat swabs.
The second way we can use testing is to identify individuals who’ve already been infected with SARS-CoV-2, but who didn’t get seriously ill and can no longer transmit the virus to others. These individuals may now be protected against future infections, and, consequently, may be in a good position to care for people with COVID-19 or who are vulnerable to the infection. Such tests use blood samples to detect antibodies, which are blood proteins that our immune systems produce to attack viruses and other foreign invaders.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Coronavirus diaries are helping people cope. They’re also a research gold mine
Just weeks ago, Jason Kirin, a circus performer in Pittsburgh, was juggling flaming spheres for Facebook Live, trying to make the most of the coronavirus crisis after it had led to the cancellation of all his spring shows.
Days later, Kirin got sick. He turned to one of the few outlets that kept him sane: his online diary.
Day 1 Sat 3.21: I started to get aches and pains I wasn’t used to. Joints mostly. Things started to ache in weird ways…. These pains were not in any way normal.
Day 2 Sun 3.22: Same.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Stories, songs and iPads: how care home residents are staying connected in lockdown
Care workers are on the coronavirus frontline and many have reported their concerns over severe shortages of personal protective equipment. But Smith has been keen to ensure that spirits are kept high among the 49 residents at the home near Ipswich.
Visits from families, activity providers and the local community are an integral part of daily life in a care home. But during lockdown, providers are using other ways of keeping residents connected.
“We know how important it is that people can stay in touch with their friends and relatives,” says Sara Livadeas, chief executive of the Fremantle Trust. “Knowing that someone cares about you is a basic human need. It also provides reassurance to relatives who have entrusted the care of their loved ones to others.”
Read More at the Guardian
Lockdown in Italy: personal stories of doing science during the COVID-19 quarantine
The lockdown will last until at least 3 April — and probably longer. Many scientists have had their professional lives upended because they are sequestered at home or, if they can still go into work, they cannot collaborate in person with colleagues. Here, four researchers in northern Italy describe how they are navigating the lockdown.
Read more at Nature
Positive stories raising a smile amid the coronavirus lockdown
Even though the coronavirus crisis is spreading around the world, there have been moments of positivity and light relief to get us through.
From a socially distant dancing street to personal messages left for waste collection crews and even picnic tables for squirrels.
Here are some of the stories raising a smile during these unprecedented times:
Socially distant dancing
Elsa Williams' street has the right idea on how to get through a lockdown – socially distant dancing in the street.
Every day at 11am, a local fitness instructor, Janet Woodcock, leads the boogie for 10 minutes and it seems most of the Cheshire neighbourhood gets involved.
From elderly residents and children, to families and couples, people get out, enjoy the fresh air, do some exercise and most importantly stay two metres apart as they boogie down during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Prepare for a 'new normal' as lockdown restrictions ease: Monday's COVID-19 WHO briefing
- Lockdowns must be lifted strategically, and not all at once, said WHO officials at a briefing on 13 April 2020.
- Countries with lower numbers of cases can begin easing restrictions.
- Social distancing and handwashing need to continue longer term.
Half the world has been under some form of lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19. While many are eager to see restrictions lifted, especially as numbers stabilize in some countries, we must remain patient and vigilant, said officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) briefing on Monday 13 April.
Suddenly Feeling More Alone and More Single During CV-19 Lockdown?
1. Review quality of connection
As humans, we are wired to connect with others but the quality of this connection is important. During this difficult time, you will have to become much more creative regarding how you can substitute this very human need. .......
2. Top up on self-compassion
You may also need to top up on self-compassion. As a singles and couples coach, if I could offer you any personal tip it would be to swot up on your own ability to connect........
Read more at the Lust for Life website
Coronavirus: London photographer captures life in lockdown
A photographer whose work has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic has taken to the streets of east London to capture people's lives in lockdown.
Adam Isfendiyar, from Tower Hamlets, London, posted on a local Facebook group asking for volunteers for his "window portraits".
He said within hours he was inundated with messages and within two days he had 80 people signed up for photo shoots.
Coronavirus in London: latest updates
"Travelling from house to house on bike, I manage to cover four to five people within the hour and collect their personal stories and experiences of life in lockdown," he said.
We could be vastly overestimating the death rate for COVID-19. Here's why
- A lack of adequate testing means many of those who have been infected with the coronavirus will not appear in official statistics.
- This suggests that many estimates for its mortality rate are much too high.
- We need to build better systems for sharing and reporting data.
Public health epidemiology is the science of counting to prevent disease and promote health. We count the number of new cases of a particular disease; this is the incidence. Then we count how much a disease has spread in a population; this is the prevalence.
When it comes to COVID-19, counting is a challenge. Despite all the news articles and reports, we know very little about the incidence or prevalence of this new disease. And as is always the case: ignorance breeds fear. In my hometown of New York City and elsewhere one fear is on just about everyone’s mind: death rates here appear to be considerably higher than rates reported elsewhere.
Or are they? Using patient data from China, public health officials initially estimated that 80% of COVID-19 cases are either asymptomatic or have mild disease. Given that hospital beds, health workers, and test kits are in short supply, only highly symptomatic people are advised to go to the hospital. Because of lack of adequate testing, including in the United States, in many places only hospital patients are now counted as cases. The people who do not feel seriously ill stay home, recover quietly, and are never counted. This matters because they do not appear in any of the official statistics.
Irish HSE librarians have developed a very useful Covid-19 resource
Irish HSE librarians have developed a very useful Covid-19 resource. There are guidelines, links to relevant publications, and evidence summaries on topics of importance to health professionals.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Why can’t the world’s greatest minds solve the mystery of consciousness?
One spring morning in Tucson, Arizona, in 1994, an unknown philosopher named David Chalmers got up to give a talk on consciousness, by which he meant the feeling of being inside your head, looking out – or, to use the kind of language that might give a neuroscientist an aneurysm, of having a soul. Though he didn’t realise it at the time, the young Australian academic was about to ignite a war between philosophers and scientists, by drawing attention to a central mystery of human life – perhaps the central mystery of human life – and revealing how embarrassingly far they were from solving it.
The brain, Chalmers began by pointing out, poses all sorts of problems to keep scientists busy. How do we learn, store memories, or perceive things? How do you know to jerk your hand away from scalding water, or hear your name spoken across the room at a noisy party? But these were all “easy problems”, in the scheme of things: given enough time and money, experts would figure them out. There was only one truly hard problem of consciousness, Chalmers said. It was a puzzle so bewildering that, in the months after his talk, people started dignifying it with capital letters – the Hard Problem of Consciousness – and it’s this: why on earth should all those complicated brain processes feel like anything from the inside? Why aren’t we just brilliant robots, capable of retaining information, of responding to noises and smells and hot saucepans, but dark inside, lacking an inner life? And how does the brain manage it? How could the 1.4kg lump of moist, pinkish-beige tissue inside your skull give rise to something as mysterious as the experience of being that pinkish-beige lump, and the body to which it is attached?
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Self-isolation fatigue and the art of survival
Many, many phrases have come into my mind lately as I struggle with the isolation incurred by the threat of Covid-19 – namely that “the cure is worse than the disease” but also Nietzsche’s sage warning of the danger of staring into the abyss and the abyss staring back at you.
I don’t do well being cooped up. My mental health is taking a pummelling.
The words of Helen Steiner Rice’s oft quoted poem, This Too Shall Pass, have become something of a mantra for me in the past couple of weeks as I’ve tried to adjust myself to a life that feels as if it is telescoping downwards on a daily basis.
Every morning now, mentally willing the power of repetition to inform and calm my bewildered psyche, I stand staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and chant:
If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too
According to psychologists, whether you are disposed to believe it or not, constant repetition will trick your brain into taking what you’re saying as gospel and inform your body’s billions of cells accordingly.
Personally, listening to The Prodigy’s Firestarter at 10+ is more in tune with my inner turmoil at present but I tried chanting a la Keith Flint at the mirror and it did not have the desired calming effect on my central nervous system.
After returning from a work trip to Pittsburgh, which was unceremoniously cut short due to Trump’s flight ban, I’m currently on lockdown with my parents who are in their 70s. With a lengthy list of medical conditions between us we are classed as “highly vulnerable” and going more than slightly stir crazy thanks to this newly imposed (but I am sick of repeating, temporary) world order...
Read more at the Irish Times
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
‘This is war’: Irish health workers on their Covid-19 crises
My car has been christened the corona wagon, and is off limits to all except me. All of my overnight gear and name badge, radiation badge and ID stay in the car when I get home from work. No hugs until after a shower. My scrubs are gingerly handled and put straight into the washing machine to be washed at 60 degrees. After being initially told to change our scrubs every time we encountered a suspect patient, we are now being advised that the scrubs will run out and to start bringing a set home to wash them ourselves.
The simplest things bring me to the brink of tears. I saw the medical students graduate early yesterday, and how they were hugging and cheering on the steps. I was so happy for them, and so apprehensive of what lies ahead.
I go from being self-obsessed, to knowing I will be fine and that this will pass. The offers coming into the hospital of free snacks, free Supermacs, and free car wiper and light bulb replacements also make me want to shed a tear. I feel like to do so would offer a bit of relief from the weird nervous energy building up inside.
Now Is The Perfect Time To Start Meditating, And Science Proves It
Between the coronavirus pandemic, an uncertain future both economically and environmentally, it’s not a stretch to say that these are times filled with stress, anxiety and worry unlike what many of us have experienced before.
But with tens of millions around the world being asked to shelter in place for weeks if not months to come, it could also be an excellent opportunity to cultivate a new habit that recent research has shown can reduce anxiety while improving your memory and focus.
Some of you will not be surprised to learn that I’m talking about meditation.
A study by researchers at New York University found that less than fifteen minutes of meditation a day for eight weeks can reduce anxiety, fatigue and mood disturbance.
The study published last year in the journal Behavioural Brain Research involved groups of people between the ages of 18 and 45 with little or no experience meditating.
Elsevier OA resources on Covid
7 April World Health Day: Support Nurses & Midwives
7 April 2020 is the day to celebrate the work of nurses and midwives and remind world leaders of the critical role they play in keeping the world healthy. Nurses and other health workers are at the forefront of COVID-19 response - providing high quality, respectful treatment and care, leading community dialogue to address fears and questions and, in some instances, collecting data for clinical studies. Quite simply, without nurses, there would be no response.
In this International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, World Health Day will highlight the current status of nursing and around the world. WHO and its partners will make a series of recommendations to strengthen of the nursing and midwifery workforce.
Monday, March 16, 2020
C-19 research already available
 |
| Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay |
It is the age of international science cooperation. After just over a month, 164 articles could be accessed in PubMed on COVID19 or SARSCov2, as well as many others available in repositories of articles not yet reviewed. They are preliminary works on vaccines, treatments, epidemiology, genetics and phylogeny, diagnosis, clinical aspects, etc.
These articles were written by some 700 authors, distributed throughout the planet. It is cooperative science, shared and open. In 2003, with the SARS epidemic, it took more than a year to reach less than half that number of articles. In addition, most scientific journals have left their publications as open access on the subject of coronaviruses.
Coronavirus: Instagram post by Italian Nurse
 |
| Image Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay |
When I hear of people rolling their eyes over the “hysteria” of the virus, or proudly proclaiming their travel plans, as if continuing onto their cruise somehow makes them superior to anyone who is staying home out of caution, I can’t help but think of the many nurses who will be on the frontline of this virus if it does spread in numbers as it has in other countries.
Other countries, like Italy, where nurse Alessia posted a picture to Instagram with a bruised face and powerful words after working long hours caring for patients with COVID-19.
"I'm a nurse and in this situation, I am facing this sanitary emergency. I too am scared, but not of going buying groceries, I am scared of going to work. I am scared my mask is not sticking properly, or that I touched it with dirty gloves by mistake, or maybe that lenses do not fully cover my eyes and something goes through. I am physically exhausted because personal protective equipment hurts my body, the white coat makes you sweat and after I dress myself I can't go to the bathroom or even drink for 6 hours. I'm psychologically tired, and just like me also all my coworkers, which have been working in this situation for weeks. But this will not prevent us from doing our job as we have always done. I will keep curing and caring after my patients, because I am proud and in love with my job. What I am now asking to whoever is reading is not to make this effort vain. Please be altruistic and stay home, so that you can protect those who are weak. We young people are not immune to the coronavirus, we can get sick too, or even worse, we can make others get the virus. I don't have the luxury of going home in quarantine, I have to go to work and do my part. You do yours, I beg you." - @alessiabonari_ (originally written in Italian, translated to English)
Self care and COVID-19 from the RCN
 |
| Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay |
Don’t panic – it’s just more information on coronavirus! Hard not to quell the rising fear when faced with front page news, running television commentary, masks on public transport, hand gel being brandished like weapons, ‘the Wuhan shake’ in place of a hand shake making us all look as if we are doing a strange chicken dance. Has the world gone mad with overreaction and the reality is that it is “no worse than flu” (which let’s face it can be rather grim) or is this a mass conspiracy theory where information and misinformation need spy level training?
What can you do and how can you look after yourself and those you love? Think of me as the James Bond of coronavirus if you will?
This useful infographic from the BBC gives simple self care steps for protecting yourself and what to do should you feel ill or think you are at risk.
What IS coronavirus?
Coronavirus infections are not new and are a common cause of the common cold. This particular coronavirus disease, or COVID-19 for short, is caused by infection with a new strain of the virus: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) which was first identified in late December 2019 (hence the 19 for COVID-19). It was first seen in the city of Wuhan in China but has since then spread across the world to over 100 countries or regions of the world.
Why the panic?
The reason for the worry is because it is a new infection and the full impact of it or how it will affect people is not yet fully understood. There is however, a lot we do know
10 reasons not to panic about the coronavirus
 |
| Image by Claritysat from Pixabay |
Regardless of whether we classify the new coronavirus as a pandemic, it is a serious issue. In less than two months, it has spread over several continents. Pandemic means sustained and continuous transmission of the disease, simultaneously in more than three different geographical regions. Pandemic does not refer to the lethality of a virus but to its transmissibility and geographical extension.
What we certainly have is a pandemic of fear. The entire planet's media is gripped by coronavirus. It is right that there is deep concern and mass planning for worst-case scenarios. And, of course, the repercussions move from the global health sphere into business and politics.
But it is also right that we must not panic. It would be wrong to say there is good news coming out of COVID-19, but there are causes for optimism; reasons to think there may be ways to contain and defeat the virus. And lessons to learn for the future.
(1) We know what it is
The first cases of AIDS were described in June 1981 and it took more than two years to identify the virus (HIV) causing the disease. With COVID-19, the first cases of severe pneumonia were reported in China on December 31, 2019 and by January 7 the virus had already been identified. The genome was available on day 10....
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Some Doctoral-Prepared Nurses Use The Title, “Doctor” and It’s Causing a Heated Debate
As doctoral-prepared nurses become more mainstream, a debate between medical doctors and doctoral-prepared nurses, is growing more prevalent. The number of nurses with doctoral degrees has increased significantly in the past decade. For instance, in just four years, from 2014 to 2018, the number of nurses with doctoral degrees, either DNPs or PhDs, nearly doubled, from 3,065 to 6,090.
For example, let’s take a look at a recent informational video on our Instagram page featuring Dr. Charnelle, “Nurse Nelle,” a doctorate-prepared CRNA, that brought up an interesting question in the healthcare community: should doctorate-prepared nurses be called doctors? Or is the distinction too confusing for patients and even fellow staff?
Here’s a closer look at doctoral-prepared nurses, why there’s controversy over the use of “Dr.” in their title, and how nurses feel about the topic
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Athlone IT Nursing & Health Science Building
