Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987)
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This article discusses the complex issues and dilemmas that nurses need to consider when dealing with confidential information. As well as reviewing situations where patients' rights to confidentiality conflict with public interest, the author discusses nurses' legal, ethical, moral and professional duties when handling confidentiality issues.
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This study examines the practice of pre-operative fasting in relation to fluids. Patients scheduled for elective surgery, and qualified nurses and anaesthetists were studied using a structured and semi-structured interview technique. Supporting the findings of previous studies, this study demonstrated that despite universal agreement between nurses and anaesthetists that patients routinely fast for longer than the recommended time for fluids, pre-operative fasting regimes are derived from routine practice. ⋯ Fifty per cent of the anaesthetists in the study knew about recent research in this area of practice, but none of the nurses were aware of these recommendations. The absence of a hospital policy offering clear guidelines on the management of pre-operative fasting contributed to the prolonged periods for which patients were fasted. The study also highlighted the fact that patients receive insufficient information regarding the purpose and nature of their fast.
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Nurses who make false claims on their PREP notification of practice forms should be struck off the register, a member of the UK Central Council said last week.