Nursing Practice

Comment " Bridging the age gap could help to solve the staffing crisis " I was discussing nursing with a colleague last week and we shared stories of why we chose it as a career. I was surprised to learn that we had both been Brownies and Girl Guides and so were introduced to caring activities at an early age. For example, we visited care homes at Christmas to sing for older people and, for our childcare badges, we looked after children and babies. Speaking to others I found that many of my colleagues had also been members of uniformed organisations when they were younger. It made me wonder whether the early introduction to caring planted the idea of nursing as a career option into young minds? I reflected on this when I attended a careers fair last week in an attempt to inspire students studying healthcare courses to come into nursing in general ,and nursing of older people in particular. Not one of the people I spoke to showed any interest in caring for older people. I was rather surprised, as my career choice had been an obvious and natural one for me. I explained to the students I spoke to that the majority of patients are now aged over 65. We are becoming an ageing population so older people are found in many settings such as acute wards, intensive care and accident and emergency departments. However, the areas that appealed most to the students were midwifery, critical care and paramedic services. So, what can we as a profession do to attract students and nurses to older peo-ple's care? Traditionally this is the backwater of nursing, a Cinderella service, the SPotLIGHt Kathryn Godfrey is practice and learning editor of Nursing Times. kathryn.godfrey@emap.com Twitter @GodfreyKathryn. Don't miss the practice blog, go to nursingtimes.net/practiceblog All nurses must know how to manage t2Dm With type 2 diabetes affecting roughly one in 20 people in the UK, most nurses will regularly care for a patient with this condition. Often these patients are seen, or admitted to hospital, for another reason but their diagnosis of T2DM affects their care and recovery. A good knowledge of this increasingly prevalent condition is vital for nurses in all settings and specialties, so Nursing Times has developed an online learning unit on the prevention, diagnosis and management of T2DM to update and inform nurses (page 14). The case-based …