Buckinghamshire New University

Rebound exercise (RE) increases mobility in hospitalized adults with neurological disorders (AwND), but its feasibility in community settings remains largely unexplored. This study evaluates the practicality of implementing RE in the community, particularly for AwND. The feasibility study involved 53 community‐dwelling AwND engaging in RE sessions for 30 min, once‐ or twice‐weekly, over 12 weeks. Feasibility was assessed through recruitment rates, adherence, attrition, and participant feedback. The study measured blood pressure (BP), walking speed (WS), and physical activity level (PAL) at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks. Repeated measures ANOVA and the Friedman tests were used to test for significant differences across the time points. The study demonstrated high recruitment (70.59%) and retention (98.1%) rates, with most participants (76.9%) preferring once‐weekly sessions due to time constraints. There were no reported injuries or adverse events. Most participants were older adults (50%), females (67.3%), and retired (55.8%). Significantly lower resting BP (p < 0.001), higher WS (p < 0.001), and PAL (p = 0.000) were observed after 12 weeks of RE. In conclusion, RE is a feasible, safe, and acceptable intervention for supervised community‐dwelling AwND and could be a valuable tool for promoting PAL in this population.

Comment article on challenges in nursing numeracy education

This article provides an overview of the wound healing process, outlining the four distinct phases of the healing cascade: haemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. The different types of closure method are described and, specifically, the various types of surgical suture that can be used for wound closure, as well as the strengths and limitations of each. The article explains aspects of patient care that need to be considered such as obtaining informed consent, and the importance of nurses maintaining appropriate clinical skills. It concludes with a step-by-step outline of best practice on how to remove sutures.

This chapter aims to analyse how responsible tourism marketing and management can aid in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through the adoption of responsible destination marketing management and marketing approaches. Adopting a case study approach, the chapter offers meaningful insights into the critical role the SDGs play to employ the principles of contemporary responsible tourism marketing and management. Thus, reducing the potential for tourism to affect irreparable environmental, economic and socio-cultural damage to destinations and utilising tourism as a force for good to empower its communities, create economic stability and protect its natural environments. Finally, it will also explore the potential link that adopting the SDGs as part of responsible tourism marketing and management has upon increasing destination resilience.

During the disease trajectory, patients with advanced heart failure are often hospitalised with a high probability of admission to the intensive care setting. Using a case study, this article explores the care given to a patient with decompensated heart failure in an intensive care unit (ICU). It will discuss the significance of holistic assessment and effective symptom management, in particular the research related to breathlessness management. The importance of effective communication within the ICU multidisciplinary team, including with the patient/family will be explored, as the ICU environment can often lead to communication breakdown, patients being unable to voice their wishes and over-medicalisation. The effectiveness of early involvement of the palliative care team in ICU will be examined, including the use of tools such advance care planning and a treatment escalation plan and whether use of these can enable a better patient and family experience at the end of life. The role of palliative care champions will be discussed.

Cutting tools and their condition monitoring play a major role in the world of manufacturing. The ultimate goal is to strategically prolong the intervals between tool replacements, optimizing cutting times and consequently minimizing costs. Achieving this requires precise quantification of tool wear, a process traditionally marked by its time-intensive and laborious nature. An automatic drill wear detection for two types of a damage (flank and corner wear) has been developed. This approach utilizes deep learning, specifically the nnU-Net framework. The model has been tested using a five-fold cross-validation approach, and the results are promising. This approach has been assessed by comparing the ground truths, which were manually annotated by experts, with the network’s predictions. For flank wear, a Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of 0.93 and an Intersection over Union (IoU) of 0.87 has been achived. For outer corner wear, a DSC of 0.95 and an IoU of 0.90 has been attained. The whole wear segmentation yielded a DSC of 0.93 and an IoU of 0.87. With this presented method, the user automatically receives information about the degree of the two types of wear. Measurement of the wear width is no longer necessary. This method can assists in the development of wear parameters over time, commonly referred to as the wear-tool life curve. This curve optimization enables precise adjustment of cutting parameters, encompassing machine settings, environmental conditions, workpiece materials, and machine tool characteristics for future batches of workpieces. Additionally, this information serves as a foundation for empirical modeling of wear progression.

Background Health visitors have a key role in supporting and protecting adults and children affected by domestic abuse. Aims The study aimed to examine the experiences and perceptions of student health visitors recognising and responding to domestic abuse in practice placement settings. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five student health visitors in the United Kingdom. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Results Four superordinate themes were identified: ‘part and parcel of health visiting practice’; ‘challenges in identifying domestic abuse’; ‘uncertainty and apprehension’; ‘strengthening knowledge and confidence’. All participants had engaged in practice activities related to domestic abuse within SCPHN placements, commonly expressing a sense of disbelief at the scale of the issue in practice. Difficulties and unease regarding identification and management of domestic abuse were reported. Access to support and opportunities to reflect and ‘talk things through’ were found to be important for students regarding this sphere of practice. Conclusions The findings contribute to the body of knowledge about domestic abuse-related practice within nursing. Recommendations made may contribute to practice development and help inform future teaching and educational strategies within SCPHN programmes.

This article reports on a study that evaluated an innovative 6-week summer returners' programme, part of the Health Education England RePAIR project, designed to support nursing students who have interrupted their studies. Held from May to July 2022, the programme addressed diverse needs through academic guidance, mental health and resilience workshops, creative arts, professional identity development, and practical nursing skills training. The programme ran alongside support from the programme team, student engagement services, and ongoing communication via phone and email. Despite non-mandatory sessions leading to varying attendance, the combined efforts facilitated the return of 67 out of 135 interrupted students. Thematic analysis identified four key themes: anticipation and fear, making contact and reaching out, preparing for return, and psychological wellbeing. The programme's effectiveness underscores the necessity of tailored support strategies to enhance retention and wellbeing. This innovative approach highlights the importance of personalised support in aiding nursing students' return to education and addressing nursing workforce shortages.

Urinary catheterisation is a crucial procedure in healthcare, requiring a thorough understanding of the anatomical and physiological differences between males and females to ensure safe and effective care. This guide explores the anatomy of the urinary system, detailing the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, and highlights key differences in catheterisation techniques for men and women. Emphasising evidence-based practices, it discusses recent advancements, such as antimicrobial catheters, and underscores the importance of comprehensive training and competency assessments for healthcare providers. Additionally, the guide advocates for patient-centred approaches, multidisciplinary collaboration, and adherence to updated policies to reduce complications such as catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). By integrating these critical evaluations and best practices, health professionals can enhance patient outcomes and maintain high standards of care in urinary catheterisation.

Technological advancements in endoscopy have significantly transformed the landscape of gastrointestinal (GI) nursing. This article explores the latest innovations in endoscopic techniques, such as high-resolution imaging, endoscopic ultrasound and therapeutic procedures. It examines the implications of these advancements for GI nursing practice, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of nurses in pre-procedural, intra-procedural and post-procedural care. The importance of continuous education and specialised training for GI nurses is also discussed. Recommendations are provided to enhance nursing practices in endoscopy settings, ensuring optimal patient care and safety.

The period when a patient returns home from hospital after a stroke can be a challenging time. There is often a need for patients to be discharged quickly; therefore, a poor discharge experience for patients and their carers is consistently reported. Individuals can feel anxious and unsupported during this period. The aim was to conduct a service evaluation and improvement project in a regional stroke service to explore the experiences of patients being discharged home from the Acute Stroke Unit with support from the Early Supported Discharge Service. Specific elements of a previously validated questionnaire were completed by nine participants. The service evaluation built on previous research and expanded the data by including patients with communication or cognitive difficulties. Patients generally had a positive experience of discharge home from hospital. Most patients received the information they needed and felt involved in discharge decisions. However, one-third of patients experienced a delay related to waiting for medication. The need for psychological support was identified. A collaborative approach involving patients and professionals is suggested to create changes in stroke services. Patients should be offered psychological support and medication delays should be addressed. Any subsequent study would be improved by recruiting a larger number of participants, particularly from more diverse ethnic groups, and offering the option of online or hard copy questionnaire distribution.

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is essential in nursing practice to safeguard patient health and reduce healthcare-associated infections. This article explores IPC strategies, including hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, environmental cleaning, safe injection practices, and antimicrobial stewardship. It discusses the implementation challenges and solutions, such as ensuring compliance through education, monitoring and strong leadership. IPC measures are crucial in preventing infections such as catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. By integrating personalised IPC strategies into nursing practice, healthcare providers can significantly improve infection control outcomes and enhance overall patient safety and quality of care.

This study explores the grindability and sustainability, focusing on tribological and lubrication capabilities of water-soluble hybrid nanofluid under minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions during grinding of Nimonic-90. Nanofluids were prepared by adding 0.25, 0.75, and 1.25% volumetric concentrations of Al2O3 and GnP nanoparticles into deionized (DI) water. The thermal conductivity, contact angle, and dynamic viscosity of the nanofluids were characterized. Specific tangential forces, specific normal forces, coefficient of friction, and surface roughness were reduced by approximately 37, 25, 17, and 11%, respectively, compared to pure Al2O3-based nanofluid and by 29, 17, 14, and 12%, respectively, relative to pure GnP-based nanofluid. Consequently, a 0.75% concentration of water-based hybrid nanofluid emerged as the most promising cutting fluid and hence proposed as an environment friendly and benign lubrication solution to enhance the grindability of Nimonic-90. Furthermore, it advocates the sustainable enhancement of hybrid nanofluid with 0.75% volumetric concentrations over other alternatives.