If this email does not display properly please view the online version Journal of General Practice Nursing e-Magazine November/December 2015 As this is the final issue of 2015, we would like to thank you all for your support in the launch year and wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year. To make sure that we keep giving you the articles you want to read in 2016, do get in touch with any ideas to: binkie@jcn.co.uk. With the struggle to maintain numbers of general practice nurses (GPNs) and retirement looming for the first generation of highly trained GPNs, Pete Lane makes three Christmas wishes to secure the future of the GPN workforce,while Karen Storey gives an insightful overview of the long-awaited District Nursing and General Practice Nursing Service Education and Career Framework (Health Education England, 2015), which offers a coherent career structure for GPNs. Malnutrition is prevalent among patients with COPD Here, Matthew Hodson and Samantha Blamires explore how nutritional screening and appropriate management can improve outcomes for patients with COPD and, with World COPD day highlighting the condition, it is timely that clinicians should familiarise themselves with the resources that are available. Read the full feature here or find out more at www.malnutritionpathway.co.uk and www.arns.co.uk Diabetes education: the big missed opportunity in diabetes care Read Katherine Calder's views on how GPNs can help patients to better manage their diabetes and so avoid diabetes-related complications. Read the full feature here Skills for practice - modern management of venous ulceration This feature takes a practical, step-by-step approach to a specific area of care. Here, Leanne Atkin looks at how compression hosiery can be used as a first-line option in the healing stage of venous leg ulceration and explains how compression hosiery kits not only reduce spend, release nursing time and potentially increase healing rates, but also reduce patient suffering and improve quality of life. Read the article here Wheezing in the preschool child Wheezing is a common problem among preschool children, and its prevalence is rising with an inevitable impact on healthcare costs. Rebecca Bryson looks at the condition, which can vary in frequency and acuity, and raises the question of whether to treat or not to treat, the concerns parents have about treatment, acute episodes and the overall management of preschool children with wheeze. Read the full article here Copyright: Lopolo/Shutterstock Getting to the heart of the matter Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained adult cardiac arrhythmia, with over one million people diagnosed in the UK. Part two of this two-part series discusses the need to improve management of AF in primary care and addresses optimum heart rate control and how this can be achieved, patient education and utilising audit tools to improve the quality of AF management. Read more Eating disorders - GPNs can become the 'critical friend' Here, Alan Dunlop explains how GPNs can support specialists, patients and their families with the management of eating disorders through developing a compassionate, therapeutic relationship that understands and empathises with the patient and yet maintains firm boundaries, is vigilant about risk (dead people don't get better) and is firmly pro-recovery. Read the article here Copyright: Alexander Dashewsky/Shutterstock Don't let your patients miss bowel cancer screening... As the third most common cancer in the UK, it is likely that GPNs will encounter patients at risk of, or with the disease during everyday practice. This article gives a brief understanding of colorectal cancer, including identifying patients who may be at risk of developing the disease and who may benefit from screening and health promotion, and also explores the active role that GPNs can play in managing patients with colorectal cancer, through clinical interventions as well as offering advice and support. Read more When you choose nursing, you also choose the law Poor records are often reflective of poor practice. In this feature, Amanda Andrews and Bernie St Aubyn look at the unique and different ways that GPNs document their patient care and interactions using electronic medical records (EMRs), and stress the importance of ensuring confidentiality, clarity, communication of care and court-proof records... Read more Ask the expert This Journal of General Practice Nursing feature asks an expert to take a look at a therapy area and examine some of the challenges that GPNs may face. Here, Lorraine Grothier looks at how desloughing a wound can aid the patient experience... Read more Gain CPD points and contribute to your revalidation portfolio with the GPN learning zones This issue's learning zone feature looks at how to recognise and management patients with interstitial lung disease. Read the article, then go online to www.journalofpracticenursing.co.uk/learning-zone/ and evaluate your knowledge of this topic by answering the questions. If you answer all 10 correct, you can download your certificate as evidence of your continued learning. Education for Health - find the right course for you Are you familiar with all the educational courses that Education for Health offer in long-term conditions? Our regular Education for Health update highlights what they have on offer for your continuing professional development, with all relevant online links. Take a look and find the course for you. www.educationforhealth.org Reserve your place at a local JCN event in 2015 NORWICH - 2 December 2015 Click here to see the full page-turning version of GPN This e-mail has been sent in good faith because you have either registered as a user on the GPN website (www.journalofpracticenursing.co.uk), or you have previously attended a JCN Exhibition and Study Day. If you have received this e-mail in error or would prefer not to receive information pertaining to the Journal of Community Nursing, please click here to unsubscribe your e-mail address.