District nurses now less likely to face prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter.

In this article the author discusses the Court of Appeal decision in R v Rose [2017] that redefines the threshold for prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter. The impact on district nurses will be that they are unlikely to face prosecution where a careless error contributed to a patient's death unless there was a serious and obvious risk of death at the time the error was made.

Why Should Nurses Care About the Supreme Court?

Many cases have direct and indirect bearing on health care policy and public health.

Family and community nursing, chronology of a specialty. / Enfermería familiar y comunitaria, cronología de una especialidad.

More the 30 years have passed since the first Royal Decree that regulated nursing specialties was published in 1987. It is the Royal Decree published in 2005 that really allowed the training development of part of the specialties recognized in it (family and community nursing, paediatric nursing, geriatric nursing and occupational health nursing) since the obstetric-gynaecological specialist nurses (midwives) and mental health specialists had long since already started their training processes through the resident internal nurse model, today, training in the specialty of family and community nursing has been implemented in all the autonomous communities, but has not had the same development in terms of the incorporation of specialists in the health institutions of the respective health services of the autonomous communities This circumstance is generating a great lack of motivation among community nurses, both specialists and those who hope to obtain the qualification through a specialty exam. Many of the objectives achieved to date have been made possible thanks to the work of the scientific societies of community nursing (Association of Community Nursing [AEC] and Federation of Associations of Community Nursing and Primary Care [FAECAP]), which have allowed progress to be made and the process not to be halted, although there are still many achievements to be made on which the aforementioned scientific societies continue to work. In a society in which nursing care is increasingly necessary and demanded, it must have greater consideration and position in health policies, since it has demonstrated its effectiveness and can be the model that allows the health system to be sustainable. Therefore, nurses who specialize in family and community nursing must cease constituting an opportunity and become a reality.

Community and family nurse: Present keys, future challenges. / Enfermería Familiar y Comunitaria: claves de presente, retos de futuro.

It is the mission of the Community and Family Nurse through an integral and holistic approach to accompany people from cradle to death in developing their health potential, and promote different family, work and social environments to facilitate this development. Throughout history, various international, European and national organizations have regulated the figure of the Community and Family Nurse, and now their functions, powers and professional performance are fully regulated. The Community and Family Nurse can respond to the needs of a changing population and take on new responsibilities in management and research. Their extensive basic and advanced skills gathered under a rigorous training programme, benefit the health system, the nursing profession, citizenry and its communities. Many challenges remain for the Health Departments of each Autonomous Region to make it possible for this specialty to develop its full potential for improving care.

Court appearance 2: Presenting oral evidence in court.

Mary Harris, a community children's nurse, has been concerned for sometime that two of her patients are being abused. She is required to give evidence at the family proceedings court. Mary is very apprehensive as this is her first court appearance. Last month Mary prepared for her appearance by looking at the structure and rules of the court. She also considered the criteria that had to be satisfied before magistrates could grant an order.

The impact of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 on home healthcare agencies and nurses.

"Medicare home health agencies are facing a regulatory purgatory as measures to reduce home health spending by about $16 billion over five years take effect with little government guidance. Home health providers are grappling with new surety bond requirements, the banning of venipuncture as a qualifying procedure for other home health services, and an interim payment system to scale back reimbursement levels before a prospective payment system takes effect in fiscal year 2000" (Cassil, 1998). The challenges of surviving and conquering all of the current issues facing home healthcare nurses and agencies seem overwhelming. All of these legislative and regulatory issues with the resulting financial and clinical implications are occurring as agency staff and administrators continue to provide quality home healthcare services to patients of all ages. Please share your strategies for meeting the challenges of 1998 with the editor.

Non-competition agreements: how to make them work for you.

In a time of staffing shortages and increased competition for shrinking reimbursement dollars, home care agencies need to protect themselves from unprincipled or unknowing employees that leave the agency to work for a competitor or for a patient, bringing with them other agency employees, patient lists, and other proprietary information. Well-drafted, attorney-reviewed, enforceable non-competition agreements can help mitigate some of these problems.

Professionally exempt nurses & the fee basis of payment.

Within the home health industry, per-visit pay has long been used by agencies to compensate nurses. This "fee-based" system of compensation has been subject to scrutiny by the Department of Labor (DOL), which claims that this is not an appropriate method to compensate professional nurses who would qualify as "exempt" employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Recent court decisions have disagreed with the DOL's position on the issue, but home health agencies need to be careful about employee compensation statutes at both the federal and state level so as not to open themselves up to potentially devastating penalties.

Health visiting and district nursing in Victorian Manchester; divergent and convergent vocations.

Community nursing and public health work provided many Victorian and Edwardian women in Britain with the opportunity of a career and professional training. Such work created contradictions, not least the tension between 'inherent' female skills and the role of learnt professionalism. This article discusses Manchester's neglected district nurses alongside the city's more well-studied health visiting scheme. Comparing these occupations in one city highlights continuities in origins and practice, but a clear divergence in terms of class and purpose. These differences provide historians with opportunities to reconsider the inherent tensions and varied identities of employed women in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.