Community children's nursing: developing a bespoke model of post-registration education.

Community children's nurses provide a vital service between the hospital and home environment, supporting children, young people and families with their health needs. In the UK, the number of educational pathways providing a specialist practitioner qualification in community children's nursing has declined significantly in recent years. This has left many community children's nursing services with little or no access to educational programmes, despite the rising demand. The four UK governments, together with regulatory bodies such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, have embarked on ambitious transformation of post-registration career frameworks and standards, the long-term impact of which is uncertain. This article discusses an approach that one community children's nursing service in Scotland took to address these challenges by liaising with a local university and accessing a bespoke advanced practice programme.

We need to appreciate the nuances and make connections to outcomes.

Robin Hyde considers some of the anxieties around advanced practice and reflects on how to allay these.

Advanced practice for children and young people: A systematic review with narrative summary.

AIM: To critically appraise and synthesise the current evidence related to the advanced practice nurse (APN) in the children and young people's healthcare setting. BACKGROUND: A complex landscape of demand and change has influenced the healthcare delivery for children and young people. In the United Kingdom and internationally, governments have endorsed the need for workforce innovation with APN roles introduced to counter these challenges. However, little is known about the impact of these initiatives in the context of children and young people's health care. DESIGN: Systematic review and narrative summary. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, MEDLINE, DARE, PubMed, Prospero and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched for studies published in English language from July 1998 to 2018. Studies were selected based on key search terms and eligibility criteria. REVIEW METHODS: The selected studies were appraised using the Effective Public Health Practice Project for quantitative studies. An adapted version of the JBI data extraction tool for experimental/observational studies was used to extract the relevant key findings. This was conducted independently by two researchers. RESULTS: Nine studies were included in the review. The review demonstrated roles were comparable in their clinical practice to medics yet offered higher levels of patient satisfaction, role modelling for staff and led practice initiatives to improve health literacy. CONCLUSION: This review demonstrates that APN roles in children and young people's health care provide clinical, organizational and professional benefits, with added value to organizations and patients, acting as role models and educators. IMPACT: The findings from this review indicate further research is required to ascertain contextual issues that may influence the implementation of APNs. This research will impact APNs working with children and young people. Equally, it supports the evidence base for service commissioners outlining areas for future research.

An advanced nurse practitioner service for neonates, children and young people.

The NHS continues to face unprecedented demands and reform which necessitates a move away from traditional modes of delivery. Over the past ten years economic austerity, changes to legislation and professional career developments have led to healthcare service redesign and innovations in nursing roles, including the development of the advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) role. This article explores how one organisation created an ANP service for out-of-hours neonatal and paediatric care in a district general hospital setting. It was found that ANPs help to provide continuity of care, support learning, inspire continued professional development and lead on healthcare agendas. However, the ANP service faced factors not exclusive to local context including an ageing workforce, difficulties in recruiting and retaining suitably qualified staff and economic pressures. The future of the service depends on it overcoming these factors while demonstrating that the shift from traditional models of care can lead to a positive outcome.