Integrated working in local authority decision-making about air quality: a qualitative study in Southwest England.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to poor air quality is one of the most significant environmental public health challenges. In the UK, local authorities (LAs) are responsible for monitoring and managing air quality. This article explores the need and mechanisms for cross-departmental working in LAs to make decisions about air quality issues. METHODS: Semi-structured qualitative interviews with public health, environmental health and transport staff from LAs within the Southwest of UK. Interviews were conducted between April and August 2021 and analysed using a thematic approach. RESULTS: In sum, 24 staff from 7 LAs participated. Local authority staff in public health, environmental health and transport teams recognized that managing air quality was a cross-departmental issue. To enable effective integrated working staff described four successful mechanisms: (i) policy commitments and political support; (ii) dedicated air quality steering groups; (iii) existing governance and oversight groups; and (iv) networking and relationships. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified mechanisms that LA staff have found support cross-departmental and integrated working on air quality issues. These are mechanisms that have helped environmental health staff work towards achieving compliance with pollution limits, and that have helped public health staff get air quality considerations recognized as a wider health issue.

HIV: What's Next.

In an era of complacency, concern exists that those who remain at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are not aware of methods of transmission and/or exposure. Awareness of the history of the epidemic is waning, and HIV has fallen off the radar of individuals and health care providers alike. Given that in some populations in the United States HIV infections are on the rise, educating individuals and health care providers on the continued risk is paramount. In addition to the many new treatments available, others are on the horizon through different levels of clinical trials. As such, this article addresses the history of HIV, the evolution of effective HIV treatments, the current treatment options available, and treatments in clinical trials.

Essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS: Executive summary.

With nearly 33 million global citizens living with HIV or AIDS, the need for a highly qualified, competent nursing workforce is critical. With the recent increase in global funding to expand access to antiretroviral therapy, there have been considerable efforts to improve the capacity of nurses to initiate and maintain antiretroviral therapy while evaluating its effectiveness, monitoring for side effects, reducing the incidence of drug-drug interactions (including drug interactions related to therapies provided by traditional healers), promoting adherence to therapies, and providing management of symptoms. Therefore, using a participatory action approach, nursing leaders from six sub-Saharan African countries collaborated to develop the essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS. These competencies can help to guide preservice education related to HIV and AIDS, to strengthen in-service or capacity-building programs designed for already qualified nurses, and to guide policy and regulatory reform in the context of taskshifting, task-sharing, and scope of nursing practices.

Essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS.

With nearly 33 million global citizens living with HIV or AIDS, the need for a highly qualified, competent nursing workforce is critical. With the recent increase in global funding to expand access to antiretroviral therapy, there have been considerable efforts to improve the capacity of nurses to initiate and maintain antiretroviral therapy while evaluating its effectiveness, monitoring for side effects, reducing the incidence of drug-drug interactions (including drug interactions related to therapies provided by traditional healers), promoting adherence to therapies, and providing management of symptoms. Therefore, using a participatory action approach, nursing leaders from six sub-Saharan African countries collaborated to develop the essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS. These competencies can help to guide preservice education related to HIV and AIDS, to strengthen in-service or capacity-building programs designed for already qualified nurses, and to guide policy and regulatory reform in the context of task-shifting, task-sharing, and scope of nursing practices.

Every nurse is an HIV nurse.

OVERVIEW: The evolution of HIV infection into a chronic disease has implications across all clinical care settings. Every nurse should be knowledgeable about the prevention, testing, treatment, and chronicity of the disease in order to provide high-quality care to people with or at risk for HIV. It's important, therefore, to have an understanding of the changing epidemiology of the disease, the most recent testing recommendations, developments in screening technology, the implications of aging with HIV infection, and the nursing implications of the ongoing epidemic.

Continuing Education Offering: Clinical Assessment of Symptom-Focused Health-Related Quality of Life in HIV/AIDS.

The routine clinical evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) improves quality of care in patients with HIV/AIDS by effectively assessing and optimizing treatment outcomes, enhancing patient adherence, improving communication between patients and clinicians/nurses, and documenting changes in patients' health status over time. Existing HRQOL assessment tools may not be appropriate for this purpose, as they are designed for clinical trials and research, and exclude several aspects relevant to QOL in patients with HIV/AIDS in the clinical setting. Therefore, there is a need for a new, user-friendly, HIV-specific clinical assessment tool that briefly but effectively evaluates symptom-related HRQOL issues most relevant to patients with HIV/AIDS, including fatigue, depression, pain, nausea and vomiting, sleep disturbances, sexual dysfunction, and body image changes. This article describes the role of nurses in HRQOL assessment in HIV/AIDS, compares commonly used assessment tools, and evaluates the applicability of these tools for routine clinical use in this patient population.

Clinical assessment of symptom-focused health-related quality of life in HIV/AIDS.

The routine clinical evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) improves quality of care in patients with HIV/AIDS by effectively assessing and optimizing treatment outcomes, enhancing patient adherence, improving communication between patients and clinicians/nurses, and documenting changes in patients' health status over time. Existing HRQOL assessment tools may not be appropriate for this purpose, as they are designed for clinical trials and research, and exclude several aspects relevant to QOL in patients with HIV/AIDS in the clinical setting. Therefore, there is a need for a new, user-friendly, HIV-specific clinical assessment tool that briefly but effectively evaluates symptom-related HRQOL issues most relevant to patients with HIV/AIDS, including fatigue, depression, pain, nausea and vomiting, sleep disturbances, sexual dysfunction, and body image changes. This article describes the role of nurses in HRQOL assessment in HIV/AIDS, compares commonly used assessment tools, and evaluates the applicability of these tools for routine clinical use in this patient population.