None of the units assessed were found to have perfect correlation between measured and readout thickness. TMD measures and thickness readouts were different for the duplicate units from two different models/manufacturers.

Aim To examine the UK pandemic preparedness in light of health expenditure, nursing workforce, and mortality rates in and relation to nursing leadership. Background The Global Health Security Index categorized the preparedness of 195 countries to face a biological threat on a variety of measures, producing an overall score. The United States of America and the United Kingdom were ranked 1st and 2nd most prepared in 2019. Method A cross‐nation comparison of the top 36 countries ranked by Global Health Security Index score using a variety of online sources, including key data about each nation's expenditure on health and the nursing workforce, and compared these with mortality data for COVID‐19. Results The extent of a country's pandemic preparedness, expenditure on healthcare and magnitude of the nursing workforce does not appear to impact mortality rates at this stage of the pandemic which is something of a paradox. Conclusion It is important that arrangements for dealing with future global pandemics involve a range of agencies and experts in the field, including nurse leaders. Implications for Nursing To achieve the best outcomes for patients, nurse leaders should be involved in policy forums at all levels of government to ensure nurses can influence health policy.

Background Health care professionals have poor recognition of cognitive impairment among older patients and often have difficulties in providing care for people with dementia in acute hospitals. There are also reported high levels of stigma and negative staff attitudes towards people with dementia. Methodology A one-time survey of staff working on acute medical and orthopaedic wards of five District Health Boards in New Zealand using the ‘Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire’; a 19-item Questionnaire that aims to capture two attitudinal domains (Hope and Person-Centredness), towards people with dementia. A total of 563 questionnaires were distributed. Data were analysed using R. Results Three hundred and four (53.99%) respondents completed the survey. Ninety-four of the respondents (31.1%) were aged 51 years or older, and nearly all (88.4%) were women. One hundred and sixty-four of the respondents (53.9%) were registered nurses, 10 were student nurses (3.3%), 24 (7.9%) were healthcare assistants, 70 (23.0%) were allied health professionals, 27 (8.9%) were doctors and 9 (3%) were pharmacists. The mean total score of 72.7 reflected positive attitudes overall on the part of the respondents. Allied health professionals, student nurses and pharmacists had high scores on both scales whilst healthcare assistants scored lowest on both scales. Conclusion Overall, the Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire is a useful measure, but it can be difficult to differentiate between genuine attitudinal differences and confounding influences such as level of knowledge and education amongst such a diverse group of participants. Differences between staff may be considered as a reflection of the high level of direct care that is expected of some staff and not of others. Further, the Approaches to Dementia Questionnaire may not be the most appropriate measure to accurately understand attitudes to dementia care in acute environments; and that it more usefully reveals knowledge about dementia rather than attitudes related to real-time practice.

Education of health and social care professionals is essential in preparation to confidently and effectively support families affected by dementia to undertake advance care planning. This article describes a training needs analysis of Admiral Nurses, dementia specialists, in facilitating advance care planning for future care. Methods: A questionnaire survey was completed by Admiral Nurses attending end-of-life care masterclasses in 2017 and 2018. Both quantitative (years registered as a nurse, years as an Admiral Nurse and subjective level of confidence in completing advance care plannings) and qualitative data (interventions perceived to increase confidence) were collected. Findings: There were 75 completed responses (two incomplete returns). There was no correlation between levels of confidence and years registered as a nurse. However, there was a small positive correlation between confidence and number of years as an Admiral Nurse ( r = 0.23; p < 0.05). Themes identified qualitatively to enhance practice were advanced communication skills, supervised practice, resources to frame conversations and a guide and template for advance care planning. Conclusion: Although Admiral Nurses are specialists in dementia, several educational initiatives could be employed to better enable them to support advance care planning for families affected by dementia. This training needs analysis is contributed towards developing an educational intervention for Admiral Nurses to improve advance care planning support.

No abstract