Researchers from the University of Dundee to begin work on designing a wheelchair-friendly lab coat

 

The Press Office of the University of Dundee announced that "By the end of the project, the team plan to make coats available in the campus shop, so that people who use a wheelchair can arrive on campus and go to their lab ready to start working with the same convenience as their course mates and colleagues. The team hope this study will be the first step towards a mass market off-the-peg wheelchair-friendly lab coat."

"But first, they are looking for people who would like to be involved in the project at the start. Cook explains: "the first and most important thing for us is finding people who use wheelchairs and work or study in labs to mentor us. That might involve talking about your experiences and frustrations, contributing your ideas to the design process and eventually adopting prototypes to try out in the lab."

If you’re interested in getting involved or would like to find out more, contact Dr. Melissa D’Ascenzio and Dr. Andrew Cook.

https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/researchers-start-work-designing-wheelchair-friendly-lab-coat

Cheers!

Donna

Nurses living with Lymphedema

 

                                         Catherine Holley, BSN, RN, CLT Nurse 

                                      Certified Lymphedema Therapist

"For 33 years, I have camouflaged my leg, remaining fairly private about it. Two years ago, as an operating room nurse in a busy Boston hospital, I cared for a patient who also had lymphedema; however, she’d never been seen by a specialist and did not know how to manage it. At that moment, I knew I needed to share my story with her and give her the resources for finding help. That experience really changed my life in accepting this crazy disease and the importance of spreading awareness" (Holley (2017, para 1). 

Holley, C. (2017). Welcome message from Massachusetts Chapter co-Chair. Retrieved on October 30, 2022 at Welcome message from Massachusetts Chapter co-Chair Catherine Holley, RN | Lymphatic Education & Research Network (lymphaticnetwork.org)

Living with Lymphedema: One Nurse's Journey as Patient and Advocate - YouTube

                                Rebecca Koszalinski, RN, PhD               

Dr. Koszalinski wrote about working with with a state Vocational Rehabilitation program as a nurse with lower limb lymphedema. 

"Your state vocational rehabilitation representative most likely won’t be a nurse or an expert on alternative nursing career paths. To them, a nurse is a nurse—period. That is why you need to help them help you. They can’t support your case unless they understand your goals and have documentation to support the plan. Be prepared for a lack of understanding and rejections. Again, it is not personal. Justification is not based on the number of years you have worked but on your physical condition and the probability that you will return to work if they support you(p.29)." 

Koszalinski, R. (2014) Navigating the Vocational Rehabilitation System: Nursing following injury and disability. In D.C. Maheady (Ed.) The Exceptional Nurse: Tales from the trenches of truly resilient nurses working with disabilities. (pp. 26-32). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Ellen Szelina RN (retired)

 "After her 2011 treatment for breast cancer, she developed lymphedema in her left arm — severe, chronic swelling that sometimes occurs after lymph node removal or radiation treatment." 

"No matter how careful she was, Szelina’s lymphedema regularly triggered infections that were accompanied by a high fever and painful swelling in her arm and hand. Each time, she’d have to spend a few days in the hospital getting IV antibiotics."

"Then, in 2014, she read about David W. Chang, MD, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine and a world-renowned lymphedema microsurgeon."

"Chang pioneered a unique, complex surgery for lymphedema patients that reroutes the lymphatic system around damaged lymph nodes." 

 "Her surgery in 2016 was successful, and Szelina is back to doing the things she loves. In June, she and her family rode mules down into the Grand Canyon — something she’d never dared to do before the surgery" (Bartosch, 2019).

Bartosch, J. (2019). Lymphedema microsurgery gives retired nurse her life back. U Chicago Medicine.

 Retrieved on 11/16/2022 at https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/cancer-articles/lymphedema-surgery-gives-retired-nurse-her-life-back

Cheers!

Donna

Nursing Times reports need for culture change regarding UK nurses and nursing students with disabilities

 

Megan Ford reports on an investigation by Nursing Times that found, "More must be done to stamp out unconscious bias and incorrect assumptions about nurses with a disability to ensure workplaces offer a “psychologically safe environment” where staff feel supported, enabled to thrive and can be open about their disabilities."

"More than 52,000 (3.7%) members of the health service workforce in England declared a disability via the NHS Electronic Staff Record in 2021. But a much higher percentage indicated they had a disability through the NHS Staff Survey in 2020, with 20.2% making a declaration."

"Another dataset, used in the annual Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) report, showed the percentage of staff with a disability experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse at work was higher than for staff without a disability; in addition, 31% of staff with a disability felt pressure from their manager to go to work, despite feeling unwell."

"In most cases, their challenges would not come from their condition, but...from how society or employers treat people who share a condition or [have a disability],” she said. “It’s not about whether someone is a wheelchair user, it is about the attitude of those around them to ensure that they are included or have access.”

Read more about these important issues at:

https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/workforce/investigation-culture-change-needed-to-stamp-out-disability-stigma-04-11-2022/?fbclid=IwAR3yx8DXNBArcr4miczqaUCZTLoNMmBcNbBh6zbyOVT9GNBiVUjnZUH8lmg

Cheers!

Donna

Nurses with fibromyalgia

 I’m a Nurse With Fibromyalgia. Here’s What I Wish Frustrated Patients Knew. - Women With Fibromyalgia (fibrowomen.com)

What’s it like to be a nurse with rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and endometriosis? - Arthritis Life (theenthusiasticlife.com)

Nurses are at increased of developing pain sensitization syndromes due to stress and interrupted sleep. The prevalence of fibromyalgia (FM) in nurses is unknown. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of FM in nurses using different screening tools.

Methods:

This was a cross-sectional study conducted in King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC). Nurses were invited to fill a questionnaire. The fibromyalgia Rapid Screening tool (FIRST), Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire (FSQ) and London Fibromyalgia Epidemiology Study Screening Questionnaire (LFESSQ) were used to identify patients with FM. Descriptive analysis was used for demographics. Non-parametric tests were to compare PIT with and without FM.

Results:

A total of 335 nurses completed the questionnaire. They were mostly females (93.7%), married (64.5%) with a median (interquartile range) age and body mass index of 32 (10) years and 24.8 (4.7) respectively. Of those, 121 (36.1%) nurse admitted having body pain. The prevalence of FM using the FIRST, FSQ and LFESSQ were (1.8%), (0.6%) and (19.4%) respectively. None of them fulfilled the 3 criteria concurrently. Using the LFESSQ criteria, nurses with FM were more likely to complain from irritable bowel syndrome (p=0.018), dry mouth (p=0.026), chest pain (p=0.002) and headache (p<0.001). the underlying specialty had an impact on the prevalence of FM based on specialty was; emergency department (23.1%), clinics (17.2%), intensive care (10.6%), ward (5.3) and operation room (4.3%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of FM is variable among nurses based on the used screening tool. Educational programs and screening clinics are justified.

---

Alajmi S, Shahwan F, Bajuaifer Y, Al Ohaly R, Edrees M, Asiri A, Omair M. Prevalence of Fibromyalgia in Nurses; A Cross Sectional Study [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2017; 69 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-fibromyalgia-in-nurses-a-cross-sectional-study/. Accessed November 2, 2022.

Barski L, Shafat T, Buskila Y, Amital H, Makulin Y, Shvarts B, Jotkowitz A, Buskila D. High prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome among Israeli nurses. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2020 Jan-Feb;38 Suppl 123(1):25-30. Epub 2019 Oct 29. PMID: 31694749.

Objectives: Stress has extensively been shown to trigger fibromyalgia syndrome (FM). Nursing is associated with high levels of stress. Our hypothesis was that nurses suffer from an increased prevalence of FM symptoms, and that these symptoms correlate with the levels of stress to which they are exposed in the course of their occupation.

Methods: The study was conducted as a targeted survey distributed to nursing staff in Soroka University Medical Centre, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Participants were asked to answer a questionnaire evaluating symptoms of FM, based on the current diagnostic criteria, which include the widespread pain index (WPI) and the symptom severity scale (SSS). Participants were further questioned regarding stressful experiences during their work and about post-traumatic symptoms as well as regarding work performance and motivation.

Results: 206 participants completed the study questionnaire (84.5% females and 15.5% males). Twenty (9.7%) participants of the sample fulfilled criteria for diagnosis of FM reaching rates among females and males of 10.9% and 3.1% respectively. The prevalence of FM in our study was related to age with the highest prevalence in the older age groups (p=0.012). FM symptoms were strongly correlated with work related stress and were strongly correlated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms. Work-performance parameters did not show a significant correlation with FM parameters.

Conclusions: FM is highly prevalent among nursing staff. Our findings point towards the possibility that work-related stress and traumatic events may play a major role in the development of FM symptoms among nurses. With aging this association is more significant.