text: The price of hands-off care. The great escape. Floors to ceilings
  The price of hands-off care
  Some nurses, particularly those working with elderly or confused patients, fear that the use of mechanical hoists has worsened conditions for patients. They believe that mechanical handling is dehumanizing, that the reduced opportunity for physical care detracts from the healing potential of nursing activity, and that lack of physical activity on the part of patients does not aid recovery. However, many nurses welcome the increased use of mechanical hoists. They maintain that, as well as being an inevitable part of nurse-injury avoidance, patients appreciate their reliability.
  Management, Equipment and supplies, Cover Story, Lifting and carrying, Hoisting machinery
  UK nurses may wish to work abroad. Opportunities to work in the US and Canada are not nearly as plentiful as they were at the beginning of the 1990s, but it may be possible to find an employer willing to obtain a work permit. Opportunities in Australia have also diminished but, providing the nurse qualifies for a working holiday visa, there is lots of work available. Bureaucracy,language and cultural differences are the main barriers to working in other European countries. Middle Eastern countries sometimes offer high salaries but cultural restrictions may pose a problem.
  Author: Mountain, Julia
  Scottish-born Pat Overton-Brown began working as a part-time cleaner at her local hospital in the early 1980s and was given the opportunity to use her nursing qualifications when a part-time labour ward auxiliary nurse job presented itself. She made the decision to train to become an enrolled nurse and entered accident and emergency nursing when her training was completed. She continued to combine nursing and study, culminating in the successful completion of a masters degree course. Overton-Brown is now a qualified accident and emergency lecturer and practitioner.