Discussion about the effects of PPE and COVID-19 on menopausal women is long overdue.

The NHS employer's website has guidance for HR departments to produce policies on menopause in the workplace. However, despite the added pressure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention appears to have been paid to the impact of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on menopausal women. Wearing protective clothing can exacerbate heat stress which can worsen several of the symptoms, including hot flushes. The use of PPE has increased dramatically since March 2020. Yet, nearly two years into the pandemic, there appears to be little done to address this issue

Menopause and personal protective equipment: how does this meet acceptable working conditions?

Menopause and the workplace has finally become a trending topic. Specific societies, agencies, charities and trade unions, such as the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS), the British Menopause Society (BMS), the Chartered Institute for of Personnel and DevelopmentProfessional Development (CIPD), the Daisy Network, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have all pioneered for women's rights concerning working during the menopause. The results have been slow in coming, but currently managing the menopause in the workplace is now visible in the Human Resource (HR) departments of many companies and organizsations. The European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) has been a leading light on this issue, with a position statement in 2016 and most recently in 2021 with global consensus recommendations on menopause in the workplace. This has been accompanied by: a Menopause Charter for Employers; a self-assessment tool for managers; and the launch of the first World Menopause and Work Day, on 7 September 2021

A new training approach for vaccinators: cascade plus training.

Effective training of staff plays a major role in reaching and sustaining immunization goals. Training and updating health staff is the responsibility of all governments and immunization related organizations. The critical issue is finding the most efficient and effective way of providing initial and continuous training. Cascade training is thought to be one of the best methods. However, several researches showed that besides its advantages the classical cascade training approach has some disadvantages. A cascade training strategy is not an inappropriate choice, but the problems are initiated from inappropriate planning and implementation of it. Therefore, in order to have better trained health staff with high performance, rather than thinking of an alternative training strategy, the governments have to consider alternative ways of increasing the quality of the classical cascade training strategy. If the cascade training strategy is well planned, carried out by blending appropriate teaching techniques and is well monitored/supervised during the implementation phase it can be an effective strategy for training the health care staff and managers. In order to differentiate this understanding from the classical cascade approach, the authors propose the "Cascade-Plus Training" model, which is defined as "a well-planned and implemented cascade training strategy with an understanding of a holistic approach to the topic of training, which is practice oriented, flexible, delivered via multiple evidence based training-techniques, supported with effective supervision, monitoring, process evaluation and problem solving deliveries.

Access to learning opportunities for residents in care homes: reviewing the challenges and possibilities.

International, national and regional policy documents and key reports espouse the benefits of lifelong learning and people's rights to it, yet little attention has been given to the learning needs of frail older people in nursing (care) homes. People living in care have frequently been cited as a forgotten sector of the community and this is apparent in the provision of learning opportunities. It appears that the learning needs of this population are largely ignored. This paper suggests that when the door of the care home is opened, the door to learning closes. The aim of this paper is to add to a small but growing body of literature on meeting the learning needs of people in long-term care. To investigate the topic, a scoping review of the literature (2002-2020) and a search of policy and key papers (1990-2020) were conducted. The results show a paucity of literature on the topic, which leads to the conclusion that many residents in nursing (care) homes are marginalised when it comes to furthering their learning requirements. This can be ascribed to limited resources in the care home sector but also suggests a form of ageism. The results show four themes that may contribute to designing a learning culture in care: Culture of learning vs culture of care; Learning vs recreational activity; Surviving vs thriving in care; and Outside vs care home communities. The paper concludes by recommending that links to community learning opportunities are vital for people in care to have their learning needs met

Getting care of older people right: the need for appropriate frailty assessment?

Globally, health and social care is facing extraordinary challenges due to changing patterns of disease, changing expectations of patients, financial restrictions and an ever-increasing ageing population. It is estimated that globally, the number of people aged 60 and over will increase from 900 million in 2015 to 1400 million by 2030 and 2100 million by 2050 (Kinsella & Phillips 2005). If these predictions do materialise, figures could rise up to 3200 million by 2100 (WHO 2016). The World Health Organization (WHO) Health Assembly have produced The Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health 2016–2020: towards a world in which everyone can live a long and healthy life (2016) in which they set out two goals: to use 'five years of evidence-based action to maximise functional ability that reaches every person; and by 2020, to establish evidence and partnership necessary to support a Decade of Healthy Ageing from 2020 to 2030'

Getting care of older people right: The need for appropriate frailty assessment?

Globally, health and social care is facing extraordinary challenges due to changing patterns of disease, changing expectations of patients, financial restrictions and an ever-increasing ageing population. It is estimated that globally, the number of people aged 60 and over will increase from 900 million in 2015 to 1400 million by 2030 and 2100 million by 2050 (Kinsella & Phillips 2005). If these predictions do materialise, figures could rise up to 3200 million by 2100 (WHO 2016). The World Health Organization (WHO) Health Assembly have produced The Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health 2016–2020: towards a world in which everyone can live a long and healthy life(2016)in which they set out two goals: to use 'five years of evidence-based action to maximise functional ability that reaches every person; and by 2020, to establish evidence and partnership necessary to support a Decade of Healthy Ageing from 2020 to 2030'

Getting care of older people right: the need for appropriate frailty assessment?

Globally, health and social care is facing extraordinary challenges due to changing patterns of disease, changing expectations of patients, financial restrictions and an ever-increasing ageing population. It is estimated that globally, the number of people aged 60 and over will increase from 900 million in 2015 to 1400 million by 2030 and 2100 million by 2050 (Kinsella & Phillips 2005). If these predictions do materialise, figures could rise up to 3200 million by 2100 (WHO 2016). The World Health Organization (WHO) Health Assembly have produced The Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health 2016–2020: towards a world in which everyone can live a long and healthy life (2016) in which they set out two goals: to use 'five years of evidence-based action to maximise functional ability that reaches every person; and by 2020, to establish evidence and partnership necessary to support a Decade of Healthy Ageing from 2020 to 2030'

Preserving Dignity in Care: Nursing Student Perspectives

This paper presents findings from a study exploring nursing students’ perspectives on ‘people’ and ‘place’ influences on the preservation of dignity in care. Participants identified more ‘people’ factors than ‘place’ ones and ranked the former as being more important than the latter. A total of 31 participants were recruited from a three-year undergraduate preregistration adult nursing programme in the West of Scotland. Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and content analysis were used, and each participant attended one of five nominal groups. Following the NGT process of scoring and ranking, each group concluded with the identification of the group’s ‘Top 5’ most important influences on dignity in care. Findings raise questions around the extent to which behaviour and relationships are explicit in curricula, and how effectively students are enabled to consider the context which influences that behaviour

Exploring terms used for the oldest old in the gerontological literature.

In response to the global increasing age of the population, there is general agreement on the need to define what is meant by 'old.' Yet there is no consensus on age groups within the definition of old, which makes comparative studies of people of differing ages in advancing years impossible. Attempts to sub-categorize the 'old' also show little consensus. This article serves to open a dialogue, as an illustrative example of these inconsistencies. Specifically, the aim of this research was to examine definitions of the 'oldest old' and 'fourth age', in order to highlight such inconsistencies and the need for consistent age stratifications. The authors conducted a literature search from January 2003 to April 2015 using the six most highly-rated non-medical journals in gerontology; the search was conducted again in 2018–2019 for currency. Forty-nine articles in total were reviewed. The findings show little consensus on the age stratifications used to define the 'oldest old' and 'fourth age,' which ranged from seventy-five plus to ninety-two plus years. Dividing the 'old' population into the oldest old and/or fourth age still shows a lack of consensus, with some authors suggesting that such divisions have only served to move ageism into very old age. There are terms for ten-year cohorts, which - if universally used - will mean that comparative ageing studies are possible. This in turn will inform international and national strategy documents, policy initiatives, clinical guidelines, and service provision and design. Given the growth in the numbers of people classed as old and the time span being 'old' covers, there is a real need for consensus. Definite age groupings that define people as cohorts, with existing and agreed words — such as sexagenarians (60–69,) septuagenarians (70–79), octogenarians (80–89), etc. - will completely remove the need for the value-laden term 'old' (and all its derivatives) for this poorly-defined population

Ageism: an old concept from new perspectives.

This article is an introduction to the special issue "New horizons in ageism research: innovation in study design, methodology and applications to research, policy and practice". This special issue aims to offer a broad and innovative perspective on ageism. The first section addresses new developments in the conceptualization of ageism. This section focuses not only on the negative side of ageism, but also on benevolent ageism, which is manifested in protective attitudes and behaviors towards older persons because of their age, following the stereotype of older persons as a vulnerable group that needs protection. The second section concerns the manifestation of ageism: between traditional and underexplored arenas. The third section concerns innovative methods to explore the concept of ageism. This section relies on innovations in qualitative and quantitative methods to explore nuances in the manifestations of ageism. The next section addresses interventions to reduce or prevent ageism