Online events, such as webinars and the GPN Facebook Live ones, have become a regular feature in my life now, and it does make balancing both home and work commitments easier. Rather than needing to take an afternoon, evening or even a day or two out of normal commitments, we can just disappear for an hour or so and access a multitude of training at quite literally a press of the ‘join’ button. Meeting people face-to-face is great, but online events are convenient and accessible for today’s busy life.

My favourite webinar recently was one called ‘Just how stressed are you?’ I signed up for it as I was aware life was running at a fast pace with stressors flying in at me from every angle. Donna Booth’s calm, authoritative voice spoke clearly over the webinar, helping me to work out where it was all going a bit astray and to find simple ways to recognise this and adjust. Taking her audience through a careful explanation of what stress is and the different responses we can have to it; fight, flight, freeze and fawn (fawn was new to me, but described as those times when you try to please everyone, which is tricky because you can’t in fact please everyone). Donna explained that we all have an invisible stress bucket and that while some stress is good for us, if the bucket is constantly slopping over with too much we will eventually run into difficulty. To remedy this, we need to make some space for self-care in our lives; small, simple routines that help us relax. It doesn’t need to take long, but building simple relaxing routines back into life can be effective. This awareness has helped to make me more relaxed and my stress bucket is no longer set to overflow. To learn more about Donna, visit: www.vitality-retreat.com.

This issue of GPN has some helpful respiratory articles with Laura King, clinical nurse specialist for children’s asthma, exploring the importance of the post-asthma attack 48-hour review and Karen Heslop Marshall, a nurse consultant, who has written a thought-provoking article about COPD, CBT and self-management. This article has stimulated me to look at including resources for mental well-being, as well as COPD symptom control, within self-management plans. Carol Stonham, a respiratory senior nurse practitioner, encourages us to consider the environmental impact of respiratory healthcare, looking at everything from inhaler choice to how people access their appointments.

The NMC are working on a review to modernise general practice standards and are currently seeking consultation on this. In her editorial, Professor Geraldine Walters CBE, executive director of professional practice at the NMC, explains some of the changes within the new draft specialist standards and encourages us all to get involved with the consultation process.

I hope you enjoy this issue and wish you all a warm and relaxing summer and, as Donna teaches on her courses, remember, self-care is NEVER selfish.

Jaqui Walker, editor-in-chief