Australian Nursing Journal articles from August 2007

Australian Nursing Journal archives from August 2007

In support of unions.(editorial)
August 1, 2007... Unions have been on the receiving end of a great deal of negative publicity over the past few months. The Howard Government makes no secret of their antipathy to all unions and takes every opportunity to portray them in a negative light. The...

A wonderful profession.(Letter of the month)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I have always enjoyed reading the ANJ, shared it at my workplace and had many discussions regarding articles published particularly those concerning aged care. It has been documented that the average age for RNs is now over 43 years--I...

Nurses united.(Letter of the month)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... As an assistant in nursing working in a nursing home I am very concerned for the future if John Howard is re-elected later this year. Nurses working in aged care are being flooded by paperwork. What we would like to see is aged care providers...

Tired of fighting "unrealistic" government.(Letter of the month)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I have just read Jill Iliffe's editorial from the July 2007 issue of the ANJ and I share her sentiments. However I am exhausted with trying to fight a government who sets unrealistic expectations of nurses. I started nursing 13 years ago...

Students under pressure.(Letter of the month)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... I read in the article Under Pressure (ANJ July 2007) that the Head of the School of Nursing at a South Australian university said that federal funding for clinical placements is $1000 per student per annum. As a student of nursing in my final...

Editors note.(Letter of the month)(Australian Nursing Federation)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The ANF acknowledges the financial burden many students of nursing and midwifery find themselves under during their studies. The $1000 per student for the clinical component of the undergraduate nursing course brings nursing into line with the...

Network.(nurses' reunions)(Calendar)
August 1, 2007... Preston and Northcote Community Hospital (PANCH), School 40. 30-year reunion 12 August 2007. Contact Fay McNeill Email: fmcneill@optusnet.com. au or Heather Fraser (nee Brumby) Email: brumbyh@hotmail.com Broken Hill Nurses Reunion ...

SA nurses win wage parity.(SA)(South Australia)
August 1, 2007... Public sector nurses in South Australia have overwhelmingly agreed to a new offer for better pay and conditions after weeks of industrial action. The agreement offers nurses wage parity with other states as well as improved conditions. ...

Government figures misleading.(TAS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The ANF Tasmanian Branch says the State Government has misled the public, public sector employees and the Parliament by inflating the cost of an ANF log of claims for a new public sector nurses agreement. ANF Tasmanian Branch secretary...

Travel costs burden rural patients.(national news)
August 1, 2007... Burdensome travel costs are forcing rural and remote patients to sleep in their cars overnight when undergoing specialist treatment in cities. Alarming accounts where patients have been ineligible for funding from state and territory...

Quality workplaces for nurses.(national news)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Zero tolerance to violence, access to professional development, a highly smiled workforce, and recognition of nursing leadership are key factors in quality workplaces, nurses heard last month. A controversial panel forum at the Royal...

Compassion to end Indigenous plight.(national news)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses Chairperson Sally Goold has called for an end to racism and compassion for Indigenous Australians in the wake of the Prime Minister's heavy handed approach to stamp out sexual abuse in...

QUM training to benefit local Indigenous communities.(national news)(quality use of medicines)
August 1, 2007... Training is underway for 12 Aboriginal health workers from Melbourne, the Kimberly and Port Lincoln in the Good Medicines Better Health Outcomes Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Project. The project is a partnership between the National...

New Zealand consulted first on national registration.(national news)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... A national registration system for nurses in Australia moved a step closer last month. But in a bizarre blow to Australian regulatory authorities, New Zealand health bodies have been consulted on the plans first. The federal government's...

Hospital errors--new approach needed.(national news)(Australian Healthcare Association)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The Australian Healthcare Association (AHA) is seeking a clinician-led approach to reducing hospital errors, following the release of its Sentinel events in Australian public hospitals 2004-2005 report. The report revealed there were 130...

Midwives pay tribute to Pam Haves.(NSW)
August 1, 2007... Midwives and nurses from around Australia recently gathered to pay tribute to midwife and educator Pamela (Pam) Hayes who passed away suddenly earlier this year, aged 71. The memorial service, organised by the Australian College of Midwives and...

New hospital survey.(WA)(Fiona Stanley Hospital)
August 1, 2007... Western Australians are encouraged to have their say on the design of a new $1.1 billion hospital in an online community survey. The 643-bed Fiona Stanley Hospital is planned to provide medical and surgical services for people south of...

ANF calls for safe staffing ratios.(VIC)(Australian Nursing Federation)
August 1, 2007... The ANF (Victorian Branch) wants the Federal Government to introduce mandated safe nurse to resident ratios in aged care facilities following the release of damning reports on Broughton Hall and Hurlingham aged care facilities. Both facilities...

QLD rural maternity services at risk.(QLD)(Queensland)
August 1, 2007... Women living in rural Queensland might soon have to visit the state's coastal areas, or Toowoomba to have their babies unless action is taken to provide midwifery models of care. Speaking at the Queensland Nurses' Union (QNU, ANF Queensland...

Aged care model.(NT/SA)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... A model that provides nurses with shift flexibility and skills recognition is part of a new pay and conditions deal that will be rolled out to 100 residential aged care facilities in South Australia and Northern Territory. The Care Teams...

No to privatization.(ACT)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... About 200 health care employees have signed a petition calling on the ACT Government to oppose any move toward full privatisation of the Calvary public hospital. The 220-bed Calvary public hospital at the Bruce campus is funded by ACT...

ICN survey results no surprise for nurses in Australia.(professional)(International Council of Nurses)(Report)
August 1, 2007... Nurses 'love their work but hate the job' is the key message from the International Council of Nurses (ICN) 2007 Global Health Care Survey. This survey looked at nurse's perceptions of health care, the nursing profession and their role in...

Howard's way.... hurting nurses?(federal election 2007)(Prime Minister John Howard)
August 1, 2007... More than seven in 10 nurses say industrial relations laws will influence how they vote in the federal election. This statistic in a recent ANF survey is hardly surprising with the growing number of nurses around Australia losing out under the...

Nursing guidelines for assessment and management of urinary retention in hospitalised older adults.(research)
August 1, 2007... Nurses working with frail older people admitted for inpatient rehabilitation have long voiced concerns about the number of patients who are randomly found to have incomplete bladder emptying. While some of these patients have the usual symptoms...

Reducing hospital infections with simple technology.(research)
August 1, 2007... Nurse researchers in Taiwan have trialed a simple video-based awareness program to improve hand washing among family members visiting sick children in a paediatric intensive care unit. Researchers monitored visits by 123 families in the hope of...

Educational interventions for mental health consumers receiving psychotropic medication.(clinical: update)(Report)
August 1, 2007... Information Source This Best Practice information sheet is based on a systematic review of research published by Blackwell Publishing Asia and conducted by the New South Wales Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare (Griffiths et al 2004)....

A journey of a lifetime.(working life)
August 1, 2007... An Australian nurse's journey through a volunteer experience in Fiji has helped one organ sat on deliver affordable treatment to HIV/AIDS patients, It has also assisted the nurse, Chris Sturrock, to forge a nursing career in reproductive and...

Understanding transition in chronic illness.(focus: Chronic Disease Management)
August 1, 2007... The outcomes of a three year research project that aimed to explore how people can learn to incorporate chronic illness into their lives will have relevance to nursing practice. The research, funded by the Australian Research Council, was a...

Point of care INR testing in cardiac wards.(focus: Chronic Disease Management)(International Normalised Ratio)
August 1, 2007... A clinical trial to establish the accuracy of use of Point of Care (POC) International Normalised Ratio (INR) testing using CoagChek[R] XS for inpatients receiving warfarin therapy was recently conducted at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle...

Proactive care seeing results.(focus: Chronic Disease Management)
August 1, 2007... The latest data from Bayside (Victoria) Health's Disease Management Unit (DMU) is expected to show a continued drop in the number of patients who are enrolled in the program with chronic co-morbid conditions, presenting for readmission. ...

Help is just a phone call away.(focus: Chronic Disease Management)(Healthy@Home Phone Coaching Program)
August 1, 2007... In Western Australia, as part of the range of new ambulatory care initiatives provided by the Healthy@Home strategy, a trial of the Healthy@Home Phone Coaching Program for people with chronic conditions is underway. The phone coaching...

Good health lowers cardiac risk.(Focus Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Adopting a healthier lifestyle in later life may reduce the risk of heart disease and death. USA researchers found people 45 to 64 years of age who ate five fruit and vegetables daily, exercised at least 2.5 hours a week, had a lower BMI...

1986 nurses' strike.(Focus Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Nickolas Bird (nurse and filmmaker) who produced and directed Vivian Bullwinkel an Australian Heroine, which was broadcast on ABC April this year, is seeking stories of interest from anyone who was nursing during the Victorian 1986 nurses...

Victorian scholarships.(Focus Briefs)(College of Nursing)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Applications for scholarships with the College of Nursing in Victoria close 31 August. Six scholarships of up to $10,000 are available for registered nurses in the private hospital sector to gain a postgraduate qualification. Six other...

South Australian nurse fellowships.(Focus Briefs)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHRMC) and the South Australia Health Department are offering a fellowship for a nurse or midwife to improve evidence-based health care in the state. The NICS-SA Health Nursing and Midwifery...

Managing medications and chronic illness.(focus: Chronic Disease Management)
August 1, 2007... A team of nurse researchers from the School of Nursing at The University of Melbourne in collaboration with external partners has been successful in an Australian Research Council post-doctoral research grant in chronic illness management. ...

Self management the key in chronic illness.(focus: Chronic Disease Management)
August 1, 2007... Helping patients manage their own chronic disease symptoms is the most effective treatment strategy according to nurses Di Goodwin and Rose Baker from the Royal Brisbane Hospital and Women's Hospital (RBWH) in Queensland. While Di and Rose work...

Calendar.(conferences, training courses and seminars for nurses)(Calendar)
August 1, 2007... Distance education courses for RNs Conducted by the College of Nursing (incorporating the NSW College of Nursing) The College of Nursing, Locked Bag 3030, Burwood, NSW, 1805 Ph: (02) 9745 7500 Childbirth education training programs Programs...

A cup of tea, a chat and solving the aged care crisis.(Ged)
August 1, 2007... I was having a cup of tea with my aunty the other day. She is an older lady who is tall, strong and completely on the bail. My aunty has a confidence about her that comes with older age, where she feels she can say anything to you without fear...