Australian Nursing Journal articles from December 2007

Australian Nursing Journal archives from December 2007

Into the future.(setting goals for future achievements and learning)(editorial)(Editorial)
December 1, 2007... As another gear draws to a close, it is an opportunity to took back and reflect on what has been achieved and what has been learned and to look forward and set goals for future achievements and learning. While the past year appears to have been...

Time to go ...(mail)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... I want to say thanks to you all as I go For I've worked here for ages and I hope you know I admire your kindness, caring, humour and cheer To encourage your patients and ease their fear. We've endured busy days and night times too But your team...

Arthur Cooper and his pet gibbon ape.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... I am wondering if any former nurses who were in Singapore in 1941/42 might remember meeting Art Cooper and his pet gibbon Tertius? I am a writer of children's books and Tertius is the hero of a book I am writing. Cooper was a British...

Study seeks rural and remote locum nurses.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... I am a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Scholar with the University of Queensland, School of Nursing and Midwifery. My study 'What are the issues that impact on the recruitment and retention of locum nurses in rural and remote Australia?' aims to...

Staff our greatest asset.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2007... Waiting lists, dodgy doctors and bungled operations abound in media reports about our health care system, particularly in our 'current affairs' programs but my own experience of our health care system has been quite different. The Australian...

Network.(Directory)
December 1, 2007... Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne, Group 15, Jan 1968, 40-year reunion January 2008. For further information please contact Dianne on Email: DWilde@groupwise.swin.edu.au Ph: (03) 9824 2621 or Marilyn on Email: Mazzashcroft@optusnet.com.au...

Mesothelioma drug on PBS.(Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme)(NATIONAL)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Asbestos-related cancer patients will have access to subsidised drug treatment from January 2008. The federal government announced last month the drug Alimta (pemetrexed) will be made available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)...

Giving a voice to vulnerable in euthanasia debate.(NATIONAL)(Report)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nurse researchers will study how the portrayal of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease in a range of media and communications settings, influences public opinion on the topic of euthanasia. Professor Megan-Jane...

Hospital based training plan a failure.(NATIONAL)(Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Plans to train enrolled nurses at 125 hospitals around Australia fail to understand the contemporary role of nurses and the complexity of the profession, according to the Head of the School of Nursing at Melbourne...

Carers undervalued and under used.(NATIONAL)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Most Australian carers feel undervalued and almost half work in a job below their skill level in order to balance their work and cater role, says a report released last month. The Taskforce on Care Costs (TOCC) report, funded by 45...

Prescribing project for nurse practitioners.(NATIONAL)(Report)
December 1, 2007... The National Prescribing Service is undertaking a two year project aimed to provide nurse practitioners with resources to assist in the quality use of medicines. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The project was signed off in July following focus...

Program to retain older nurses.(STATE AND TERRITORY NEWS: WA)(Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A program to retain older staff in the workplace has been set up by one of Western Australia's largest private health care groups. Ramsay Health Care WA launched its 50 career program last month designed to...

Project offers respite.(STATE AND TERRITORY NEWS: VIC)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Melbourne based Banksia Palliative Care Service (BPCS) has received funding for a new program that offers extended support to clients in the northern region of Melbourne. Nurses and personal care attendants will receive training in palliative...

Profession under pressure.(STATE AND TERRITORY NEWS: SA)(Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The number of complaints against SA nurses has increased according to a recent report from the South Australian Nurses Board. The annual report indicates an extra 52 nurses and midwives, particularly in the acute and aged care sectors, were...

ACT nurses vote yes.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Final voting of public sector nurses in the ACT shows 89% in support of the new enterprise bargaining agreement. The ACT Government and ANF ACT Branch reached an agreement without industrial action unlike in Victoria and Tasmania. ACT nurses...

NSW hospital cash injection.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher announced a $30 million dollar package to relieve pressure in NSW public hospitals last month. The announcement followed the miscarriage of a woman in a hospital toilet and an out pouring of similar complaints....

Nurse practitioners the answer.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Nurse practitioners could be the answer to the global health shortage if mobilised, a study has concluded. The study published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health highlighted the significant role nurse practitioners already play in...

Nurses driven to despair in WA.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The Australian Medical Association has warned doctors and nurses in Western Australia are being driven to despair with a chronic shortage of hospital beds. The AMA estimates an extra 400 beds are needed to meet the minimum recommended safety...

Traffic accidents top spinal injury.(Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Transport injuries and falls accounted for more than three quarters of traumatic spinal cord injury in Australia in 2005-2006, an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report shows. Of 374 cases of persisting spinal cord injury, 106 were...

Preventing aggression.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A staff training program including a 40 minute video showing the typical emotions displayed by people with dementia has been developed and trialled by Queensland researchers aimed to reduce episodes of aggression. The Griffith University...

Heart drug suspension.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A drug used in heart surgery to reduce the risk of blood loss and need for blood transfusion in adults has been suspended by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Interim findings from a Canadian study show Trasylol (aprotinin) may increase the...

More midwives in rural areas.(STATE AND TERRITORY NEWS: QLD)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A program to increase the number of midwives in rural and remote areas in Queensland will commence in 2008. The Central Queensland University (CQU) has developed an 18 month post graduate diploma program to...

Welfare to work hurts mentally ill.(STATE AND TERRITORY NEWS: NSW)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Welfare to work reforms implemented under the former Howard Government led to heightened anxiety and stress for people with mental illness causing adverse health effects, a report has found. The 'lumping Through Hoops' report also shows...

Nurses close beds for better pay offer.(INDUSTRIAL: TAS)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tasmanian nurses reached an agreement with the state government for a new enterprise bargaining agreement after nurses escalated industrial action with the closure of more than 100 public hospital beds and bans on...

RDNS nurses avert industrial, action.(Royal District Nursing Service)(INDUSTRIAL: VIC)
December 1, 2007... Royal District Nursing Service nurses called off industrial action at the eleventh hour after a new pay and conditions offer was agreed on last month. A four year agreement for RDNS nurses will match wage parity with Victoria's new...

Fund for nurses docked pay.(INDUSTRIAL: VIC)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ANF Victorian Branch is reviewing thousands of cases of public sector nurses who lost pay under the WorkChoices laws for taking industrial action and has set up a fund for nurses in financial hardship. ...

Support needed for nurses offering HIV counselling.(WORLD news)(Report)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Nurses in the Limpopo province of South Africa are not receiving adequate support while delivering voluntary counselling and testing (VET) services for people with HIV/AIDS according to a study published in the latest Nursing and Health...

Wage victory in Finland.(WORLD news)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Public sector nurses in Finland reached an agreement with their government on a new pay and conditions offer the day before 12,000 nurses were to resign. The agreement includes a pay rise of 22-28% over four years or 350-600 euros a month....

UK: no quick fix to workforce shortage.(WORLD news)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Policies to ease the nursing shortage in the United Kingdom's health system over the past decade appear to have offered only a short term fix according to a leading UK health workforce expert. Queen Margaret University professor and policy...

Being prepared - nurses and influenza pandemic.(viewpoint)(Report)
December 1, 2007... The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) and Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA) are working together to represent nurses at a national level in the planning for possible pandemic influenza. As a representative on two of the subcommittees...

Australian health care reform: a place for nurse practitioners? Nurses and health professionals across the board have argued for many years that the current health care system is not sustainable and reform is necessary if access to quality health care for all Australians is to continue.(Cover story)(Report)
December 1, 2007... ********** The implementation of the nurse practitioner (NP) position within the Australian health care system is set to further challenge the status quo. In 2002 the ACT Nurse Practitioner Steering Committee defined the role: "A nurse...

A busy year promoting nursing and health: the recent federal election has been a centrald consuming focus of the ANF and the professional team this year. Advocating for professional nursing and midwifery issues at a national level has involved collaboration with nursing collegues, other health professionals and consumers.(Professional)
December 1, 2007... The year began with the ANF's involvement in the development of the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) item number for nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers to provide chronic disease management, and our continued campaign to raise concerns...

Working holiday inspires career in public health.(working life)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Infection control coordination is potentially one of the more misunderstood roles within nursing according to Melissa Hawkins, a clinical nurse in the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Flinders Medical Centre in South...

Improving retention in the NT.(research)(Survey)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Researchers at the School for Social and Policy Research at Charles Darwin University (CDU) are seeking to uncover the causes and costs of the endemic turnover of nurses and midwives in the Northern Territory, which...

Health falls as temperatures rise.(research)(Report)
December 1, 2007... More research is needed on the health impacts of climate change to better inform policy on how to slow down the process and develop strategies to lessen the health impacts. A new report by Research Australia: Healthy planet, places and people...

Topical skin care in aged care facilities.(CLINICAL UPDATE)(Report)
December 1, 2007... DEFINITION OF TERMS For the purposes of this information sheet the following used: Bag Bath/Travel Bath no-rinse system: primary cleanser is Pluronic F-68 no-rinse surfactant combined with a humectant (a water absorbing substance) and an...

Nurse volunteers welcomed in PNG.(focus: Volunteering)(Report)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Last year midwife Felicity Copeland joined a small team of volunteer midwives traveling from Australia to the Eastern Highlands of PNG. While Felicity was well prepared by the Highlands Foundation, a Victorian based...

Nurses open their hearts - operation open heart: since 1993 a team of nurses, doctors and allied health professionals have travelled to Papua New Guinea to perform cardiac surgery on children and young adults as part of Operation Open Heart.(focus: Volunteering)(Report)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The team was the brainchild of Mr Russell Lee, who worked in the Intensive Care Unit at the Sydney Adventist Hospital and wanted to help children with congenital cardiac defects in the South Pacific. Mr Lee realised...

Graduating MBA student is all smiles.(Masters of Business Administration)(focus: Volunteering)(Report)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A dedicated nursing professional who spends her holidays travelling to developing countries to assist in life-changing surgery on children is one of the many proud students who graduated from Southern Cross...

Work with Medecins Sans Frontieres.(focus: Volunteering)(Report)
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Does six months overseas using your skills as a nurse or midwife helping refugees in Darfur sound appealing? How about a year in Kenya, treating patients with HIV/AIDS? With Medecins Sans Frontieres, the world's...

Eye surgery and cups of tea - all in a day's work: it is day one of a special eye surgery blitz targeting avoidable blindness in remote Indigenous communities in Central Australia and The Fred Hollows Foundation's Chris Masters is a busy man.(focus: Volunteering)(Report)
December 1, 2007... "One of the first things you learn when working in remote Indigenous communities is how to make a good cup of tea," says Masters, as he dangles tea bags in two separate mugs before delivering them to older patients sitting nearby. "Is it...

Melbourne nurse's rushed trip to fight deadly meningitis: Melbourne based paediatric nurse, Theane Theophilos, 29, thought she would take a holiday with her brother in Oxford, England. But three days after her arrival in England an urgent phone call from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Australia asked her to be in Uganda in four days.(focus: Volunteering)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Theane and 20 other volunteers, including Australian logistician Jane Lynch from Cairns, tackled an outbreak of deadly meningococcal meningitis (stereotype A) at Arua, a small town in Lord's Resistance Army territory where the murderous militia...

Calendar.(Calendar)
December 1, 2007... CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION TRAINING AT THE WOMEN'S Or programs run at your hospital tailored to your needs can also be arranged. Royal Women's Hospital Melbourne Ph: (03) 9344 2244 Email: childbirth.ed@rwh.org.au DEC TEENAGERS & RISKY...

Ged: celebrating extraordinary nurse brings relief.
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What a stressful time we have had recently. There have been bitter EBA disputes in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia and as I write this column Western Australia is in negotiations with their state government....