Australian Nursing Journal articles from February 2004

Australian Nursing Journal archives from February 2004

Focus on workforce planning.(editorial)
February 1, 2004... 2004 started on a positive note for nursing with the publication of the annual Morgan Poll showing that the community judges nurses to be the most ethical and honest occupational group. Nurses were first included in the poll in 1994. Since...

An inspirational poem.(mail)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... I have been a RN Div 2 (EN) for 28 years and recently completed a Bachelor of Nursing at Monash University. Upon graduating my family showered me with love, congratulations (and champagne!), but what touched me most was the poem one of my...

Rostering patterns cause shortage.(mail)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... The rostering system is driving graduate and experienced nurses from nursing. Hospitals must change their rostering systems to more regular systems used by other shift work industries if they are to retain nurses. The system that...

Dangerous driving.(mail)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... I am motivated to write to you as I listen to a Radio National discussion on the dangers of driving while fatigued. This has obvious relevance to nurses who work night shift. Driving home after night duty is comparable to driving while...

No scope for Div 2s.(mail)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2004... I am a trainee Div 2 (EN) nurse. I am 41 years old, married, with two teenage boys. I have been working in aged care as a PCA for 20 years. I thought it was time to give myself a challenge so I commenced my Div 2 training. What a challenge...

Network.(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... Austin Hospital, Melbourne, 74-1, A&B, 30-year reunion February 2004. Contact Wendy Brack (nee Pratt) Ph: (03) 9809 1262 Email: brack64@bigpond.net.au Preston & Northcote Community Hospital (PANCH), School 33, Feb. 1974 intake, 30-year...

NSW nurses win pay rise.(NSW)
February 1, 2004... Nurses in the public sector in NSW were awarded a 3.5% pay rise in January 2004. The pay increase comes on top of a 6.5% increase awarded a year ago, taking their total rise to 10%. NSWNA (ANF NSW) General Secretary Brett Holmes said...

Nurses walking away from jobs.(WA)
February 1, 2004... A survey by the ANF WA Branch has found more than 40% of the state's metropolitan nurses and 50% of nurses in rural areas plan to leave their jobs in the next five years. The findings reveal the dissatisfaction nurses feel with their...

Cancer project.(news)
February 1, 2004... The National Cancer Control Initiative (NCCI) is developing a primary care perspective on cancer to enable nurses, GPs and other primary care professionals to optimise their contribution to cancer control and improve the quality of cancer care....

Practice nurses survey.(news)
February 1, 2004... The University of Western Sydney is seeking nurses working in general practice to participate in a national survey. The Australian Practice Nursing and Chronic Heart Failure survey will investigate the issues faced by nurses working in...

Indigenous nurses to tell their stories.(news)
February 1, 2004... The Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN) is asking all Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander nurses, past or present, to tell their stories for possible inclusion in a book on the history of Aboriginal and Torres...

Relief from cancer pain.(news)
February 1, 2004... Adding paracetamol to opioids has the potential to significantly reduce pain in people with advanced cancer, according to a study of 30 outpatients. Medical oncologist Dr Martin Stockier from the Sydney Cancer Centre said adding paracetamol to...

New chlamydia strategy.(news)
February 1, 2004... Notifications of chlamydia in Victoria have increased 400% in the last 10 years, prompting the Victorian Government to announce an initiative to raise awareness of chlamydia and to encourage those at risk to seek testing and treatment. For...

Focus on retention in EBA campaign.(SA)
February 1, 2004... The ANF SA Branch will focus on retention in its 2004 EBA campaign. According to ANF Industrial Officer Rob Bonner, until now the Government's emphasis has been on recruiting new nurses into the profession and it has provided funding for...

NT nurses among highest paid.(NT)
February 1, 2004... NT public sector nurses will be among the highest paid nurses in Australia after voting to accept an 11% wage rise over the next three years. Nurses voted to accept their enterprise bargaining agreement in January and it will now be...

Poor social cohesion and culture of blame causes staff turnover.(NAT)
February 1, 2004... Benchmarking research by Best Practice Australia has found 56% of nurses in Australia are at risk of leaving either their workplace or the nursing profession. The research examined the responses of 17,000 nurses from 113 healthcare...

Health insurance companies under fire.(news)
February 1, 2004... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accused the health insurance industry of acting unfairly by cutting benefits and increasing fees without notice and has warned such behaviour may breach the Trade Practices Act 1974....

Strange smells may predict schizophrenia.(news)
February 1, 2004... Melbourne researchers have found a faulty sense of smell in susceptible individuals can help identify those at risk of developing schizophrenia, months or years before the onset of symptoms. Early detection could potentially enable people to...

Focus on mental health.(news)
February 1, 2004... A new publication focusing on mental health issues is to be produced in Australia. Mind Matters will be a subscriber-based magazine produced by volunteers for people affected directly or indirectly by mental illness. The quarterly magazine aims...

Dads struggle for leave.(news)
February 1, 2004... Men who take paternity leave are regarded as not being serious about their careers, according to University of NSW sociologist Michael Bitten. The research involving focus groups of fathers at two large metropolitan companies also found many...

Entrepreneurial nurses expand employment options.(NAT)
February 1, 2004... Nurse entrepreneurs in Australia have been the subjects of a study for the first time. The study by Adelaide researcher Dr Anne Wilson involved 106 nurses and midwives in private practice, and aimed to gather information about the...

Study to investigate effects of staffing on outcomes.(NSW)
February 1, 2004... A study into the effects of nursing workload and skill mix on patient outcomes is to be conducted at the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS). In one of the lust studies of its kind in Australia, the study will contribute to the...

Nurses in sunnies can fight global blindness.(NAT)
February 1, 2004... Up to six million people worldwide are blind simply because they don't have glasses, so the International Centre for Eye Care Education (ICEE) is working with nurses to give more people access to glasses. To raise funds for this important...

MedicarePlus fails to please.(NAT)
February 1, 2004... The federal government's MedicarePlus package has failed to win support from nurses, with the ANF Federal Secretary expressing disappointment that the Medicare schedule rebate was not increased across the board. 'Universal access is...

Govt missed chance with nurse's pay offer.(ACT)
February 1, 2004... The ACT Government had missed a golden opportunity to address recruitment and retention issues in its enterprise agreement offer according to ANF ACT Branch Secretary Colleen Duff. 'After five weeks of negotiations, the best the ACT...

Insufficient places in aged care.(NAT)
February 1, 2004... There will be insufficient aged care places in Australia by 2020, if trends in ageing remain constant, according to a report by the National Aged Care Alliance. Australian Nursing Homes and Extended Care Association (ANHECA) Chief...

Public health policy needs nurses.(TAS)
February 1, 2004... The ANF Tasmanian Branch has called on the state government to include more clinical nurses on its public health care and nursing steering committees. Clinical nurses were best placed to know the needs of patients and the community and...

Multivitamins can improve health.(news)
February 1, 2004... A study by an American healthcare consultancy has found daily use of multivitamins has the potential to reduce the risk of heart disease end improve immune function. Executive Director of the Complementary Healthcare Council of Australia, Val...

Men's health research.(news)
February 1, 2004... A German pharmaceutical company is to fund two Melbourne research centres to develop new drugs for men's health. Schering AG, a pharmaceutical company, will give the Monash Institute of Reproduction end Development (MIRD) and Prince Henry's...

Older patients blocking hospital system.(news)
February 1, 2004... NSW hospital emergency departments are being blocked by older patients with chronic health problems, according to a review of patient admissions by Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital. The review also found almost 80% of the admissions could have...

Hepatitis C infections jump.(news)
February 1, 2004... Hepatitis C is becoming one of Australia's fastest growing epidemics with 16,000 new infections reported in 2002. It is estimated that more than 210,000 people in Australia are already infected, with experts predicting this will rise to between...

Nursing taskforce finally announced.(NAT)
February 1, 2004... A national nursing taskforce has been established to implement some of the 36 recommendations of the 2002 National Review of Nursing Education report, Our Duty of Care. The taskforce will be based at the Department of Human Services in...

International role for nurses.(professional)
February 1, 2004... It is important for nurses to keep abreast of international developments and global changes affecting nursing and health care as nurses have an influential role to play in the international health care arena. Of current interest to nurses...

The price of graduation: is our system of funding for nursing education failing our students? Increasing declines in government funding for education in Australia is shifting education costs onto students--but will this backfire on the community? Fiona Armstrong reports on the long-term affect of student debt.(Cover Story)
February 1, 2004... Paying off student debt can be a lifetime proposition for some, and population experts are warning it could have profound implications for our communities. Debt may affect fertility rates, as graduates elect not to have children, or to...

ICU liaison nurse clinical marker project.(clinical update)
February 1, 2004... About the project Design and setting: Prospective pre and post trial in a metropolitan teaching hospital. Objective: To investigate a method for increasing the timeliness and accuracy of nursing assessment and management of acutely ill...

Frontline nursing in detention: Michael Hall worked at Curtin Immigration Reception and Processing Centre for over two years, leaving in January 2002. He now works in Brisbane as a midwife.(working life)
February 1, 2004... 'I remember my first day in a detention centre so clearly. I looked up and saw a long line of men, women, and children waiting to have their blood taken. I was standing beside a small table in an RAAF tent with a co-worker. It was...

NZ nurses seek fair pay.(world)
February 1, 2004... The New Zealand nurses Organisation (NZNO) Fair Pay campaign will heat up tiffs year as the NZNO seeks a major payrise for nurses. Nurses in New Zealand are paid much less that other professionals in jobs requiring similar levels of skill...

Nurses support euthanasia.(world)
February 1, 2004... One-third of nurses in the UK believe they should be allowed to help patients commit suicide, according to a poll by the Nursing Times. The poll surveying more than 2,700 nurses also found one in four nurses had given pain relief to...

Irish nurses mentally and physically exhausted.(world)
February 1, 2004... Almost 15,000 nurses have left the profession in Ireland because of problems juggling family commitments, overtime and ill health, according to a recent report launched by the Irish Nursing Organisation (INO). The report found 44% of nurses...

Less nurses in theatre increases surgical costs.(world)
February 1, 2004... Reducing working hours for peri-operative nurses in an effort to cut costs is counterproductive, a new Dutch study has found. The study in a major hospital in Amsterdam found a four per cent reduction in working hours led to a 20% increase in...

Autonomy for nurses improves retention.(world)
February 1, 2004... Nurses would be less likely to quit the profession if they were given greater autonomy, a study commissioned by the European Union has found. Preliminary findings from the Nurses Early Exit Study, a longitudinal study of 55,000 nurses...

Nurse surgeons.(world)
February 1, 2004... A group of UK nurse practitioners will soon be trained to carry out minor surgery in a bid to cut surgery waiting times. The North Glasgow University NHS Trust plans to run the first academically accredited course in Scotland training nurse...

Zimbabwean nurses seek 80% pay rise.(world)
February 1, 2004... Nurses in Harare public hospitals have been striking in protest at the failure of hospitals to provide promised pay increases of 800%, Nurses say their salaries are grossly inadequate in the face of the country's hyperinflation, now running at...

Breaking women's silence on PMS.(research)
February 1, 2004... A team of researchers from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) will examine whether juggling career, family and home responsibilities makes premenstrual symptoms worse. Participants are being sought for the new trial, which will compare...

Emergency nurses get it right.(research)
February 1, 2004... Emergency nurses can correctly predict the destination outcome of more than 80% of patients and should have a greater role in hospital bed management, according to new research. The UK study also found that allowing nurses to refer patients...

Music therapy reduces pain.(research)
February 1, 2004... US research has shown listening to music for 20 minutes a day can reduce perceived pain levels among older people suffering from chronic osteoarthritis. The study conducted by Florida--based researchers and published in the Journal of...

Study shows health industry must act on violence.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... The ANF has welcomed the findings and recommendations of a study into the occupational violence experience of Australian health workers. The study conducted by Dr Claire Mayhew and Dr Duncan Chappell, published in the December Journal of...

The forgotten nursing specialty.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... Occupational health nursing is a misunderstood area of practice, with very few nurses practising in this area. Only 623 (or 0.3%) of the 201,753 nurses practising in Australia are occupational health nurses, according to the Australian...

Poor scalpel safety among clinical staff.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... A survey of clinical staff at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital has found nearly all medical and nursing staff were unaware of the relevant safety standard related to the removal and disposal of scalpel blades. Registrar Dr Dennis Tseng...

Nurse wins legal victory over attack.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... UK nurse Thelma Robinson has won the right to compensation for an attack by a patient. Ms Robinson was attacked in 2000 and was unable to work for 18 months. However, she had never reported the assault to police, a factor that had...

Mentors in Dubbo to help smooth transition.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... A survey of graduate nurses at Dubbo Base Hospital has prompted the development of a mentoring program to improve the transition of graduates to clinical roles. Hospital teamwork committee leader Bev Sparkes said it was important for...

Free re-entry and refresher courses in SA.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... Refresher and re-entry courses are being offered free of charge to registered nurses in South Australia in an effort to boost the declining nursing numbers in that state. In March and July 2004, Julia Farr Services and the Australian...

Needle-stick injuries.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... Many health care workers face the daily risk of acquiring serious blood borne infections from needle-stick injuries. Twenty different pathogens can be transmitted from infected people to health care workers via needles. Three are particularly...

Aged care partnership to benefit nurses.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... Undergraduate nurses studying at the University of Technology in Sydney, will now have the opportunity to do clinical placements in aged care at the Montefiore Home in Hunters Hill after the two institutions formed a partnership in 2003. A...

Indonesian nurses to get Australian advice.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... A project between Indonesia's Binawan Institute of Health Sciences and the University of Technology, Sydney, is expected to increase the standard of education for Indonesian nursing students and assist the professional development of nurse...

Revised hepatitis and HIV codes.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... The National Occupational Health and Safety Commission has declared a revised national code of practice relating to the protection of workers who may be exposed to hepatitis viruses and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The revised code took...

EN education now available at Coffs Harbour.(Focus Briefs)
February 1, 2004... Students from the central coast of NSW will be able to undertake enrolled nurse studies in Coifs Harbour in 2005, when the local TAFE will be offering an Enrolled Nurse Program for the first time. The program will also provide direct entry...

Wheelie bins lighten load.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... Wheelie bins are saving thousands of dollars and improving occupational health and safety for nursing, service support, laundry, and transport staff in the NSW Hunter Valley region. Instead of collecting and moving laundry in bags, Hunter...

ACT gets industrial manslaughter legislation.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... Employers in the ACT found guilty of recklessly or negligently causing the death of a worker face up to 25 years in jail and fines of up to $5 million when the territory's new industrial manslaughter laws come into affect on 1 March 2004. ...

Nursing research funding available now.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... Applications are now open for Queensland Nursing Council (QNC) Research Grants for 2004. A total of up to $165,000 in funding is available. Grants are available in three categories: novice researcher, experienced researcher and the...

Electronic bed allocation system reduces pressure on resources.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... A new electronic bed allocation system (BAS) at St John of God Health Care in WA has optimised bed use, streamlined patient admissions and discharges, and increased patient satisfaction, according to Duty Nurse Manager Zoe Naylor. Ms...

Evidence-based Health Policy: Problems and Possibilities.(books)
February 1, 2004... Vivian Lin & Brendan Gibson, editors Oxford University Press, $65.00 ISBN 0 19 551551 X With the current enthusiasm for evidence-based practice, the time is ripe for some insight into the use of evidence in health policy making. This book...

Nursing Leadership.(books)
February 1, 2004... John Daly, Sandra Speedy, and Debra Jackson, editors Elsevier Australia, $70.00 ISBN 0 7295 3741 2 This book looks at contemporary concepts in leadership and explains how to apply them to nursing practice. It includes fundamental advice on...

Education in complementary medicine for nurses.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... With Australians now spending more than $2 billion a year on complementary medicines, a growing number of nurses are seeking education in alternative therapies. Nurses and other health care professionals can now increase their knowledge of...

New guidelines for diabetes educators launched.(Occupational Health And Safety/Education)
February 1, 2004... The Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA) has developed new guidelines for the management and care of diabetes in older people. The evidence and consensus-based guidelines describe best practice standards for the diagnosis and...

Calendar.(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... The College of Nursing (incorporating the NSW College of Nursing) Distance education courses for RNs The College of Nursing, Locked Bag 3030, Burwood, NSW 1805 Ph: (02) 9745 7500 February Aged Care Expo 2004, Total Aged...

Nurses are a team like no other.(Ged)
February 1, 2004... Looking back on Christmas reminds me what a special time it is. I love it. But my hubby is always a bit of a 'bahhumbug' when it comes to Christmas. He reckons it is a lot of stress for one day. I was wondering about this and I think...