Australian Nursing Journal articles from March 2002

Australian Nursing Journal archives from March 2002

Asylum seekers: Let's do the right thing.(Editorial)
March 1, 2002... Our major feature this issue looks at the way we treat people in detention who enter Australia illegally seeking asylum. I don't want to get into an argument about Australia's immigration policy. Nor do I want to get into an argument about...

Penalise those who remain silent.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... My thoughts on a proposed ANF whistleblowing policy ('Blowing the whistle: The costs of speaking out', ANJ, February 2002, pp. 18-20) are that the policy must include penalties for people who choose not to see anything - who remain silent. ...

Standard dialling for safer practice.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... As an RN about to start a new job in a new hospital I have come to realise that once more I have a new emergency code number with which to become familiar. I think that a universal emergency code number within our hospital systems would...

University training values compassion.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... As a registered midwife and a critical care trained nurse, we find it highly offensive and disrespectful that a recent correspondence in the Melbourne press implies that as university trained professionals we are not compassionate. Does...

Admiring those with the courage to speak out.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... I am disillusioned after reading the article on whistleblowing ('Blowing the whistle: The costs of speaking out, ANJ, February 2002, pp. 18-20). I hope others join me in admiring Kevin Moylan, Dr Stephen Boslin and Cynthia Kardell for...

Easier to keep quiet in a culture of silence.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... Congratulations ANF for printing an excellent article on addressing whistle-blowing ('Blowing the whistle: The costs of speaking out, ANJ, February 2002, pp. 18-20). I could identify with the analogy of the canary in a coalmine. For me,...

ACCC blocks agency nurse wage plan. (News).(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission)
March 1, 2002... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) refused, in January, to allow the Victorian Government to strike a temporary agreement to cut agency nurses wages in the State's public hospitals. In a move to reduce the State's...

Insurance premium rises 'a bit rich': PM. (News).(according to Australian Prime Minister John Howard)
March 1, 2002... Several private health insurance funds have asked permission to increase their premiums as much as 13% despite the Federal Government subsidy of over $2 billion per year and the health insurers record profits in the last financial year. ...

Nurses receive Australia Day Honours. (News).
March 1, 2002... Nurses from a diversity of backgrounds have been recognised in the 2002 Australia Day Honours List. Four nurses became members of the general division of the Order of Australia (AM): * Beth Dawson from Wavell Heights, Queensland, was...

'Open door' policy on ageing welcome. (News).
March 1, 2002... The new Federal Minister for Ageing, Kevin Andrews, won approval for his willingness to establish an 'open door' process to consultation with the sector when he addressed a meeting of the National Aged Care Alliance in Canberra at the end of...

Call for protection of nurses in the NT. (News).(Northern Territory, Australia)
March 1, 2002... The ANF NT Branch has been highlighting the desperate need for action by employers to urgently and adequately address the risk of violence and threats against nurses working in the remote areas of the Territory. ANF NT Branch Secretary...

Nurse practitioners coming soon to SA. (News).(South Australia)
March 1, 2002... The first nurse practitioners in SA could be registered with the Nurses Board of South Australia (NBSA) in April. The move comes after more than two years of consultation between nursing and medical groups, the State Government and the NBSA...

Nurses' blood boosts supplies. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... Hundreds of nurses across NSW rolled up their sleeves and gave blood in January in response to the State's dwindling supplies. The move was part of the NSW Nurses Association's (NSWNA, ANF NSW) 'Nurses: Their blood's worth bottling' campaign....

Lights go out during surgery. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... A power shutdown caused by a construction error interrupted heart surgery at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital in late January. A hospital spokesperson said electricians tried to isolate power to part of the hospital but inadvertently cut the...

New mental health ruling. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... Queensland health authorities must now contact police immediately if a high-risk mentally ill patient absconds from detention. The order is one of several new protocols as part of an improved response framework governing the future escape of...

Raising asthma awareness through art. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... A national art competition has been launched to raise awareness of asthma and its impact on people's lives. The competition, being run jointly by Asthma Australia and AstraZeneca, is open to people of all ages with asthma. First, second and...

Nurses reconnect in NSW. (News).(New South Wales, Australia)
March 1, 2002... More than 500 nurses who have left the profession have expressed interest in reentering the public hospital system under a $1.8 million NSW Government program to pay nurses to retrain. Nursing Reconnect will effectively give nurses a job at...

Pay deal sets ACT benchmark. (News).(Australian Nursing Federation)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... More than 80% of ANF ACT Branch members employed at The Canberra Hospital (TCH) voted at the beginning of February to accept a landmark two-year 14.25% pay increase. The deal provides the public sector nurses with a 10% increase, backdated...

Grant targets novice research. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... The Gerontology Foundation of Australia is offering a grant for novice research which addresses an aspect of 'The psycho-social impact on older carers of caring for people with mental disorders - excluding dementia'. The grant is only open to...

Video targets bone density. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... The Osteo Exercises Video is a program of 40 exercises to build bone and muscle strength, and to improve balance, in individuals with or without osteoporosis. The video costs $45.95 (including GST and freight within Australia), and can be...

Former ANF SA Branch Secretary wins in State election. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... Former ANF SA secretary, Gail Gago, has been elected, for the Labor party, as a Member of the Legislative Council in the recent SA State election. Ms Gago said she was 'extremely happy' and said of her victory: '[This is] the first day of my...

Tottles fight infection. (Briefs).(tube-and-bottle combo dispensers for alcohol rubs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Nurses at Kings College Hospital in London are using alcohol hand rub 'tottles' as part of a drive to improve infection control. Tottles are a cross between a tube and a bottle and can be clipped to uniforms.

Pressure sores on increase, study says. (News).
March 1, 2002... Lack of education and a shortage of nurses are to blame for increasing numbers of patients in Australia with pressure sores, according to a new study. University of Western Australia research found up to 20% of patient's in the State's...

Four resign over gas use. (News).(nitrous oxide abuse allegations at Wollongong Hospital)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Four Wollongong midwives facing dismissal over allegations that they partied on nitrous oxide while on duty resigned at the end of January. An Illawarra Area Health Service (IAHS) spokesperson said the four midwives each tendered their...

Looking forward to the 5th National Enrolled Nurse Conference. (News).
March 1, 2002... Attention all ENs/RN Division 2s in Australia. This year's National Enrolled Nurse Conference will be held in Melbourne, from 28-30 April. The Victorian Enrolled Nurse Special Interest Group are hosting the 5th biennial conference and the...

Tas Branch calls for $10 million to ease nursing crisis. (News).(Australian Nursing Federation, Tasmanian Branch)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... An extra 200 nurses -- at a cost of $10 million -- are needed in Tasmanian hospitals to reduce workloads to safe levels, according to the ANF Tasmanian Branch. ANF Tas Branch Secretary Neroli Ellis said all of Tasmania's hospitals were...

National Demonstration Hospitals Program continues. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The fourth phase of the National Demonstration Hospitals Program (NDHP) -- designed to identify and promote the uptake of innovations in acute and related care -- has begun. Under the program, $7.4 million of Commonwealth funding will fund...

Screening detects smaller breast cancers. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Breast screening in Australia is now detecting more small cancers in women with no symptoms of cancer, a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Source National Breast Cancer Centre says. Dr Anne Kricker, one of the...

Guidelines will foster more open health care. (Briefs).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Australian Council for Safety and Quality Healthcare is funding a project to devise national guidelines on how health care workers should tell patients when something has gone wrong and what they should say. Council chairman Professor Bruce...

Dr Wooldridge's last gift. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... Former Health Minister Michael Wooldridge last year promised $5 million in taxpayer funds to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to set up an office in Canberra -- only months before he left politics and joined the...

Queensland nurses lift work bans after extra beds. (News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Queensland Nurses' Union (QNU, ANF Qld) members at Cairns Base Hospital narrowly avoided the reintroduction of work bans on 19 February over working conditions. The nurses were concerend that management responses to their concerns were not...

ACTU presents reasonable hours test case. (News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Australian employees are gripped by a culture of overtime in which they are pressured to work excessive hours with risks to their health safety and general well being, according to evidence presented at a test case on working hours heard by the...

Fair dismissal bill unnecessary and unfair. (Federal Industrial News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In February 2002, the Commonwealth Government introduced into the Parliament proposals to change the existing unfair dismissal laws, currently applying to employees covered by Federal Awards. The main thrust of the Fair Dismissals Bill 2002...

Challenging depression in aged care. (Federal Professional News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Nearly two-thirds of residents in high care aged care facilities are at least mildly depressed, a new report says. The report is the result of a Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing project commissioned to assess the incidence of...

A cautionary tale. (World Briefs).(surgical errors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Six members of a US operating theatre team, including an operating-room nurse and an RN anaesthetist, were referred to their licensing boards for investigation after a surgeon operated on the wrong side of a man's brain. The incident took place...

Joint course pools expertise. (World Briefs).(nurses and physicians)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Nurses and doctors will soon train side-by-side under a pioneering scheme unveiled by the UK's University of Birmingham. Medical and nursing students at University College Worcester will share core curriculum lectures in an effort to pool their...

Charity criticises immunisation initiative. (World Briefs).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A global initiative to save millions of children's lives by immunisation is in danger of burdening the world's poorest countries with expensive vaccine regimes they cannot afford, a UK study says. The charity Save the Children and the London...

Virus closes hospitals. (World Briefs).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A gastric flu outbreak in the UK, which spread from Scotland to the south coast of England, severely disrupted activity in the nations' hospitals in February. At the time of writing, the number of people struck down with the viral infection on...

Nurses rally in Paris. (World News).(France)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Thousands of French nurses demanding higher wages and better funding took to the streets of Paris on 22 January as part of three days of industrial action by the country's health workers. Organisers said 15,000 participants, primarily...

California celebrates new nurse-patient ratios. (World News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Californian nursing unions celebrated the successful fruition of 10 years of lobbying in January when the Californian Government announced its new minimum nurse-patient ratios under the Safe staffing law. The new legislation, intended to...

Filling in for the RAAF. (This Working Life).(civilian nurses work in a Royal Australian Air Force hospital)
March 1, 2002... Australia's defence forces have traditionally played a strong role in the delivery of health care to some of the world's worst trouble spots. But what happens when the entire staff of a military hospital move overseas? In this article RN...

Fewer ICU nurses mean more complications. (Research Update).(intensive care unit nurse shortage)
March 1, 2002... Patients undergoing high-risk surgery are more likely to have postoperative complications if their hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) isn't sufficiently staffed by nurses, according to a recent US study. Results of the study, published...

Four-layer pressure may cause toe ulcers. (Research Update).(four-layer bandaging may be the cause of toe ulcers in those with venous leg ulcers)
March 1, 2002... The increased compression pressure caused by four-layer bandaging may be the cause of toe ulceration in patients with venous leg ulcers, UK dermatologists report. Researchers from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in London looked at 194...

Leisure activity may reduce dementia risk. (Research Update).
March 1, 2002... New research shows individuals who engage in leisure activities, such as reading, visiting friends and watching films at the cinema significantly reduce their risk of developing dementia. A seven-year study of more than 1700 New York...

Two levels of treatment found in public hospitals. (Research Update).
March 1, 2002... Patients identified as indigenous are less likely to have diagnostic tests and therapeutic procedures than other inpatients in Australia's public hospitals, according to a new study. Menzies School of Health Research Epidemiologist Dr Joan...

A care model for faecal incontinence management in the community. (Clinical Update).
March 1, 2002... Introduction Faecal incontinence results from a range of causes including bowel disease, trauma post surgery or childbirth, chronic diarrhoea and neurological conditions and can have a substantial impact on an individual's well being and...

Protection or Punishment? (Feature).(evaluation of Australia's policy on the detention of asylum seekers)
March 1, 2002... Australia's policy of detaining asylum seekers has come under increasing international criticism in recent months. Protests within detention centres have seen violence erupt and there have been numerous escape attempts, protracted hunger...

Examining the phases of nursing care of the hospitalised child. (Nursing Focus -- Paediatric Nursing).
March 1, 2002... Last century saw dramatic improvements in the care of hospitalised children with parents routinely staying overnight in hospital with their child and participating in their care. In spite of this improvement, hospitalisation creates a...

Supporting child and adolescent nursing developments. (Nursing Focus - Paediatric Nursing).(Child and Adolescent Health Nursing Professorial Unit at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick)
March 1, 2002... Do you ever wonder if there is a rational basis for the everyday activities that consume so much of your time? For example: What is the ideal length of time for washing hands prior to caring for a central line when patients are...

Time to give teddy the boot. (Paediatric Nursing - Nursing Focus).(prevention of bacterial contamination in hospital and physician waiting rooms)
March 1, 2002... Teddy bears and other soft toys should be banned from hospital and GP waiting rooms because they pose a serious risk of cross infection to already sick children, New Zealand public health specialists say. 'Isn't it time to give teddy the...

Child protection laws let children down. (Paediatric Nursing - Nursing Focus).
March 1, 2002... Victoria's child protection laws are letting down children who speak out about their abuse, according to research released in early February. The study, undertaken by researchers at Monash University for the children's charity Australians...

The concerns of children's nurses. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... Consent and the administration at medicines are the top concerns of UK paediatric nurses according to the profession's governing body. A United Kingdom Central Council survey showed children's nurse were concerned about the issues at children...

Lung sounds on CD. (Briefs).(Respiratory Acoustics Laboratory Environment Repository CD has recording of respiratory sounds for physician training)
March 1, 2002... The Respiratory Acoustics Laboratory Environment Repository is a CD Ram of digital recordings at respiratory sounds in health and disease. The Canadian program features over 50 recordings and includes the sounds of many paediatric respiratory...

Nurse phone service cuts ER calls. (Briefs).
March 1, 2002... Parents panicking about childhood illnesses are the main users of Australia's first large scale telephone call centre, according research published in the Medical Journal of Australia. WA's Health Direct, staffed by 48 nurses, receives 13,158...

Minor injuries cause loss of schooling. (Nursing Focus -- Paediatric Nursing).
March 1, 2002... Health professionals should be more proactive in stressing the importance of children attending school after minor injury when there is no medical reason to prevent attendance, according to UK researchers. The researchers, from South Wales,...

The reality of nursing in today's high schools. (Nursing Focus -- Paediatric Nursing).
March 1, 2002... Nurses working in high schools have a complex and demanding role and have an important function in the promotion of health among adolescents, their families and their teachers, Australian researchers say. Research carried out in Perth...

Sharing an indigenous assessor's journey. (Nursing Issues).
March 1, 2002... 'Elders have always played a critical role in maintaining the health of indigenous nations. They are living libraries, repositories of the oral traditions for their nations. They remember the old ways, old ceremonies, songs to sing for...

Calendar.(upcoming nursing events)
March 1, 2002... Certificate in Natural Fertility Education 2,9,23 June; 4,11,25 August; 6,1 3,28 October Wise Woman Business, Kerry Hampton, Ph/Fax (03) 9830 5280 Email: kerryhampton@iprimus.com.au Website: www.wisewomanbusiness.com The...

What is it about being a nurse...? (Federal President's Report).
March 1, 2002... I don't live in a particularly friendly street. We nod politely to each other as we get into our cars and wave pleasantly as we pass on our way to the shops. And that's it. But somehow, I don't know how, everyone knows I am a nurse. What...

Eye Care for Intensive Care Patients. (Best Practice).
March 1, 2002... Information Source This Best Practice Information Sheet is based upon a Systematic Review (1) of the literature conducted under the supervision of The Joanna Briggs Institute for Evidence Based Nursing and Midwifery. The primary references...