Australian Nursing Journal articles from October 2007

Australian Nursing Journal archives from October 2007

Howard moves back while the rest of us move on.(John Howard)(Editorial)
October 1, 2007... Welcome to the first copy of the redesigned ANJ. The ANF is pleased to be taking the AN3 forward with a new design at a time when our political readers are attempting to move us back into the dark ages. We hope nurses enjoy the new design. ...

Frustrated.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... I would like to respond to the letter of the month: Workload a safety risk (ANJ May 2007). The ratios at our hospital are 1:4 in the morning and 1:5 in the afternoon/evening. I work in an extremely busy medical, surgical ward. The shifts we...

Seeking Australian nursing medals.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... I am currently completing a booklet on the history of nursing through named medals. There is no systematic way in which I can compile a comprehensive checklist of all nursing medals other than approaching universities and colleges. To date I...

Student's under pressure.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... As a first year nursing student at a university in north Queensland I am deeply concerned that evidence suggests 20% of first year students in the course have indicated they will not continue because of financial pressure. While I appreciate...

Correction.(mail)(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... The following author details were missing from the article 'Exploring women's experiences of STIs' in the September 2007 issue of the ANJ: Louise O'Brien RN PhD, Chair of Mental Health Nursing Sydney West Health Service, School of Nursing,...

Mental health patients go to jail.(mail)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... The South Australian government has announced a plan for treating health patients in a gaol. They have decided, Without consulting any clinician with experience in forensic mental health in South Australia, that patients with a mental illness...

Network.(Calendar)
October 1, 2007... Prince Henry's Hospital, Melbourne, PTS Group June 1973, annual reunion 13 October 2007, Guineas Day 12 midday at Young & Jackson's Hotel, corner Swanston and Flinders Streets, Melbourne. Please contact Ben Email: farmerck@bigpond.com Val...

Nurses reject Howard's plan for education.(NATIONAL)(John Howard)
October 1, 2007... The ANF and peak nursing bodies around Australian have rejected John Howard's ill-conceived proposal to return to hospital based training for enrolled nurses when more than 30,000 registered nurses around Australia refuse to work in the...

Thousands wait for pay checks.(news)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... More than 100,000 Australian workers are still waiting to find out whether they are being paid unfairly under new workplace agreements. Only one in 10 workplace agreements under the Howard Government's new industrial relations (IR) laws...

Health and IR vote swingers.(news)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One in four nurses remain undecided on how they will vote at the federal election and have indicated health and industrial relations' policies will be key factors in their decision. Results from two ANJ surveys...

WorkChoices hurts women.(news)
October 1, 2007... Women workers, including nurses, are doing it tough under the Howard Government's industrial relations (IR) laws an alarming national study shows. More than 120 women were interviewed across all mainland states and the ACT in [ate 2006 and...

Hot spot: IR laws--Howard's can of worms.(news)(industrial relations)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The only good thing about the Howard Government's industrial relations laws is that it will "galvanize people to relook at labour relations", a leading international economist said in Sydney last month. USA Harvard economics professor...

First ophthalmic course for nurses.(news)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Australia's first distance eye course written by ophthalmic nurses for ophthalmic nurses has been launched. The external ophthalmic course at the Queensland University of Technology's school of nursing is the...

How confident are Australian nurses in providing optimal care?(news)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... A national survey is currently being undertaken to examine Australian nurse's confidence in their ability to provide optimal patient care in their work environment and how much control they perceive they have to carry this out. These factors...

NPS generic medicines campaign.(news)(National Prescribing Service)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The National Prescribing Service (NPS) is running a quality use of medicines campaign this month to increase consumer and health professional confidence in using generic medicines. "Generic medicines are an equal choice" is the message the...

Critical staffing notice.(ACT)
October 1, 2007... Increased workloads and staff shortages are forcing nurses in the ACT to send notices to management when they are unable to take on additional patients or else compromise patient care. The critical staffing notice was developed following...

Hospital sold for $1.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The federal government has bought the Mersey Hospital from the Tasmanian Government for $1 in the controversial takeover. Tasmanian Health Minister Lara Giddings accused the Federal Government of buying time until the election with the proposed...

Increase in uni numbers.
October 1, 2007... An additional 395 undergraduate nursing places will be made available in universities throughout Australia next year. More than 2,300 extra places have been announced by the federal government for nurses, engineers, teachers, science...

Prostate cancer drug available.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Taxotere (docetaxel) will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from 1 November for treatment of prostate cancer. An estimated additional 1,200 people are expected to benefit in the first year. Taxotere is currently available on the...

Calcium and vitamin D prevent fractures.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Calcium and vitamin D may prevent osteoporosis and related bone fractures Australian research has shown. The study, published in international medical journal The Lancet, found taking Calcium alone and calcium in combination with vitamin D had...

One in 10 Australians live in poverty.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Two million Australians live below the international poverty line, a report from the Australian Council of Social Services has found. The number of Australians who live in poverty has increased from 7.6% in 1994 to 9.9% in 2004. The report...

Housing crisis affects health.(Catholic Health Australia)(Nicola Roxon)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The Howard Government has failed to act on the housing crisis which is hurting access to health care, federal opposition Health Minister Nicola Roxon said last month. A survey by Catholic Health Australia shows renters are three times more...

Mesothelioma inequalities.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Extreme disparities in access to treatment between mesothelioma patients in different states and different hospitals mean up to 50% of Australians with the asbestos-related cancer do not have access to treatment. Campaigners have called for the...

IR laws dead in the water.(Victorian Bar )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The WorkChoices legislation is dead in the water says senior counsel at the Victorian Bar and specialist in labour law Mordy Bromberg. The legislation is doomed as most employers did not call for it and are put off by its complexity and the...

Climate change apathy.(SA)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Experts fear not enough is being done by the Australian Government to address the impact of climate change on Australia's long-term sustainability. Speaking at an Adelaide University forum last month, academics...

Healthy students are happy students.(significance of nurse practioners in school)
October 1, 2007... School nurses by the very nature of their work environment face a wide variety of issues to deal with everyday. Be it the stream of students presenting with colds and flu-like symptoms; the gushing of blood from the student who had an accident...

Welcome to the Garma festival.(NT)
October 1, 2007... It's a place where you can learn about traditional Aboriginal healing practices, arts and culture direct from the traditional custodians of east Arnhemland. You can also find out about the latest research and developments in Indigenous...

Gynae and general surgery threatens women's health.(TAS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Nurses working in the gynaecology ward at the Royal Hobart Hospital have written to their chief executive officer with concerns that women's health in Tasmania will suffer under plans to merge with the mixed-sex general surgery ward. ...

Human mind exhibition.(VIC)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... A world first exhibition with a human brain on display opened in Melbourne last month. The 1.4kg adult sized human brain is on loan from the University of Melbourne and is the highlight of Melbourne Museum's The Mind: Enter the Labyrinth...

Showdown as EBA expires.(VIC)(enterprise bargaining agreement)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Victorian public sector nurses are set for a showdown with the state government as their current enterprise bargaining agreement ended last month. More than 1,500 nurses met at a state wide meeting at Dallas...

Nurses work without pay.(VIC)
October 1, 2007... Nurses at the Belvedere Park aged care facility have been made redundant and are owed approximately $1 million in unpaid entitlements. The facility recently failed 42 out of 44 standards in a recent audit by industry watchdog, the Aged Care...

Nurses insulted by offer.(TAS)
October 1, 2007... Tasmanian nurses are insulted by an offer from the state government they say will strip back their conditions and pay. The Tasmanian Government has offered the state's 3,800 public sector nurses a 2.5% wage increase as part of a new...

Pandemic influenza--ready or not?(professional)(National Influenza Pandemic Action Committee)
October 1, 2007... Who will be at the frontline delivering care if there is a pandemic influenza outbreak in Australia? Around 250,000 nurses make up in excess of 54% of the health workforce in Australia. Effective responses to a pandemic may well hinge on the...

Infectious diseases a world threat.(WORLD)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Infectious diseases are spreading much faster now than at any time in history, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. This year's WHO world health report: A safer future: global public health security in the...

Nurses at increased risk of asthma.(WORLD)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... European research shows nurses, printers and woodworkers are at greater risk than the average population of developing work-related asthma. Health information and workplace exposure data of 6,837 people from 13 countries were analysed by the...

Increase funds for AIDS in Asia Pacific.(WORLD)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Countries in Asia and the Pacific have been warned to commit more funding for AIDS or efforts to tackle the disease may be unsustainable. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reports while resources had increased, they...

Europe: Polish nurses on picket line.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Polish nurses will continue a campaign tot a pay rise and improved conditions, following a 27-day picket in front of the Prime Minister's office in central Warsaw. Several nurses went on a hunger strike and thousands of health workers marched...

UK: nurses fear 'elder abuse errors'.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Fear of misinterpreting a case of elder abuse may stop some nurses from reporting it. Some 60% of 850 private and public nurses polled in the United Kingdom said concerns over misinterpretation-such as the presence of pressure sores--might stop...

USA: deadly strains of norovirus.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Two new strains of norovirus may be responsible for a nationwide spike in gastroenteritis outbreaks in the USA late last year. The deaths, many of them in long-term nursing facilities, came as reported norovirus outbreaks in 25 states rose from...

UK--medical journal questions Howard's right to govern.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... John Howard's legitimacy to govern Australia has been 'fatally compromised' by his government's poor record on Indigenous health, says an editorial in leading medical journal The Lancet. The editorial says the Howard Government's recent...

Liyarn Ngarn--a journey of discovery.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When noted English actor, Pete Postlethwaite came to Australia to perform an extended season of the very successful one man show Scaramouche Jones, he had no idea that a chance meeting with an old school friend would...

New kit to help treat dementia.(Parkinson's Australia and Alzheimer's Australia introduce medical information kit )
October 1, 2007... Nurses can now access a new resource that explores the issue of Parkinson's disease and Lewy Body Dementia. An information kit including a DVD and booklet was launched by Parkinson's Australia and Alzheimer's Australia during National...

Reducing choice and fairness: the reality of WorkChoices.(industrial)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... I think most would agree that Australia is a less fair place than it used to be. Over the past 20 years governments of all persuasions at both federal and state levels have overseen and promoted a redistribution of wealth and opportunities that...

Racism relates to poor health.(research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Racial discrimination should be recognised as a social determinant of health according to Australian researchers. A study published recently in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health shows a link between the experience of...

Survey to improve quality of life.(research)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... A pilot study has been extended to enable an Australian nurse researcher to develop a tool to assess the quality of life of people with dementia. The initial six-month study of three residential homes in Queensland in late 2005 was published...

Love thy patient?(research)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Some nurses and midwives actually love their patients, says an Australian nurse researcher. Deakin University Dr Les Fitzgerald says the concept explains why some nurses continue to work after their shift has finished when they could be at home...

ANF taking a stand: Federal Election 2007 you be the judge.(Cover story)
October 1, 2007... A comparison of the major political parties' policies on election issues affecting nurses and Australia's health system. HEALTH [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANF LIB/NAT COALITION ALP # Maintenance...

Private health insurance: a threat to Medicare.(viewpoint)
October 1, 2007... The dramatic growth in the government financial subsidy to private health insurance (PHI) if continued, will inevitably cripple Medicare and force up health costs. Projecting Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW) recorded premium...

Low-flow oxygen therapy: selecting the right device.(CLINICAL UPDATE)(Report)
October 1, 2007... Introduction Low-flow oxygen therapy devices are often the first choice for the treatment of mild to moderate hypoxaemia (Sp02 90-95%) (Pierce 1995). Ensuring that oxygen is administered in a timely and appropriate way using the right...

Arming the troops--pandemic planning in general practice.(Focus: Infectious Diseases)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Are we prepared for an influenza pandemic? Could it really happen to us? These are the questions that led Mary Anne Williams and Lisa Chittleborough from the Limestone Coast Division of General Practice (LCDGP) to...

New method to track disease could save lives: innovative research that harnesses maths and biology could help predict which infectious strains of disease have the potential to go global and become epidemics.(Focus: Infectious Diseases)(Disease/Disorder overview)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dr Andrew Francis from the University of Western Sydney and Dr Mark Tanaka from the University of New South Wales, have designed a model for tracking tuberculosis TB)infections. The research, funded by an...

What's love got to do with it?(focus: Infectious Diseases)
October 1, 2007... Margy Ewing has worked as a sexual health clinical nurse specialist for 14 years in North Queensland and New South Wales. Margy's current role at the Albion Street Centre in Sydney includes assessing sexual risks and testing for sexually...

National nurse re-entry scheme.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA) is seeking applications from eligible nurses and midwives for scholarships under the Nurse Scholarship Program: Continuing Professional Education Scheme for Rural and Remote Nurses and National...

A rural model of HIV service provision.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Victorian HIV Consultancy)
October 1, 2007... The Victorian HIV Consultancy (VHIVC) comprises a small multidisciplinary team, a clinical nurse consultant, a clinical nurse specialist and an infectious diseases physician, with a state wide brief funded through the Department of Human...

Fellowship boosts Vaccine research.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Research into the development of vaccines against life-threatening bacterial diseases has been boosted by a $4 million fellowship. University of Adelaide infectious diseases expert professor James Paton is one of...

Influenza numbers set to rise.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Australian Government statistics show influenza rates continue to soar across the country. Notifications for the flu were 5,908 for 2007 to date compared to 1,695 for the same period in 2006. Queensland had the highest number of notifacations...

Footy clubs to screen for STIs.(sexually transmitted infections)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Community settings such as sporting clubs may be an effective way to screen for sexually transmitted infections (STI) a Victorian study has found. A total of 90% of men aged 16-29 from four football clubs outside metropolitan areas in Victoria...

Ordinary soap effective.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Washing hands with an antibacterial soap is no more effective at reducing bacterial levels or preventing illness than washing with ordinary soap say USA researchers. A study published in September Clinical infectious Diseases found soaps which...

ACT sterilization scare.(Australian Capital Territory)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The ACT Government says there is no evidence patients caught up in a sterilisation scare at the Canberra Hospital have contracted infections. There are fears for nearly 1,000 people who may have been infected with hepatitis and even HIV through...

Hepatitis C vaccine lead.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... European and USA researchers have identified antibodies that can prevent infection with many diverse strains of hepatitis C. The laboratory finding may lead to a vaccine for hepatitis C, according to researchers presenting at the Society for...

Second bird flu death in Indonesia.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... A second death caused by the H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed in Bali. The death of a 28-year-old poultry trader in the island's capital Denpasar followed the recent death of a 29-year-old woman from west Bali. The two deaths are the...

Meningococcal alert.(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... NSW Health has advised people to be aware of the signs of meningococcal disease as the disease prevalence peaks in the spring season. There have been 67 reported cases of meningococcal disease in NSW in 2007 to date, the same number for this...

Raising hand hygiene awareness at UWS: a series of laboratory-based microbiology sessions, including experiments on the importance of hand hygiene, have been included in the first year of the Bachelor of Nursing program at the University of Western Sydney.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One experiment aims to raise nursing students' awareness of the significance of hand hygiene, the single most important practice in reducing the transmission of potentially infectious agents in a clinical setting....

Let's talk about sex.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Victorian non-occupational Post Exposure Prophyaxis)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Victorian non-occupational Post Exposure Prophyaxis (NPEP) service was established in August 2005 in response to rising HIV notifications in Victoria. NPEP is a course of antiretroviral medications available for...

Giving enteral medications.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Giving medication to a patient through an enteral tube is something many nurses do as part of their usual practice. Nurses understand that in the current healthcare climate practice should be based on the best available evidence, not on ritual...

ICASA to showcase excellent work.(focus: Infectious Diseases)(Infection Control Association of South Australian)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The Infection Control Association of South Australian (ICASA), an active group of people from all disciplines who have an interest in infection prevention and control, will host a state conference this month. One of ICASA's key strategies is to...

Calendar.(continuing education, conferences and seminars for nurses)(Calendar)
October 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 AT THE...

Falling through the safety net.
October 1, 2007... When my 20 year-old daughter was four years-old she fell off the back of our couch onto a slate floor and broke her arm. I didn't know it was broken at first. I rushed her to our GP, wrapped in a blanket and screaming her lungs out. Mary, the...