Australian Nursing Journal articles from September 2003

Australian Nursing Journal archives from September 2003

Working together for health reform.(editorial)
September 1, 2003... On 31 August 2003, States and Territories will start to incur financial penalties if the new Australian Health Care Agreements are not signed. The Australian Health Care Agreements provide the funding for public hospital and other health...

Learning to write essays?( )(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I am a mature aged student in my third year at university and after gaining all distinctions in my course and glowing clinical reviews I am about to walk away from this course and never return. The stress this course has caused and the...

Clinical? Update.( )(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... As a Div 1 RN and Christian I found it quite odd to find in the August ANJ (p.23) one-and-a-half pages in the 'Clinical Update' Care of the Muslim patient, apologising for Islam ('apology' in this context meaning 'giving a defence'). I do...

Article well received.( )(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I write to express my sincere thanks for the 'Working Life' article ('Exploring the issue of unprofessional conduct', ANJ, May 2003, p.16) detailing my PhD study. The article has been well received by the nurses who have contacted me and my...

ENs, ready and able.(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I am an EN (RN Div 2) who has recently graduated from TARE, only to find that the only positions available seem to be in high-level care nursing homes. I have worked as a PCA for the last two years while completing my studies, to find that...

Banking on bones.(news)(bone donation)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A bone bank has been created for the first time in the ACT at the Canberra Hospital. The new coordinator of the ACT Bone Bank, RN Jennifer Bryant, said setting up a bank for the first time was challenging, and she relied on existing bone banks...

National calls for health sector reform.(news)(National Health Care Summit)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Unprecedented cooperation in the health care sector has seen more than 20 health care organisations forming the Australian Health Reform Alliance in an effort to persuade Federal, State and Territory Governments of the need for major reform in...

Teenage sexual activity.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Rates of teenage pregnancies and abortions in Australia are among the highest in the developed world, according to a new University of Western Australia study. The report shows Australia has the sixth highest teenage pregnancy rate and the...

Tips for safer health care.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A new booklet by the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care aims to help people to become more actively involved in their health care, Ten Tips to Safer Health Care includes advice on becoming more active in health care;...

Blood record breaker.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A NSW man became a Guinnees world record holder in July for the 'most blood given by one person'. James Harrison, 66, received his award at the start of National Blood Recognition Week for giving an incredible 480 litres of blood over 600...

Alcohol and drug directory.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Melbourne's Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre has released the fifth edition of its Trace directory--presenting up-to-date information on alcohol and drug services in Victoria. individual listings provide contact details and profiles on the...

Correction.(News)(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2003... Last month's feature ('Compassion and cultural sensitivity', ANJ, August 2003, pp.26-30) stated Associate Professor Nicholas Procter works at the University of Adelaide, Associate Professor Procter is actually based at the University of South...

Shortages highlighted at NSWNA conference.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Over-worked nurses were being bled dry, leaving the industry in a critical condition, NSW chief nursing officer Professor Mary Chiarella said at the recent NSW Nurses' Association (NSWNA, ANF NSW) conference in Sydney. About 400 delegates...

Drop out rates put pressure on funds.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A report in The Australian newspaper says that younger people are dropping out of health funds and putting pressure on premiums which may threaten fire industry's long term viability. The warning came from former Federal Health Department...

Rights for casual workers.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Long-term casual workers will have the right to become permanent staff if a national test case in the Australians industrial Relations Commission is successful. The ACTU test case, lodged with the Commission in August, is seeking to gain...

Federal Government spends $27 million on PBS ads.(news; Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A Federal Government advertising campaign to inform Australians about the cost of pharmaceuticals covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) has been criticised as an expensive distraction from other issues. The $27 million...

Nurses gather in Adelaide.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Delegates attending the ANF SA Branch 11th Annual Delegates Conference in Adelaide in August met with Government ministers, academics, industrial and legal advisors and nursing leaders in a lively two-day conference. The delegates debated...

ACT nurses hold stop work meeting.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Large numbers of Canberra Hospital nurses held a stop work meeting on 15 August to protest against insufficient nursing resources and excessive workloads at the hospital. At the meeting, ANF ACT Branch members voted to Institute all...

Care for elderly at work.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The NSW Nurses' Association (NSWNA, ANF NSW) has called for work-based facilities for the elderly to be included in new and refurbished NSW hospitals. The decision is part of the new NSWNA policy on elder care aimed at addressing the needs...

Job cut action.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The NSW Nurses' Association (NSWNA, ANF NSW) is warning it will act decisively if the Southern Area Health Service goes ahead with possible plans to cut nursing positions at its 17 facilities. NSWNA Assistant Secretary Judith Kiejda said the...

Fit feet.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Are you neglecting your feet? This is the message the Australasian Podiatry Council will be asking during Foot Health Week, 12-18 October. According to Australasian Podiatry Council President Carol Mioduchowski, fit feet are essential to...

CHARGE Syndrome awareness.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Australasian CHARGE Syndrome Association will celebrate the achievements of indviduals and their families living with the syndrome during CHARGE Syndrome Awareness Week, 20-27 September. The syndrome refers to individuals born with a...

Bomb threat sentence.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A 20-year-old baker who held four nurses hostage and threatened to detonate a bomb in a hospital maternity ward near Melbourne was jailed on 21 July for a maximum of five-and-a-half years. William Scorse pleaded guilty to eight charges...

Vic nurses discuss issues of concern.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Victorian ANF members met at the end of July for their Annual Delegates Conference. Resolutions addressed industrial, professional, educational, occupational health and safety and social justice issues. The delegates heard from a broad...

Nurses meet for annual QNU conference.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nearly 300 nurses met in Brisbane in August for the Annual Queensland Nurses Union (QNU, ANFF Qld) conference. There were a number of presentations and discussions of issues related to the serious nursing shortage confronting Queensland and...

Sharing health care.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The proceedings from the Sharing Health Care Imitative (SHCI) 'Early Wins' Workshop, held in Hobart in December 2002, are now available. The SHCI is part of the Federal Government's Primary Care package aimed at older Australians and those with...

Childhood development study.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The first phase of an Australia-wide study to track 10,000 children over a seven year period has begun. The project will focus on two groups of children, 5000 babies and 5000 four year olds, and will measure their development during their...

Health Innovation Awards.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Health Informatics Society of Australia has launched awards for health innovations. Nominations will be accepted from people involved in any sector of health care. Three award categories have been created: Innovation in patient informatics;...

SARS scaled down.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Australian health authorities are winding down measures for detecting and responding to the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, withdrawing nurses from airports and relaxing requirements at airlines and hospitals. The measures are being...

Wait between pregnancies.(news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Women who leave less than six months between pregnancies increase their chances of having a premature baby or the second baby dying after birth, a study has found. The study published in the British Medical Journal involved 89,000 women having...

If elected, what is Howard's third term industrial agenda?(industrial)
September 1, 2003... In 2002, the Minister for Industrial Relations, Tony Abbott, in an address to the HR Nichols Society, argued that a Federal Government should take a more interventionist role in the enforcement of industrial laws, rather than just responding to...

Image change boosts US nurse recruitment.(world)
September 1, 2003... Nursing has become the fourth most popular career choice among US school leavers after a re-branding exercise by marketing experts. Johnson & Johnson launched their Campaign for nursing's future in 2002 with the aim of making nursing an...

Overseas nurses: patronised, downgraded and mistrusted.(world)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Internationally recruited nurses say UK staff fail to provide basic levels of care, hospital wards are dirty and the system is 'old fashioned', according to a new study. The Royal College of Nursing, UK (RCN UK), study of the experiences...

Relief mission.(world)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Two hundred Ethiopian nursing students were deployed to drought-stricken southern Ethiopia in mid-July under an emergency United Nations operation. The students--working at emergency feeding centres where children on the brink of death from...

Unsafe equipment alert.(world)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Hundreds of UK women have been told they may need further tests for Chlamydia and Hepatitis B and C after a nurse allegedly failed to properly sterilise gynaecological equipment for more than a decade. Health officials wrote to 500 patients and...

Fingernail ban.(world)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nurses at the Good Samaritan and Bethesda North Hospitals in Cincinnati will be barred from having long or artificial fingernails after 1 September. The policy stems from updated infection guidelines by the US Centers for Disease Control and...

Toronto SARS death.(world)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Toronto nurses were reconsidering their chosen profession at the end of July as Canada's second health care worker to die of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was identified as a nurse who also fatally infected her husband. Tecla Lin,...

Bank anger.(world)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Furious nurses threatened to switch banks in July in protest at the planned scaling down of a Glasgow bank branch. The row centred on a decision by the Clydesdale Bank to restrict use of its St Rollox branch near Glasgow Royal Infirmary to...

Focus on aged and community care.(professional)
September 1, 2003... Current reviews of community and residential aged care practice and funding raise issues of concern to nurses. The Commonwealth Government review of community care aims to develop a blueprint for an easily accessible, streamlined and cost...

Recent advances in the management of cardiothoracic patients.(clinical update)
September 1, 2003... Introduction The past two decades have seen unprecedented advances in the management of cardiothoracic patients. The main reason has been the growing demand for health care services from an ageing population, the shrinking health care...

A trans-Tasman Nursing pioneer.(working life)
September 1, 2003... 'I registered earlier this year in New Zealand as a Nurse Practitioner in neonatology following the introduction in 2002 of Nurse Practitioner legislation. I have worked in New Zealand in an extended nursing role identified as a 'Neonatal...

Migration of nurses: finding a sustainable solution: is migration the answer to Australia's nursing shortage? With Australia expecting a shortfall of 31,000 nurses by 2006, (1) questions are being asked whether the industry can meet the expected shortfall without relying on recruitment of nurses.
September 1, 2003... Australian institutions could educate around 10,000 more nurses each year. But even if they did, many graduates will not pursue a nursing career and many nurses currently practising will leave the system. Should Australia be looking at overseas...

Taking neonatal care to the country.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Neonatal nurses and newborn care specialists from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, have been on the road visiting rural NSW hospitals to bring them the latest techniques in newborn care. RPA Women and Babies' postgraduate medical educator...

Preparing for interviews.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... NSW's Charles Sturt University nursing students have undertaken a job interview training day at a Career and Professional Issues Forum. The forum was developed to help students get into the Transition Support Program (TPS)--a 12-month program...

Mentor scheme for aged care students.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Federal Government has provided $750,000 to establish a mentor scheme for the recipients of the Government's aged care nursing scholarships to support scholarship recipients. For more information about the aged care scholarships contact...

Educating mental health mentors.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The University of Western Sydney has developed a program which aims to recruit more nurses to mental health and encourage them to stay. The Mentorship for New Graduates in Mental Health program is educating experienced mental health nurses to...

Clinical education unit opens.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A new clinical education unit has been opened at NSW's Bega Valley Hospital to combat concerns about nursing shortages in the area. The unit is a collaboration between the University of Wollongong and the Australian National University. In the...

Online program to lift palliative care in aged care.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Standards in palliative care for people in aged care are set to improve with the introduction of a new program or online postgraduate courses. Launched by the Centre for Ageing Studies and the Department of Palliative and Support Services,...

Remote and rural nursing scholarship scheme: re-entry and upskilling.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Assisting nurses to return to the health workforce in rural and remote Australia is the goal of a new Commonwealth Government nursing scholarship scheme. The Scheme, which operates nationally, is designed to remove some of the barriers to...

Nursing agency supporting nursing education.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Since 2000, Australian Nursing Solutions (ANS) nursing agency has supported nurses undertaking postgraduate study in critical care. ANS offers scholarships to students enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Clinical Nursing in the...

Obstetrics, gynaecology and women's health.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Vivienne O'Connor and Gab Kovacs Cambridge University Press $89.95 ISBN 0 521 81893 1 Visit: cambridge.edu.au This book presents the core curriculum in obstetrics and gynaecology in the broader context of women's health throughout the...

Dementia nursing: a guide to practice.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Rosalie Hudson (editor) Ausmed Publications ISBN 0 9579876 5 X Visit: www.ausmed.com.au Dementia nursing: A guide to practice is written primarily for nurses working in residential aged care. Drawing on the latest research and...

ACT nurse wins Churchill Fellowship.(Focus: nursing education)
September 1, 2003... University of Canberra nursing Masters student Jo Gibson is heading overseas next year" after being awarded a Churchill Fellowship for palliative care education and nursing practice development. The Fellowship is awarded by The Winston...

Scholarships to help aged care recruitment.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Victoria's Peninsula Health has established 10 scholarships in Aged Care and Rehabilitation to assist nurses to undertake postgraduate study; increase staff job satisfaction; and, improve the quality of care patients receive. 'The...

Understanding pain in children.(Focus: nursing education)
September 1, 2003... A "smiley face' scale may be the key to evaluating nursing practices relating to paediatric pain assessment and management. The Wong-Baker 'Smiley Face' scale was designed for children who are old enough to comprehend their own pain levels...

Complementing nursing practice.(Focus: nursing education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Professor Marc Cohen's interest in complementary medicine storied in high school when the endorphin receptor was discovered in the late 1970s. At 39 years, he is the youngest department head at Melbourne's RMIT University and is a self...

New models for midwifery.(Focus: nursing education)
September 1, 2003... The University of Technology Sydney, has appointed Associate Professor Sally Tracy to lead the development and implementation of new models of midwifery care. In addition to her work on new models of care that will be strongly linked to...

Calendar.
September 1, 2003... The College of Nursing (incorporating the NSW College of Nursing): Distance education courses for RNs The College of Nursing, Locked Sag 3030, Burwood NSW 1805 Ph: (02) 9745 7500 Tailored education programs for health professionals ...

Calling in the reinforcements.
September 1, 2003... My mum is elderly and has lots of medical problems as many older people do. But she is still at home and we all pitch in to care for her. She has a great GP--one who still does home visits--and her local community health centre looks after...