The big issue - nurse practitioners and nursing competency

Nurse practitioners (NPs) and nurse competency are back in the news this month. Queensland Health has welcomed the state’s first nurse practitioners at Redland Hospital. Revive, the first NP-led clinic in Australia, has been seeking permission to run a pilot scheme that gives NPs access to PBS subsidies. This move attracted disagreement from the Pharmacy Guild and criticism from the Australian Medical Association (AMA), who claimed that NPs are pretending to be doctors. RCNA issued a media release in defence of the NP role, reiterating that NPs are advanced practice nurses who are educated and authorised to care independently for patients within a defined scope of practice.

The nurse competency issue hit the media again amid claims that nurse ambulatory teams at Westmead Hospital were responsible for patient deaths in the emergency setting. According to The Canberra Times, The AMA called on state and territory health ministers to stop nursing teams from treating emergency department patients. Health minister Katy Gallagher and the ACT Nursing Federation responded to the request calling it ‘offensive’ and ‘unfair’. RCNA issued a second media release claiming that the critical issue was collaboration, not turf wars, between health care professionals.

Read additional articles on this topic:

Health workers fight over emergency role

Hospitals under pressure to go for the nurse

Is the AMA living in another universe?

Policy in nursing

Call for comment – quick! Closes 30 January 2009!

In response to the Rudd Government’s commitment to developing a national primary health care strategy, RCNA is putting together a submission that will be influenced by member expertise. Be part of this landmark initiative and contribute to changing the future direction of nursing and healthcare in Australia. Please ensure that you read the related discussion paper, Towards a national primary health care strategy: A discussion paper from the Australian Government before sending your comments and submissions to RCNA. Read more

Call for comment – closes 2 February 2009

RCNA is considering making a submission to the National health Workforce Taskforce and seeks contributions from members to assist in shaping it. The National Health Workforce Taskforce has prepared a discussion paper Health Education and Training: Clinical placements across Australia - capturing data and understanding demand and capacity to encourage debate over the need for better clinical placement data. Read more

Please note: all calls for comment are open to RCNA members only.

Opportunities

CareSearch palliative care knowledge network

Finding good quality, evidence-based palliative care information in an Australian context can be difficult. CareSearch is an online resource that promotes the evidence-based practice of palliative care and provides practical, up-to-date resources to support education, clinical practice, audit and research. There are also resources for patients and carers to access. Read more

Representative needed for the NHMRC – quick! Nominations close 30 January 2009

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is seeking nominations for an appointment to the NHMRC Embryo Research Licensing Committee for the 1 July 2009-30 June 2012 triennium. Read more

ACSQHC workshop

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is hosting its second one-day workshop on clinical handover in Brisbane . This workshop, titled Using Tools to Make Clinical Handover Safe: a Practical Workshop, is an opportunity to learn and share information about some of the new tools being developed by clinical handover projects around Australia. This all-day workshop takes place on Monday, 30 March 2009 and costs $210.
For more information, please contact Tamsin Kaneen (02) 9263 3581.

Call for abstracts - RCNA Annual Conference 2009

Royal College of Nursing, Australia’s (RCNA) 2009 Annual Conference titled ‘Nursing – a sound investment for healthy returns’ will be held at the Telstra Dome, Melbourne from 2-4 September 2009.

The Call for Abstracts for the Conference opens on 2 February 2009.  Contributions to the conference should relate to the conference title and focus on one of the four streams, research, clinical, education or policy.  To download a copy of the Call for Abstract brochure (available 28 January) visit the RCNA conference website. The closing date for abstract submissions is 16 March 2009.

A is for Asthma: Managing asthma in primary school kids

To coincide with the peak back-to-school asthma period, the National Asthma Council Australia will host a special Rural Health Education Foundation satellite broadcast program on January 27, 2009. The program attracts 1 Continuing Nurse Education (CNE) point as endorsed by Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA). Read more

International Nurses Day

RCNA wants to help our members celebrate! Are you planning an event at your workplace for International Nurses Day? Register your event with RCNA and we’ll send you a free promotional pack for the big day. Packs include official ICN posters, plus balloons, buttons, fact sheets and more. Read more

RCNA's Nursing and Health Expos

Commencing in April, RCNA Nursing and Health Expos will provide you with the opportunity to meet with Australia’s leading nursing and health organisations. Whether you are a nursing student or a nurse or looking to re-enter the workforce, join us at the expo and discover all the options available to you in the world of nursing. Let us show you how to get the most out of your nursing career.

Dates are: Adelaide, 5 April: Brisbane, 26 April: Melbourne, 17 May: Perth, 24 May: Canberra, 14 June: Sydney, 28 June: Hobart, 12 July. For further information or to register as an exhibitor visit the RCNA website here.

Publication opportunities

Have you:

• recently embraced the nursing profession as a student or new graduate?
• already contributed to the nursing debate by presenting a well researched paper at an RCNA conference?
• already published your work but would like to be published in a peer-reviewed journal?

Why not go a step further and share your findings with another audience? You can publish your paper — or a summary of your work — through RCNA!

Publishing your paper(s) in Connections, Nursing Review, INsite or Collegian is an excellent way to validate your professional development activities and to accrue your continuing nurse education (CNE) points. It’s also a great way to contribute to your profession. Read more

Children and adolescents whose parents have a serious mental illness

By Dr Kim Foster MRCNA, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Nutrition, James Cook University

Childhood is a time of growth and change, and adolescence can often involve a sense of uncertainty as young people face the challenges of finding a path through life. In this article Dr Kim Foster MRCNA explores the experience of being the adult child of a parent with a serious mental illness, finding that growing up in a family where at least one parent has a serious mental illness included major changes, but also some positives. Read more

News from ICN

As the Australian member of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), RCNA is pleased to bring you the latest ICN news.

ICN response on the conflict in Gaza

ICN has issued a statement on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Read more

ICN announces new nursing education network

Earlier this month, ICN issued a press release to announce a new nursing education network to assist in creating a stronger nursing workforce and to promote excellence within the nursing profession. Read more

2009 International Nurses Day theme announced

ICN has published the theme for this year’s International Nurses Day on their website. Read more

Students of nursing

RCNA student network

Are you a student member of RCNA? Did you know that you’re automatically a member of the RCNA Student National Network? This network is a forum for students from around Australia to connect and share their experiences as they prepare to enter the nursing workforce. RCNA needs your help to build an effective student network. We want to know what’s important to you as a student, a nurse and a member of RCNA so that we can build the sort of network you want to be part of. Send us your feedback and ideas by filling out the form on the Student National Network page. You can visit our Student National Network web page here.

Students - have your say in RCNA's Connections magazine

A great publication opportunity exists for student members of RCNA. Connections is RCNA’s bi-annual, member-driven magazine that showcases the work, research and initiatives of our members and their colleagues. Connections focuses on RCNA’s National Networks, Chapters, policy and other news.

As nursing students, you and your peers hold a unique position within the nursing workforce. We’re interested to hear from you – you could submit a first-person accounts of life as a student nurse, an academic paper, a summary of your research or an article on a clinical aspect of nursing that interests you.

This is a great way to kick start your publication record, and sharing your stories is a chance to get really involved with your profession and your peers.

To submit articles/news items/projects or photos please email all material to connections@rcna.org.au by 16 March 2009.

Article specifics:

• Maximum limit of 350 words in Microsoft Word format
• Pictures/photos to be in jpeg or tif format as a separate file. (Please do not include them in your Word document)
• Print quality resolution (300dpi) required.

Please note: RCNA reserves the right to edit all articles. Submissions will not be returned to authors for final approval.

ICN student network – what’s it all about?

From ICN: Welcome to the International Council of Nurses Student Network! Full membership is open to individuals who are currently undertaking a program of education leading to initial qualification as a nurse in their country or who have qualified within the last two years. The aim of the ICN Student Network is to: Create an international network of individual nursing students that exists based upon the values of inclusiveness, diversity, equity, accountability and collegial communication which will serve to collaboratively advance the international nursing agenda in the interest of the public.

With the following specific objectives:

• Provide a forum for nursing students throughout the world to discuss topics related to individual and community health, education and science and to formulate policies from such discussions;
• Promote and facilitate professional and scientific exchanges and extracurricular training for nursing students;
• Link nursing students and international health organizations and encourage co-operation between them for the ultimate benefit of society;
• Recognize the international responsibility of nursing students to foster and advocate for a social justice agenda.

These are important and ambitious objectives and we will need your help in order meet them. We currently exploring new ways in which nursing students, at all levels of education, can participate in ICN Student Network and help this Network to meet these objectives. Read more