Education key in redeveloping Close the Gap targets for Indigenous Australians
Redeveloped targets to eliminate the gap outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are in the pipeline, according to Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The government have indicated that the new targets will focus on education. While the 2019 Closing the Gap report highlighted some success, the refreshed targets were an opportunity to accelerate progress, Mr […]
Keeping it real; keeping it black
Remote area nurse Jason Coombes believes nurses and midwives have to get out of the clinic and into the community to improve health outcomes. “The community won’t come to the clinic unless they are sick or in pain. We need walking clubs and cooking classes; we need to play basketball with kids after school.” Jason […]
RFDS targets mental health
The Royal Flying Doctor Service will use $84 million it received in May’s federal Budget to expand its existing services and establish a mental health outreach program for Australians living in rural and remote areas. The iconic service has been around for 90 years and provides extensive primary healthcare and 24-hour emergency response to people […]
Dramatic drop in hand hygiene compliance
Healthcare worker compliance with national hand hygiene guidelines falls from more than 90 to 30% when they are not being observed, latest research shows. The national mandatory hand hygiene program was introduced in Australian hospitals eight years ago and requires a 70% compliance rate The University of NSW (UNSW) study monitored human and automated methods […]
Are women the new face of homelessness?
When now retired nurse Chiew Ung Tan (CU) moved from Singapore to Melbourne in 2003 to work at a large private hospital, she was unprepared for how difficult it would be to find a home. CU had lived and worked in Sydney and Melbourne for 10 years as a graduate nurse in the 1980s but […]
NSW nurses and midwives demand mandated nurse to patient ratios
The NSW Health Minister was grilled on safe staffing by the state’s nurses and midwives at their union’s annual delegates’ conference last week. It came as the NSW Opposition promised nurses and midwives a new ratios system would be delivered if Labor was elected. NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members expressed distress to NSW […]
Integrated model of care for responding to elder abuse
Elder abuse is a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within a relationship where there is an implication of trust, which results in harm or distress to an older person. It can include acts of physical, financial, psychological, social and sexual abuse, as well as neglect. Elder abuse is often from […]
Health promotion key in primary care
Primary care is the most important place to be to prevent disease, nurse practitioner (NP) Lesley Salem told delegates at the recent Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) conference held in Brisbane. “It lies with us in primary care. Everything you get in primary health is fixable. Doing a urinalysis is like a window […]
Working in refugee health
Newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers receive most of their direct healthcare from nurses, so it makes sense that we have an organisation representing nurses working in refugee health. Sandy Eagar, the national chair of Refugee Nurses of Australia says the organisation was founded in 2016 to bring refugee nurses together and provide a forum […]
A passion for maternal and child health
Three months at her daughter’s bed side in the burns unit at Western Australia’s Princess Margaret Hospital inspired Liesl Baxter to make the life changing decision to go into nursing. “I was surrounded by really strong women who were good at decision making.” A paternalistic upbringing and dominant males in her life, the exposure to […]