Professional and Selfless: A personal account on the value of nurses
It was an ICU nurse who found me, curled around a comedically bent street sign, unconscious and not breathing. I didn’t have long to live. My eyes were open but blank, my face split in two, my neck and back broken. A fellow racer, another cyclist found me. That skilled, courageous nurse opened my airway […]
Championing radiation oncology nurses
Radiation Oncology Clinical Nurse Consultant Michelle Roach believes nurses practicing in the field deserve greater recognition for the valuable role they play in cancer treatment. Michelle works in the Cancer Therapy Centre at the Liverpool Hospital in NSW where the Radiation Therapy Department treats up to 130 patients per day. The first Radiation Oncology Clinical […]
Nurses to improve cardiac rehab in rural and remote
A $1.35 million NHMRC research grant to help reduce the risk of repeat heart attacks in people living in rural and remote Australia has been awarded to Flinders University. The Country Heart Attack Prevention (CHAP) project aims to boost the completion of cardiac rehabilitation. Statistics show only 20-50% of patients attend rehabilitation in rural and […]
Reducing low value and unnecessary care
A national scale-up of an initiative to reduce low value care and reduce unnecessary treatment was the focus of a nationwide meeting recently. The Choosing Wisely Australia national meeting was held in Melbourne in late May and showcased innovative projects both national and international. A nurse discontinuation protocol of telemetry implemented at Johns Hopkins Hospital, […]
Reducing low value and unnecessary care
A national scale-up of an initiative to reduce low value care and reduce unnecessary treatment was the focus of a nationwide meeting recently. The Choosing Wisely Australia national meeting was held in Melbourne in late May and showcased innovative projects both national and international. A nurse discontinuation protocol of telemetry implemented at Johns Hopkins Hospital, […]
New guiding principles for health professionals about voluntary assisted dying
Ahead of the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme from 19 June, Palliative Care Australia has released a set of principles for health professionals to help provide care to people living with a life limiting illness. PCA CEO Rohan Greenland says the document, Voluntary Assisted Dying in Australia: Guiding principles for those providing care to people […]
The impact of financial wellbeing on health
Financial wellbeing is key to health outcomes. It is a social determinant of health because without money purchasing medications, engaging in health options or even travel to health appointments becomes problematic. Yet illness prevention frameworks have clearly ignored financial counselling as part of the toolkit for effective health decision making. Debt is a determinant of […]
New function to delete My Health Record at anytime
A function has been activated in the My Health Record system that allows a person to permanently delete their record at any time, including any backups. After 31 January 2019, a My Health Record will be created for everyone who has not opted out of the system. However the new function will allow the user […]
Best evidence changes lives
The best evidence available should be accessible to all and is key to tackling poor practice that can do more harm than good, according to the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), based in South Australia. The institute, which has recently been recognised for improving health for disadvantaged communities, is fulfilling a critical role, assisting health professionals […]
Better post-op care for nursing home residents
A new type of intervention for nursing home residents following hospital discharge has resulted in almost two-thirds fewer readmissions. The intervention is a result of a collaborative study between researchers at UNSW Medicines Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), the Department of Aged Care, St George Hospital and Calvary Health Care. Lead author, senior lecturer […]