On Sunday, 14 May 2023, nurses and military personnel across Australia will come together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur in World War II. The hospital ship, carrying 332 civilians, injured personnel and hospital staff, was travelling off the coast of Brisbane, Queensland, when it was…
On Sunday, 13 February 2022, Acting Chair for the Australian College of Nursing [ACN] South Australia Region Alyson Smith MACN attended a Memorial Service for the 80th Anniversary of the World War II massacre on Bangka Island. The Memorial Service included the unveiling of a memorial dedicated to the massacre, which killed 21 Australian Army…
On Wednesday 16 February 2022 at 4:20 pm, the Australian War Memorial will hold a Last Post Ceremony to commemorate the life of Australian Army Nurse Sister Ellen Louisa ‘Nell’ Keats. Nell died on 16 February 1942 during the Bangka Island Massacre alongside 20 of her Australian Army Service Nursing colleagues and one civilian. Australian…
By Lucy Osborn MACN (ENL) ACN Next Generation Community of Interest Chair and author of The Scrubs that Fit NurseClick column 5 predictions for the future Nurse education in Australia has changed completely over the years, as you have seen through this amazing collection of articles. However, I believe we are yet to plateau. Sure,…
By Trish Lowe MACN – ACN Nurse Educator Nursing speciality organisations, practice standards and benchmarking. The emergence of nursing specialty organisations began at a State level in Australia in the 1950’s, before expanding to either national governing bodies or affiliate organisations in the 1970s and 80s (Pratt, 1994). Nursing specialty organisations had evolved in response…
By Trish Lowe MACN – ACN Nurse Educator National Law (2009) and mandatory registration standards In 2005, the Council of Australian Governments [COAG] published the findings of a report by the Productivity Commission which detailed the challenges faced by Australia’s health system (Katsikitis et al. 2013). It highlighted the pressures arising from Australia’s ageing population,…
By Trish Lowe MACN – ACN Nurse Educator The introduction of post basic research degrees and the emergence of non-clinical roles Throughout this series, the contributions to healthcare reform, made by economic and social change, establishment of Nursing Colleges and transition to tertiary education for nurses and midwives, have been highlighted. Predictably, these moves promoted-…
You can read Part one of Nursing in the 1918 pandemic on our NurseClick blog. By Ruth Rae, FACN, PhD. In early 1916 Australian soldiers were divided into two divisions, one remained in Egypt and the other went to Europe.[1] Nellie Miles-Walker was transferred to England with nurses from 1 and 2 Australian General Hospital…
By Ruth Rae, FACN, PhD. Today Australian nurses are facing the challenge of saving lives amid an influenza pandemic on home soil. Any suggestion they have let their profession down when they contract the virus defies all logic. They are the frontline defence and they put themselves at risk for the benefit of their patients…
The historic Quadrant Building at the University of Sydney By Trish Lowe MACN – ACN Nurse Educator Move towards tertiary education for Australian nurses- mid 1980s As previously discussed in this series, Australian nurses were originally trained in public hospitals, under an apprenticeship system. During the early 1900’s, The Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association (ATNA) established the minimum standards of clinical and theoretical knowledge required to be delivered…