Our bodies are trying to communicate with us, but are we listening? By Ariel Yokota MACN Women’s health is a vast subject, and yet something that women themselves pay little attention to. Our bodies, right from the time we’re born, are constantly undergoing major changes. Puberty, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause and so on. These changes don’t…
By Lydia Mainey MACN A few months ago, Queensland added itself to the list of other Australian states (barring NSW) that decriminalised abortion. The historic law reform put into the spotlight a topic usually engulfed by stigma and politics – both for nurses who work in abortion care and the women receiving it. One in…
By Elizabeth Matters FACN As long as I have been a nurse, concerns about the challenges of nursing an ‘ageing population’ into the future have been a recurring theme. How will we meet the health needs as the Baby Boomers grow older? How will the costs of healthcare be contained as more of the population…
With so much negative attention on aged care within Australia, it is incredibly easy to focus only on the damaging aspects. Fortunately, there is some good happening throughout the aged care sector and this needs to be shared. I was lucky enough to meet two amazing women who are doing just that, highlighting women in…
By Professor Deborah Parker MACN As we grow older, the more our health care needs get increasingly complex. In order to adequately meet these needs, we require a sustainable health system which will ensure that those who are most vulnerable in our communities are not slipping through the cracks. The Royal Commission into Aged Care…
By Elizabeth Matters MACN This year, my city’s national league soccer team played in the grand finals and won. It was a big match and a big win and they, and most of the local inhabitants, were ecstatic. As they flew back into town, clutching the enormous gold trophy, they were picked up from the…
In the Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery program at Monash University, one of the final year units looks at chronic illness management within the primary care setting. The unit covers the management of clients with a wide range of chronic illnesses, care of the ageing person and palliative care. In our workshops for…
By Dr Liz Hanna FACN Chair Climate and Health COI ACN embraced Communities of Interest (COIs) as a mechanism to facilitate mutual collegial support to optimise our nursing expertise and professional efficacy, and to advance the voice of nurses on key health issues facing the nation. The Climate and Health COI differs to the other…
By Luke Yokota MACN (ENL) The Australia’s Future Health Workforce – Nurses Report published by the Department of Health (2014) forecasted a nursing shortage in Australia of 85,000 nurses by 2025, growing to 123,000 nurses by 2030. Even with expert opinions predicting these numbers, they may be inflated when taking into account successful strategies to improve…
In the wake of this year’s National Nursing Forum (NNF) registered nurse Haydon Cunninghame MACN, Nurse Unit Manager of Acute and Aged Services Tallangatta Health Service, lists five barriers that men face when entering the nursing workforce as a preview of his presentation. Haydon’s address at the NNF was “designed to foster discussion, rather than…