Who can/should be referred to palliative care? .............................................................. 3 Palliative care services at KEMH ................................................................................... 3 Metropolitan Services..................................................................................................... 3 Pain in Palliative Care ............................................................................................. 4
One inevitable thing we all must address....is death. As soon as we are born, we are dying. Although part of the normal sequence of life, death encompasses grief, and grief is uncomfortable. So naturally death at times is avoided in general conversations, which can create fear surrounding the process.
Jointly initiated by Monash Children's and The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), The Victorian Children's Tool for Observation and Response project known as VICTOR (www.victor.org.au) is a sector-led project funded by the Victorian Paediatric Clinical Network.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) recently published the National Aged Care Staffing and Skills Mix Project Report 2016 -- Meeting residents' care needs: A study of the requirement for nursing and personal care staff, it commissioned. Conducted over the past two years the results have been integral to building the foundation of the ANMF's national aged care campaign.
"A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse educated to a post graduate Masters level and authorised to function autonomously and collaboratively in an advanced and extended clinical role' (Queensland Government 2011).
Parental presence during the induction of anaesthesia remains a controversial issue related to family centered care which is highlighted through discrepancies in observational studies, beliefs and current practices.
Critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) often require many invasive procedures and medical devices (Martin and Mathisen 2005). While these interventions are a necessity, they can potentially cause patients a great amount of pain and discomfort, often leading to restlessness and agitation (Langley et al. 2011).
The Australian College of Perioperative Nurses (ACORN) have developed a set of standards to guide clinical practice within the perioperative setting. The ACORN standard 'Management of accountable items used during surgery and procedures' (ACORN 2016) details a process for perioperative nurses to follow when undertaking a surgical count.
In 2014-15 there were 10.2 million hospitalisations in Australia, and approximately 2.5 million of those admissions required surgery. As such, perioperative safety is crucial to patient outcomes (AIHW 2016).
Due to the rapidly increasing demand for healthcare, driven by an ageing population and the rising cost of technology, Australia is facing the challenge of sustaining a health workforce to meet this demand. In the most recent Health Workforce Australia (HWA) Report (2014) a predicted shortfall in the supply and demand of critical care and emergency nurses was reported.
The prevention of perioperative hypothermia is a responsibility of all members of the perioperative team. Nurses are well placed to have a central role in implementing strategies to reduce perioperative heat loss, which is associated with a host of adverse outcomes (National Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Supportive Care 2008).
The physical assessment of postoperative patients is a crucial and potentially lifesaving skill that may be improved with the use of a mnemonic to guide assessment structure.
Nurses insert and care for more than two billion intravascular (IV) devices globally each year. A wound is created for each IV insertion, and the wound cannot heal while the IV remains.
In February 2017, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) handed down a decision which cut penalty rates for employees in the retail, hospitality and fast food industries. In particular, it cut the level of penalty rates for working on Sundays and public holidays by 25% to 50%.
The publication of peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books have become an important hallmark of the professional, academic, social and scientific credibility of the nursing profession.
Diabetes is fast becoming one of the biggest epidemics in the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Australia where approximately 1 million Australians have been diagnosed with the disease. Natalie Dragon investigates why Diabetes has become so prevalent and what is being done about it.
International Day of the Midwife and International Nurses Day, celebrated on 5 May and 12 May respectively, are when nurses and midwives are acknowledged for the job that they do and also thanked for the vital care they give to their patients, their patients' families and each other. Yet while nurses and midwives are good at taking care of others, sometimes they can fall short of taking care of themselves. When celebrating nurses and midwives during May it is important to take time to acknowledge your own achievements as a nurse and/or a midwife, but also review what you are doing to care for yourself. Applying a few strategies could help you live more fulfilling, productive and happier lives, professionally and personally.
British nurse Georgie Carroll moved to Australia seeking adventure and inadvertently discovered a hidden talent for making people laugh.
Research undertaken in mainstream Australian studies show that the overall rate of medication non-adherence has been reported to be high, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia leading to adverse and critical health outcomes (AIHW 2010).
While it is our responsibility to produce culturally safe graduates with a nuanced grasp of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health needs, there are central challenges in curriculum writing for indigenous health today.
