Latest Nursing News

The number of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals at Waitemata DHB continues to grow. Waitemata DHB director of human resources, Sam Bartrum, says clinical staff numbers at the DHB have increased by 479 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) roles since July 2009, including 133 extra doctors and 346 nursing and allied health professionals.

COUNCIL parking inspectors are deliberately targeting shift workers in the Nambour General Hospital precinct, a nurse has told the Daily. The nurse said recent infringement notices indicated the inspectors were factoring hospital shifts into their patrol times. However, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council maintains there has been no change to parking management in the area.

More than 40 per cent of nurses and midwives will explore other career opportunities while 23 per cent will exit the profession in the next year, according to a new national workforce survey. The second Australian and Nursing Midwifery Federation (ANMF) survey, conducted by the Monash University Department of Management, found the number of nurses and midwives planning to leave the profession in the next 12 months was up on last year, rising from 15 to 23 per cent.

A book based on the diaries of a World War I army nurse has won one of Australia's richest history prizes. Kitty's War, by Victorian author Janet Butler, has collected $15,000 at the NSW Premier's History Awards. It tells the story of Kit McNaughton, who served in operating theatres near the front lines and finished the war as Australia's first plastic surgery nurse, assisting the discipline's pioneers as they repaired the shattered faces of allied and enemy soldiers.

Serious staff shortages at some of the country’s biggest hospitals are affecting patient services and forcing clinicians to shoulder unsustainable workloads, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says. "In trying to reduce deficits and maintain savings targets district health boards around the country are deliberately choosing not to replace nursing staff or fill ‘non-clinical’ vacancies.

IT TOOK a three-year-old boy with a balloon sword to help Mia Close see she had found her calling. The University of Tasmania nursing student was starting her practical placement at the Launceston General Hospital's children's ward, and she was terrified. At 21 years old, she didn't think she had it in her to care for another person's child, or see them sick or dying.  But last Friday morning, eight weeks after she first set foot in the ward, Ms Close was celebrating the end of her last practical placement and considering a career as a paediatric nurse.

PROBLEMS that jeopardise patient care at the Gold Coast Hospital are emerging, with nursing and supply shortages raised at a recent staff forum with four board members. Claims have been made of an operating theatre running out of antiseptic, shortages of medical instruments and towels having to be used instead of pillows at times. Queensland Nurses Union assistant secretary Des Elder, who was at the forum and wrote notes, said staff complained of a supply department in "chaos", insufficient support staff and the loss of experienced nurses.

A pioneering community-based palliative care program will employ around 120 nurses, allied health professionals and community support workers in Tasmania next year. The District Nurses, a not-for-profit organisation, will deliver the client-centered, multi-disciplinary Hospice at Home program, believed to be the first of its kind in Australia.

A former palliative care nurse has traced her relationship with death, from her childhood pet burials, through her nursing career to the death of her own father. In Field Notes on Death, an essay published in Now We Are Ten, the latest edition of Griffith Review, Melbourne writer and facilitator Lea McInerney delves into her experiences with people in the final moments of their lives.

FINAL-YEAR University of Tasmania nursing students can now apply for 115 jobs in Tasmania's public health system. Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne said applications would be accepted until September 13 for positions in 2014.