The Lamp June 2013

lamp THE MAGAZINE OF THE NSW NURSES AND MIDWIVES’ ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 70 No.5 JUNE 2013

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CONTENTS

lamp THE

CONTACTS NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association For all membership enquiries and assistance, including Lamp subscriptions and change of address, contact our Sydney office.

VOLUME 70 No.5 JUNE 2013

Sydney Office 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017 (all correspondence) T 8595 1234 (metro) 1300 367 962 (non-metro) F 9662 1414 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au W www.nswnma.asn.au Hunter Office 8-14 Telford Street, Newcastle East NSW 2300

COVER STORY

12 | O’Farrell: nurses and midwives are worth the bare minimum We waited for months and now the government has responded to our Public Health System claim with an ultra brief reply: you can have a 2.25% wage increase. That’s it.

Jillian Thurlow, RN, Maitland Hospital

5 6 8 33 35 39 41 42 43 49 50

Editorial Your letters News in brief Ask Judith Social media Nursing research online Crossword Obituary Books Movie of the month Diary dates

FOR ALL EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES, LETTERS AND DIARY DATES: T 8595 1234 E lamp@nswnma.asn.au M 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017 Produced by Hester Communications T 9568 3148 Press Releases Send your press releases to: F 9662 1414 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au

PHOTOGRAPH: PHIL RICH

REGULARS

NSWNMA Communications Manager Janaki Chellam-Rajendra T 8595 1258

COVER STORY

16 | New ads highlight urgent need for ratios

The NSWNMA has launched two new television ads advocating for ratios in our emergency departments and on paediatric wards.

Editorial Committee • Brett Holmes, NSWNMA General Secretary • Judith Kiejda, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary • Coral Levett, NSWNMA President • Roz Norman, Tamworth Base Hospital • Elsie May Henson, Barraba Multi Purpose Service • Peg Hibbert, Hornsby & Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital • Michelle Cashman, Long Jetty Continuing Care • Richard Noort, Justice Health Advertising Patricia Purcell T 8595 2139 or 0416 259 845 or F 9662 1414 E ppurcell@nswnma.asn.au Records and Information Centre – Library To find old articles from The Lamp, or to borrow from the NSWNMA nursing and health collection, contact: Jeannette Bromfield, RIC Coordinator T 8595 2175 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au

MAY DAY

FILM FESTIVAL

20 | May Day’s ongoing relevance

26 | A mini Cannes in Waterloo

The Lamp ISSN: 0047-3936

The Fourth Nurses and Midwives’ Short Film Festival witnessed the world release of 12 films, all created by Association members.

COMPETITION

9 | Win a pair of MTBs

NBN

28 | Pioneering remote care A Hunter region study shows the potential to remotely manage chronic illness in the home via high-speed broadband internet.

General disclaimer The Lamp is the official magazine of the NSWNMA. Views expressed in articles are contributors’ own and not necessarily those of the NSWNMA. Statements of fact are believed to be true, but no legal responsibility is accepted for them. All material appearing in The Lamp is covered by copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission. The NSWNMA takes no responsibility for the advertising appearing herein and it does not necessarily endorse any products advertised.

Privacy Privacy statement: The NSWNMA collects personal information from members in order to perform our role of representing their industrial and professional interests. We place great emphasis on maintaining and enhancing the privacy and security of your personal information. Personal information is protected under law and can only be released to someone else where the law requires or where you give permission. If you have concerns about your personal information please contact the NSWNMA office. If you are still not satisfied that your privacy is being maintained you can contact the Privacy Commission.

Subscriptions for 2013 Free to all Association members. Professional members can subscribe to the magazine at a reduced rate of $50.

Individuals $78, Institutions $130, Overseas $140.

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 3

Being a member of the NSWNMA suddenly got easier!

Introducing the do-it-yourself membership online portal Now you can change your personal details, pay your fees and even join online using membership online.

It’s easy. Simply register with your membership number, name and email address and create your own password.

From then on, use your member number and password to log in directly to the Members login area on the website.

You can now change your details at any time – address, workplace, credit card number, mobile number, etc.

You can pay fees online, print a tax statement or request a reprint of your membership card – it’s simple.

There are dedicated areas for branch officials.

Membership online via www.nswnma.asn.au

EDITORIAL

BY BRETT HOLMES GENERAL SECRETARY

An unacceptable offer The O’Farrell Government has responded with a curt “No” to our public health system ratios and pay claim so we must continue to make our case with the community and increase the pressure on MPs to change their stance.

Our claim was reasonable and responsible yet the state government deemed it unworthy of a reasonable and responsible response.

“This is not the first time and it won’t be the last that we are put in a position where we have to fight for what is right.”

Nurses and midwives throughout the state, despite the economic pressures faced by all, voted during February to limit their wage claim to 2.5% so that resources could be directed towards improving safe patient care.

Now, several months later, the government has given a flat “no” to improving and extending the ratios/nursing hours that have proven to be so successful after they were won (in a tough fight) in 2011. The only improvement to nurses and midwives conditions on offer is a measly 2.25% wage increase.

When the O’Farrell Government came to office one of its first acts was to pass a law that limited public sector wage increases. It also eliminated the NSW Industrial Relations Commission’s role as an independent umpire in wage negotiations.

Effectively, the government gave itself the power to arbitrarily determine public sector wages and conditions, including those of nurses and midwives, in the public health system.

It is now hiding behind its own law in denying reasonable improvements, not only to the pay and conditions of nurses and midwives, but to patient safety in the public health system.

During discussions with the Association, Ministry of Health officials have consistently stated that the government’s wages law does not allow any extension or improvement to the Award ratios system.

The government is using this bad law, not only to hold nurses and midwives hostage, but also patients in the public health system.

The government has also moved the goal posts on wages. It recently reinterpreted its bad wages law to make it worse by shifting the burden of the increase in superannuation from the employer to the employee.

This explains the now approximately 2.25% wage offer for 2013 that is even less than what has been offered to other public sector workers since the government took office.

There is one further component of the government’s wages law of which we need to be cognisant. If there is no agreement between the government and its nursing and midwifery workforce before the Award expires on 30 June, there will be no back pay when there finally is an agreement.

This is not the first time, and it won’t be the last, that we are put in a position where we have to fight for what is right.

The government is hiding behind its bad law and our challenge is to get it to change that bad law. Out task is to put pressure on every MP in New South Wales to put pressure on Barry O’Farrell to do just that.

To the Premier’s credit, he has responded positively to community pressure in the past.

He has revised positions on coal seam gas and solar panels after public outcry. He has also taken an independent position to his fellow conservative premiers and the federal opposition on the Gillard Government’s Gonski education reforms.

Now he has an opportunity to do the right thing by the people of New South Wales and improve and extend ratios so we can improve patient care.

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 5

YOUR LETTERS

Thanks for great getaway I was very lucky to win the Pokolbin Village two-day getaway competition in The Lamp and am writing to say it was just the best two days. I took my daughter and her partner and the staff at Pokolbin Village were lovely and very helpful.

I had never been to the Hunter Valley before, but I will definitely be going again.

Thank you once again for a great getaway, Kind regards Maree Kelly

Skill mix crucial to safety Reading your article re the Francis Inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust (May Lamp) helped me to recognise the impact of skill mix on quality and patient safety. Our patient-nurse ratio is not an issue. I believe the issue on my unit is bad skill mix – when most of the nurses allocated on afternoons and weekends are junior nurses, EENs and pool staff. Mistakes often occur as regular staff members are busy attending to unwell patients. This leads to disharmony within the team. Senior staff members suffer low morale because they feel they are not valued as much as new grads.

Our young need proper support. Don’t make new grads fill the gap of an experienced nurse. If they are not doing the right thing, they need to get feedback from senior staff. After all, if I can quote our NSWNMA General-Secretary, “The Francis Report provides a real-life contemporary example of the consequences of running a system with not enough nurses to deliver decent care”.

Nobody is perfect but patient safety, above all things, is our foremost duty.

Araceli Javier CNS1

Workers comp for over 65s In the article “Older, wiser and unsupported” (April Lamp) I was surprised to read that workers compensation payments terminate at retirement age; that was news to me. As a community nurse in my mid-60s, working full time and feeling good about it, I had intentions of working on. But with no cover, I would need to think again.

I requested my manager check out the situation with Workforce Directorate and it would appear that in accordance to the Amendments of Workers’ Compensation Legislation section 52(b), June 2012, “A worker injured after their 65th birthday will receive 12 month’s compensation.”

This amendment may be pertinent for some of your readers.

Wendy Jannings, Northern Sydney Home Nursing Service

6 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

letter of the

month The letter judged the best each month will be awarded a $50 Coles Myer voucher.

“Whatever your next purchase, remember Union Shopper.

After all, who can think of a reason NOT to save.” u n i o n s h o p p e r. c o m . a u • 1 3 0 0 3 6 8 1 1 7

Every letter published receives a $20 Coles Group & Myer gift card.

NSWNMA responds This is correct in relation to the payment of weekly benefits and it was the case prior to changes introduced by the O’Farrell Government last year.

However, there were other changes made to the legislation last year that do significantly impact on injured workers entitlements, in a negative way.

Therefore any member that sustains/or has sustained an injury in the course of their employment should contact the Association to ensure their entitlements are being met.

For more information on the workers compensation changes go to www.nswforall.org.au

YOUR LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Fun team effort

NO TIME

FOR CPD CPD? ?

CPD online saves you time

If ever you have ever wanted something different as a teambuilding exercise, try organising a Dragon Boat team made up of hospital workers with no boating experience and compete at a regatta!

Impossible you might say, but you would be wrong, as the staff from Wollongong Hospital proved in April on the beautiful Lake Illawarra.

Our team of 20 was made up of staff from the Cardiac Diagnostics, Medical Imaging and Coronary Care units, as well as some added assistance from “persuaded” husbands and sons. Despite not one team member having actually ever held a Dragon Boat paddle before, our inexperience was made up for with pure enthusiasm.

After carbo-loading on pancakes we surprised ourselves by winning the first heat, giving us a much needed confidence boost. In the next two heats we placed second in very close races with nail-biting finishes. In what seemed at best unlikely when we arrived at the lake, our results qualified us for the minor final. In the torrential rain we rowed our PB for the day and finished fifth overall in the competition.

The event was a fundraising exercise for the local hospital and it was very well organised and terrific fun. I can highly recommend it for a different way to build relationships within the team. The main objective was to do things together and we were very happy with our first effort.

Watch out for our team Cardiac Capers next year!

Janice Lum RN, Cardiac Diagnostic Department, Wollongong Hospital

SAYSOMETHING

Send your letters to: Editorial Enquiries email lamp@nswnma.asn.au fax 9662 1414 mail 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017.

Please include a high resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number.

Letters may be edited for clarity and space.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

United States

Doctors lack empathy for the obese

“THESE DRUGS HAVE BEEN ON THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION LIST OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES FOR YEARS NOW.” —Tanya Plibersek

Australia

RU486 recommended for PBS The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has recommended the federal government make the abortion drug RU486 available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the recommendation was an important first step towards the drug being listed on the scheme, once the government had examined the evidence on its safety.

“These drugs have been on the World Health Organisation list of essential medicines for years now,” she told the Australian newspaper.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who has strongly opposed the introduction of RU486, said should he become Prime Minister, he would not intervene to prevent RU486 being provided on the PBS, nor would he oppose expert advice from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

“When I was the health minister we invariably took the advice of our professional advisers when it came to the safety and efficacy of drugs,” he said.

8 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

A small study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University has found that doctors reported less familiarity and rapport with their overweight patients.

The doctors, primary care physicians in Baltimore, said less things to these patients to convey “empathy, legitimation, concern, reassurance, partnership, and self-disclosure” during the course of a patient visit.

According to the Atlantic magazine, the researchers found that these overweight patients would benefit from advice on lifestyle changes but these messages required “elements of emotional rapport including empathy, reassurance, listening, shared decision making, and patient centeredness”.

If doctors aren’t connecting with their patients it is harder for those messages to sink in.

Australia

Abbott slippery on penalty rates

“THE COALITION NEEDS TO SPELL OUT EXACTLY WHAT IT PLANS TO DO TO PENALTY RATES IF ELECTED, SO WORKERS HAVE A CLEAR CHOICE.” —Ged Kearney

Tony Abbott has raised the possibility that a key element of the Work Choices policy – winding back penalty rates – is back on the agenda.

When asked, at a Liberal Party-organised forum in Kingston, South Australia, about abolishing penalty rates, Mr Abbott said he believed the only way to bring this about would be for a federal government to pressure the independent umpire to strip back penalty rates.

“I think the best way forward, at least initially, is to try to ensure that the award situation does maximise employment, and at the moment we are not maximising employment by closing down businesses and preventing people from getting jobs.

“I am confident that if the government were to back, for argument’s sake, applications to the Fair Work Commission for adjustments in this area it may well be successful.”

ACTU President Ged Kearney says Tony Abbott needs to be honest with workers about whether he will get rid of penalty rates if elected.

“Mr Abbott has been trying to avoid scrutiny of the Coalition’s IR policy, but remarks like this show that a Coalition government would put penalty rates at risk,” she said. “The Coalition needs to spell out exactly what it plans to do to penalty rates if elected, so workers have a clear choice.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

COMPETITION

Britain

Health act locks in privatisation The British government’s new Health and Social Care Act, which came into effect on April 1, contains a key section that “will act as the motor of the NHS privatisation by giving companies a mechanism to force their way into NHS service provision for the patients, procedures and places wherever they see profits” according to a senior leader of the British Medical Association (BMA).

“THERE IS PLENTY OF EVIDENCE THAT MARKET-DRIVEN HEALTH SERVICES LEAD TO LIMITED CHOICE, ESCALATING COSTS, AND REDUCED QUALITY.” Kailash Chand, the BMA’s deputy chair, wrote in the Guardian newspaper that: “… the likes of Care UK or Virgin Care will try to cherry-pick easy and profitable services – diagnostics, routine elective surgery, and simple treatments, for example – leaving behind A&E, care of the elderly, mental health services and anything that is unpredictably expensive.”

Dr Chand says the wording of section 75 of the Act requires commissioners to put out to tender everything that could be provided by an organisation other than the NHS. “Private contractors are more likely to win these tenders than doctors, many of whom will never have even seen a tender notice.

“The regulations would create rights for commercial providers under rules originally devised by US corporations to promote their commercial interests. If implemented, they will drag the NHS into a competition law regime, which creates obligations for governments to compensate private providers in the event of services being brought back into public provision.”

The BMA, along with other health organisations including the Royal College of General Practitioners, is calling for the regulations to be withdrawn.

“There is plenty of evidence that market-driven health services lead to limited choice, escalating costs, and reduced quality. There is no evidence to support the idea that competition breeds excellence in healthcare,” Dr Chand said.

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To enter the competition, competition simply write your name, address and membership number on the back of an envelope and send to: MBT Competition 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo, NSW, 2017 Competition closes 30 June 2013.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Australia

Australia

Britain

Bill for rights of the terminally ill

Government ends funding to Welfare Rights Centre

Our hospitals are unsafe: nurses

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann has introduced a bill into the New South Wales parliament that would give the terminally ill the right to a voluntary assisted death.

If passed, the new law would allow a person who has a terminal illness, with decision-making capacity, and who is experiencing unacceptable pain, suffering or distress, to request assistance from a medical practitioner to end their life. It spells out stringent safeguards and no health professional could be compelled to assist a person to die. The assistance would be in the provision of a lethal substance to be administered by the patient or, in the case of severe physical disability, be assisted to take.

The patient would have to meet a number of criteria: • Be at least 18 years old.

• Be a resident of NSW. • Be suffering from a terminal illness that is causing severe pain, suffering or distress.

• Have been fully informed of the diagnosis and prognosis of their disease and all other options, including palliative care.

• Have decision-making capacity and be making the decision freely, voluntarily and after due consideration.

The bill requires the patient to be examined by two independent medical practitioners who would both certify that the patient met the eligibility criteria.

A psychiatrist would need to certify that the patient was fully informed of all medical options.

The bill is consistent with the NSWNMA’s position statement on voluntary euthanasia.

The New South Wales government has cut its funding to the Welfare Rights Centre (WRC) – a respected community organisation that provides information, advice and representation about Australia’s social security system.

The WRC has been providing free community legal services, dedicated to social security issues, for 30 years. It also develops policy about social security, family assistance and employment assistance based on the casework experience of its members. It is dependent on state government funding to provide its service.

Director of the NSW Council of Social Service, Alison Peters, voiced her disappointment at the government’s action and warned of the consequences for the many vulnerable people who depend on the WRC. “NCOSS is concerned that the decision means the WRC will need to substantially scale back its service and this will have a longer-term detrimental impact on low income and disadvantaged people in New South Wales,” she said.

A poll found that more than three-quarters of British nurses think the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal could happen again.

An organisation representing nurses and patients is warning that staffing levels on many hospital wards in England are unsafe.

The Safe Staffing Alliance (SSA) – which includes the Royal College of Nursing, Unison and the Patients Association – says wards often have just one registered nurse looking after eight patients.

According to the BBC, the alliance says there is a worry that this ratio could be regarded as the minimum acceptable level of staffing, when it in fact puts patients at risk.

The SSA says research shows that when nurses are asked to look after more than eight patients there is an increased risk of harm or death.

The warning comes as a poll for the Sunday Mirror newspaper and the Nursing Standard journal found that more than three-quarters of nurses believe a scandal similar to that in Mid Staffordshire (see April Lamp) could happen again.

In the poll of 2000 nurses, 40% said that on their last shift there was not enough staff to provide a safe level of care.

The alliance quoted a survey of almost 3000 nurses at 31 English hospitals, which found that wards were run with a ratio of one nurse to eight patients about 40% of the time.

The survey also found that almost half of nurses had seen patients suffer as a result of services being cut. Despite this, 57.5% of nurses said they were still proud to work for the NHS.

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10 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

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NEWS IN BRIEF

EDUCATION@NSWNMA

WHAT’S ON JUNE 2013 ——— • ———

Australia

Recruiting for research participants The National Breast Cancer Foundation has formed an online community called Register4 that aims to link medical researchers with potential research participants.

The Foundation wants to help health professionals fast track their research by speeding up the participant recruitment phase of their studies. Health professionals wanting to access Register4 members for their research will first need to become members themselves, at register4.org.au.

They can then submit their project for consideration and an Access Committee will assess it for quality and appropriateness. Approved study information is emailed to all Register4 members. The details of people who meet the study criteria, wish to participate, and give their approval, are forwarded to the researcher. After the study is completed, results are published on the Register4 website.

To get involved as a researcher or a research participant join at register4.org.au.

Computer Essentials for Nurses and Midwives – 1 day 5 June, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick 3 July, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick Suitable for all nurses and midwives.

Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ———

Legal and Professional Issues for Nurses and Midwives – ½ day 7 June, Penrith • 12 June, Newcastle 21 June, Tamworth Topics include the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, potential liability, the importance of documentation, the role of disciplinary tribunals and writing statements.

Members $40 Non-members $85 ——— • ———

Are you meeting your CPD requirements? – ½ day 13 June, Newcastle 20 June, Tamworth • 1 July, Gymea Suitable for all nurses and midwives.

Members $40 Non-members $85 ——— • ———

Policy and Guideline Writing – 1 day 14 June, Penrith Suitable for all nurses and midwives.

Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ———

Appropriate Workplace Behaviour – 1 day 19 June, Tamworth Topics include why bullying occurs; anti-discrimination law and NSW Health policies; appropriate behaviour in the workplace; identifying unlawful harassment and bullying; what to do if subjected to unlawful harassment and bullying; how to use workplace grievance procedures; identifying, preventing and resolving bullying.

Members $85 Non-members $170

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Basic Foot Care for RNs and ENs – 2 days 26-27 June, Penrith Members $203 Non-members $350 ——— • ———

Practical, Positive Actions in Managing Stress and Burnout – 1 day 10 July, NSWNMA Waterloo Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ——— To register or for more information go to www.nswnma.asn.au/education or phone Carolyn Kulling on 1300 367 962

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 11

COVER STORY

SPEAK TO THE HAND Asked by Armidale members of the NSWNMA why country patients deserve less nursing care than city patients, a noticeably testy Premier Barry O’Farrell told nurses they would have to take that up with the Minister of Health!

O’Farrell: nurse are worth the PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTHERN DAILY LEADER

We waited for months and now the government has responded to our Public Health System claim with an ultra brief reply: you can have a 2.25% wage increase. That’s it.

They have flatly refused to improve and extend ratios.

12 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

— BARRY SMITH

AFTER MONTHS OF DELIBERATION THE O’Farrell Government has come back with a response to our public health system claim, the central feature of which was an improvement and extension of ratios.Their answer: “No”.

The government tabled an offer of a 2.25% per annum wage increase, in line with its draconian and inflexible wages law.

This wage increase would be even less than the 2.5% paid in recent awards of other public sector workers, after the government shifted the payment of increased superannuation from the employer to the employee. This means the offer of a “cash” pay increase has been reduced from 2.5% to 2.25%.

The government has not tabled any written offer on the improvement and extension of ratios. In a media statement the Ministry of Health dismissed this part of the claim with the comment “… the Nurses’ Association demands a one size fits all industrial approach”.

The NSWNMA has not agreed to any part of the government’s offer.

If it is not accepted by 30 June there will be no back pay when a settlement is eventually reached, as the government has changed the law to prohibit back pay being made.

This was done to coerce public sector employees into accepting lower pay rises by rolling back legal rights, including the right to arbitrate wages and conditions in the Industrial Relations Commission, which previously played the role of an independent umpire.

NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes says the government and the Ministry of Health are hiding behind the wages law to absolve their responsibility to improve safe patient care and to deny nurses and midwives a fair wage increase.

“The real issue here is about safe patient care and that is what we are focused on. The government is focused on holding back public sector wages. It says ratios would require them to go outside the wages policy. This ignores the fact that the government that makes a law can also change a law,” he said.

STOP PRESS

was made Since the offer of 2.25% ment has ern gov the , to the NSWNMA public to s made new statement may er off s thi t tha sector unions vided pro not change again, but has the t tha ted sta e hav details. They may vary 5% 2.2 of se rea inc sh’ ‘ca ing on the across agencies depend SSS and in s yee plo em of ber num es. em sch per Su SASS

s and midwives bare minimum “Ministry of Health officials have told us that the government’s wages law does not allow any extension or improvements to the Award ratios system.

“They also said that management do not believe that the claim in Group C, D and MPS hospitals is a good investment in nursing.”

Brett rejected the government’s use of its laws to shift the burden of the super increase to workers, and to deny back pay if a settlement comes after the expiry of the award.

“The deduction for super is yet another example of the government’s bad law being used to cut wages and conditions, with total disrespect for the work of public servants.

And the refusal to back pay any wage increase to the expiry of the award is an attempt to coerce the nursing and midwifery workforce to bend to the government’s will.”

THE NEXT PHASE OF OUR CAMPAIGN Brett Holmes says the challenge in the next stage of our campaign will be to convince

politicians to change the law so the needs of patients can be met.

“We need to increase the pressure on members of parliament to change their law.

It is absolutely critical that we move the government from a ‘no’ to a ‘yes’.

“Barry O’Farrell changed his attitude on coal seam gas because of public pressure.

He’s also changed his position on solar panels for the same reason.

“The only thing politicians respond to is public pressure. It is clear that the government’s intransigence will continue until enough pressure is placed on MPs to force a change in their offer.”

Brett says that country members in particular have led the way in working with the community to send a strong message to politicians that nurses and midwives are passionate about patient safety.

“Rural and regional members continue to lead the way in this campaign. Local activities will need to continue to build member engagement, increase community awareness and convince the New South Wales state government to do better.”

Committee of Delegates resolution on government response to our claim “This meeting of the NSWNMA Committee of Delegates condemns the NSW government for belatedly delivering an unacceptable offer to the nurses and midwives of NSW for their 2013 Award and hiding behind its own bad law to avoid improving and expanding the successful nursing hours/ratios system.

International research clearly shows that where an investment in additional nurse staffing is made, the incidence of adverse events is reduced and patient care is improved.

The societal benefits of lives saved and increased productivity are real.

Safe levels of nursing care should not depend on postcode.

Our reasonable pay claim of 2.5% increase per year should not be undermined by this government seeking to reduce the pay outcome by shifting responsibility for superannuation increases from itself to public sector employees.

This meeting calls on the General Secretary to conduct a broad ranging campaign of media awareness, political lobbying, coordination of campaign activities by NSWNMA branches and any other action necessary, including paid media advertising utilising NursePower campaign funds, to achieve an acceptable offer for branches to consider.

On behalf of the nurses and midwives of NSW, this Committee of Delegates demands that the NSW government revise its decision and provide an acceptable pay and nurse-to-patient ratios offer to the Association by no later than noon on Thursday 30 May, 2013.”

The resolution was carried unanimously.

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 13

COVER STORY

The single digit government A comprehensive survey of NSWNMA members has revealed a profound distrust of the state government and its management of the health system.

THE NSWNMA UNDERTOOK A comprehensive survey of our members to gauge attitudes about the health system and its management.

The research found a relatively high level of satisfaction with the outcomes of the last pay and conditions campaign. There was a very high appreciation of the worth of ratios for safe patient care, and recognition that their expansion would be beneficial.

However the track record of the current state government has engendered a state of pessimism about the possibilities of improvement, and there was recognition that achieving positive outcomes from the next campaign would be much more difficult than the last.

The state government was given a withering assessment for its management of the health system.

The survey was completed by 2623 respondents – statistically, a very significant sample.

Only 8% of nurses and midwives rated the government’s performance in implementing an effective health policy as good.

14 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

RATIOS GET A BIG TICK Members clearly recognise the value of ratios, although there is widespread concern that they are vulnerable to political interference.

Eighty-one per cent of nurses and midwives saw ratios as being “very important” to patient care.

Another 15% saw them as being “quite important”.

While members clearly like ratios, they also feel they are not secure.

Sixty-four per cent of survey respondents thought ratios were insecure (22% very insecure and 42% insecure). Thirty per cent said they weren’t sure how secure they were.

The state government has been very vocal in claiming credit for the

extra nurses coming into the system but that does not wash with nurses and midwives.

71% of survey respondents believed the extra numbers were a result of the last NSWNMA campaign, while 18% believed they were a result of a Labor government decision. Only 4% believed they were a product of an O’Farrell Government decision.

STATE RATES POORLY ON HEALTH AND IR The 2623 nurses and midwives were asked to rate the current performance of the O’Farrell Government in nine areas related to health. In every area listed, less than 10% of respondents rated the O’Farrell Government’s performance as good.

Only 8% of nurses and midwives rated the government’s performance in implementing an effective health policy as good. Only 6% rated its performance in managing public hospitals and improving services in public hospitals as good.

When it came to the government’s performance on maintaining the employment conditions of public sector workers, the government’s rating came close, within a margin of error, to zero. Only 4% of nurses and midwives regarded their performance as good. 73% rated it as poor.

The areas with the highest “poor” performance ratings were: • Maintaining the state’s budget and economy (poor 73%).

• Maintaining nursing numbers in public health services and hospitals (poor 67%).

• Improving services in public hospitals (poor 65%).

The performance of the state government

Total good

Total poor

Implementing an effective health policy

8%

48%

Delivery of public health services

9%

51%

Management of public hospitals

6%

59%

Improving services in public hospitals

6%

65%

Increasing trust in public hospitals

7%

65%

Maintaining nursing numbers in public health services and hospitals

6%

67%

Improving quality of patient care

7%

60%

Maintaining public sector workers’ employment conditions

4%

73%

Managing the state’s budget and economy

6%

59%

• Increasing trust in public hospitals (poor 65%).

The survey suggests nurses and midwives perceive the government to have a poor regard towards public sector workers.

Just over half (51%) of nurses and midwives said they thought the O’Farrell Government did not value public sector workers.

Thirty-four per cent thought the state government was indifferent towards them.

As bad as their perception of the government’s performance was, nurses and midwives expect it to get even worse. Almost half believe it plans to remove the legal rights for unions to genuinely negotiate pay and conditions.

The importance of ratios

To the profession

To patient care

Very important

77%

81%

Quite important

18%

15%

A little important

2%

2%

Not very important

1%

1%

Don’t know

2%

2%

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 15

COVER STORY

t h g i l h g i h s d a New s o i t a r r o f d e e urgent n ched The NSWNMA has laun two new television ads our advocating for ratios in and emergency departments on paediatric wards.

RN s, Jillian Thurlow, an The ads star two nurse o talks about the urgent wh from Maitland Hospital ergency departments, and em r ou in ios rat for ’s ed ne from Sydney Children Sara Thornton, an RN the complexities of car ing ut Hospital, who talks abo tric wards. dia pae r ou on for children

vere chest pain EMERGENCSeY

EMERGNoEhoNspCitaYl beds available

PATIENT “1:3 NURSE TO RATIOS NOW.” JILLIAN THURLOW, L RN, MAITLAND HOSPITAnurses. More nurses in re mo d , “We definitely nee provide care that is better ED would allow us to e car the get ll ients. They’ safer and faster to our pat That’s really important it. d nee y the en wh d they nee nurses we’re passionate ED As y. for us in emergenc jus t t a job, it’s something about what we do. It’s no live it.” we do every day – and we 16 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

Ylled violence C EMERGEN fue Drug

EMERGENPaCtieYnt safety at risk

4 tries to dress a leg

ine

5 attempts to give medic

WORK “WHEN YOU TR S IN PAEDRIA EDICTO YOU GET USING THINGS TAKER.” A BIT LONG , SYDNEY SARA THORNTON, RN L ITA SP HO N’S CHILDRE children and mak“Our main focus is on the that their families ing sure they are safe, and and that they are e, are happy with their car need.With more y the t tha e car the getting all to give that familynurses we would be able all about. I think centred care that we are one of the most is ios rat the campaign for by the Association.” important campaigns run

2 times to explain a procedur

e

3 goes to take blood THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 17

NSWNMA CAMPAIGNS

s ie it iv t c a n ig a p m a C

Coffs Harbour

Byron Bay

K EC DUR DESK YO

Cooma

Westmead

Braidwood

Mullumbimby Scott and Luke, semifinalists, My Kitchen Rules 18 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

Kempsey

heat up

Maitland Lower Hunter Community and Maitland Hospital delegates meet Robyn Parker MP.

Manning

Keller (WSFM101.7) Brendan ‘Jonesy’ Jones and Amanda ort. supp with Laura McKone lend their

Momentum has been building in our Ratios Put Patient Safety First campaign as nurses and midwives throughout the state reach out to the community to send a message to our politicians that we are passionate about improving ratios.

Many branches have formed local campaign committees to plan and implement local activities. Many have achieved prominence for the campaign with high profile local campaign launches.

Deck Your Desk has been a popular solidarity action within workplaces to help build engagement with the campaign and to spread awareness within workplaces.

The theme of the activity was to ask the Premier if he is listening to the calls from nurses and midwives and his own parliamentary colleagues for improved and extended ratios. (see photo on page 12-13 – it seems he is not!)

Members have also been forming delegations and visiting their local MP to explain our campaign and to seek their support.

Many personalities have also lent their support to the campaign.

To see who visit Nurse Uncut www.nurseuncut.com.au/

Blacktown

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 19

MAY DAY MARCH

20 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

May Day’s ongoing relevance Nurses and midwives have had to struggle across the centuries to improve their working conditions and fight for a better society.

This year’s May Day march witnessed a renewed vigour in marking the day to celebrate workers, with many unions, including the NSWNMA, entering floats in the march in the state’s capital.

NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes said that while May Day was a day to celebrate our achievements as a labour movement, it was also an occasion to reflect on our current challenges.

Beaches hospital will be run by the private, for-profit sector, now we have another challenge – protecting our public health system against privatisation.

“It doesn’t matter if it is a private forprofit company or a non-government organisation – they all want to take money out of the public system for their own benefit.

“The Public Health System should be about delivering services using all of the money available to it for service delivery.

“We are still all engaged in important struggles. We are engaged in a struggle “For workers, the loss of the public health to deliver safe patient care. We are trying system would be a massive attack on their to expand ratios into areas where we rights and conditions and their financial don’t have them and to improve them ability to survive in a tough world.” in areas where we do have them.

The NSWNMA won Inaugural Shield “With the state government’s for best union particpation at the Sydney May Day march. announcement that the new Northern

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 21

STAFFING WIN

Theatre nurses win more staff Crackdown on unreasonable overtime brings relief to Wollongong Hospital’s dangerously understaffed operating theatres.

“We achieved some good outcomes.”

— jacqueline mcgovern, clinical team leader

22 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

THEATRE NURSES AT WOLLONGONG Hospital won a staff increase through a campaign that included refusing to work excessive overtime.

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District has approved an additional 4.4 fulltime equivalent (FTE) nursing positions, including a designated clinical products nurse and holding bay nurse, plus more clerical staff and operating assistants – about nine FTE theatre positions in total.

The approvals followed a seven-month campaign in which nurses stuck to Award conditions and sought to apply minimum staff levels closer to standards set by the Australian College of Operating Room Nurses (ACORN).

Assistant General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, Judith Kiejda, said theatre nurses had put up with almost two years of chronic understaffing.

“Theatres were understaffed yet there were no proper controls on the theatre lists and nurses had to scramble to find people to do overtime every day,” she said. “They were exhausted and living on a knife edge, worried about their ability to give proper care.”

Judith said nurses came under tremendous pressure to abandon their campaign, especially after it resulted in the cancellation of some elective surgery.

“Theatre nurses deserve our congratulations for drawing a line in the sand and holding together as a team in order to bring about improvements to a dangerous and unsustainable situation,” she said.

“We achieved some good outcomes,” Clinical Team Leader Jacqueline McGovern said. “We now have a designated clinical products nurse and a check-in nurse helping the front desk, plus a number of positions have been filled including the Senior Nurse Manager 5. Other positions such as NUM 3 are being advertised.

“We have increased staff numbers to ACORN standards 2008, which is an improvement.”

Registered nurse Jenny Spillane also welcomed the staff increase and said preadmission of patients and booking of theatre lists had improved.

“The situation was untenable. Everyone was fed up with having to do overtime, there was a high level of sick leave and record numbers off on workers compensation,” she said. “We sent email after email saying ‘we just don’t have enough staff ’ but management was in complete denial, telling us we were fully staffed.”

Inadequate theatre staffing was an issue as far back as March 2011, when nurses first raised it as a workloads issue. The Illawarra Mercury newspaper reported that some theatre staff were being asked to work double shifts – a situation described as unfair to nurses and unsafe to patients by the then opposition health spokeswoman, now health minister, Jillian Skinner.

After management reviews of staff levels went nowhere, in May 2012 NSWNMA members voted to introduce measures to ensure safe patient care until additional staff members were permanently employed.

Theatre nurses at Wollongong hospital celebrate their win.

Members resolved that at least three nurses would be present in theatre during an operation, in line with minimum ACORN staffing requirements.

Staff required to wear a lead apron for more than an hour would take a 10-minute break as provided for in the Award, and nurses would not do work supposed to be done by non-nursing staff, such as cleaning of theatres and positioning of patients.

In July 2012 nurses called an extraordinary workloads committee meeting to seek employment of agency staff as an interim measure, but the Local Health District CEO refused. The Illawarra Mercury editorialised that understaffing of theatres was “shameful” and “outright dangerous”.

Members voted for stronger action including restricting overtime and refusing to extend shifts. Permanent part-time staff members agreed they would no longer routinely work above their contracted hours in order to backfill vacancies.

These steps were designed to stop theatres being booked on the assumption that nurses would work overtime.

Jacqueline McGovern described union meetings as “feisty” as they attempted to balance the interests of staff who were working overtime under duress, with other, mostly part-time nurses, who wanted extra shifts.

Jenny Spillane said no one wanted patients to miss out on surgery and people sometimes did extra shifts and overtime so operations could proceed.

“Keeping the group together was hard at times but eventually everyone came on board,” she said.

By the end of July operations were frequently being rescheduled to ensure lists were not overbooked. Local Health District (LHD) management twice threatened to take the nurses to the Industrial Relations Commission unless the “bans” were removed.

The union replied that this would give nurses an opportunity to show the Commission that a staff shortage existed and that nurses were simply working in accordance with their Award. The LHD had been given enough time to recruit nurses or approve agency staff and the campaign would continue.

Jenny said nurses came under “immense pressure” to abandon their campaign.

“Some of our meetings with the administration were very unpleasant. But the surgeons generally supported our aims and our work-to-rule campaign, including in discussions with the board.”

Staff increases were finally approved in November 2012 – 20 months after nurses first raised the workloads issue.

“Management was in complete denial, telling us we were fully staffed.”

— jenny spillane, rn

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 23

PRIVATISATION

Privatised public restarts on the Norther Health Minister Jillian Skinner has announced she will invite expressions of interest from the private sector to design, construct, operate and maintain a public hospital on Sydney’s northern beaches.

“The government is, in effect, paying for the hospital twice and giving it away.”

—NSW auditor general on the privatisation of port macquarie private Hospital

24 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

THE NEW NORTHERN BEACHES HOSPITAL WILL SEE acute services relocated from Mona Vale and Manly hospitals.

Mona Vale Hospital will be redeveloped to provide complementary health services including urgent care, subacute care and palliative care. Manly Hospital will close when the Northern Beaches Hospital opens.

“Partnering with a private or not-for-profit hospital operator will allow the hospital to be built faster, delivering better value for the taxpayers of New South Wales,” Health Minister Skinner said.

NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes disagrees with the claim that a privately managed hospital will deliver better value.

“Public hospitals are not about profit they are about providing essential services.That is why they should always stay in government hands. Governments are accountable to the people for the quality of the services they provide.

Private corporations are not subject to the same level of public accountability,” he said.

“We have been down this route before with the Port Macquarie Hospital. It was a fiasco that cost the New South Wales taxpayer dearly, as well as local patients and nurses.

“Privatisation did not deliver better patient care for the local community. Funding for elective surgery was insufficient and there were very long waiting lists.

“Nurses at Port Macquarie Base lived in something of an industrial twilight zone after the privatisation of the hospital in 1996. At the time it was contentious and divisive that nurses were working alongside each other under two different awards, with different pay and conditions.

“The private contractors also pushed strongly to introduce a model of care that would have used AiNs to reduce the number of RNs.” The new Northern Beaches Hospital will be built on a 6.5-hectare site at Frenchs Forest. The winning tender will be identified in 2014, with main building construction scheduled to start in 2015. Completion is due in 2018.

Public money for private profit A new hospital is welcome.

Private management is not, says Northern Beaches nurse Lyn Hopper.

health n Beaches Private ownership of public hospitals: proven failure The new Northern Beaches hospital will not be the first such public-private partnership in the public health sector. A previous experiment at Port Macquarie Hospital proved to be a fiasco at great expense to the public purse.

In 1994, a Coalition government led by Nick Greiner entered into a 20-year agreement with a private operator for the Port Macquarie Hospital to be built, owned and operated.

The initial operator was HCOA. It was taken over by Mayne Health, which in turn eventually sold its hospitals to Affinity Health.

The state government took legal action against Mayne for breach of contract in relation to the proposed transfer of the hospital to Affinity.

Under the privatisation contract, the government paid the private operator to treat public patients.

The New South Wales Department of Health had to pay a monthly “availability” charge to the hospital over 20 years, estimated to total more than $243 million, plus capital servicing and other service charges.

Unlike other public-private partnerships, the hospital would have continued to be owned by the company after the 20year contract expired.

In 1996, the NSW auditor-general cited the hospital as an example of the public sector being left to shoulder burden and risk, saying: “The government is, in effect, paying for the hospital twice and giving it away.”

Problems that plagued the Port Macquarie hospital under private ownership included funding for elective surgery running out before the end of the financial year, and very long waiting lists for surgery.

At the time a Buy Us Back campaign run by a communitybased action group and nurses lobbied strongly for a return to public ownership, which eventually happened in February 2005.

“For the past 20 years nursing and medical staff of Manly and Mona Vale hospitals have been begging for a bigger, newer hospital on the Northern Beaches to replace our two old and inefficient hospitals.

Minister Skinner has announced a new 423-bed hospital for the Northern Beaches. Hurray? But no, it is going to be a privately designed, built and maintained public hospital.

This is the beginning of the privatisation of the public health system. Already the federal government gives public money to the private system through the Medicare rebate, but this new Northern Beaches hospital takes the use of public money for health care to a whole new level.

The O’Farrell Government is giving money earmarked for public health directly to a private corporation.

This private operator has an obligation to shareholders to make a profit so the concern arises as to how well the chronic patients will be treated. The average private patient is high turnover, not the elderly and chronic patients found in our public hospitals.

There is also the issue of financial accountability. With the government giving public money to a private corporation they move away from the controls of Local Health Districts, thus moving the accountability of public monies another arms length away.

Privately maintained public hospitals have been tried before in New South Wales – look at the disaster that was Port Macquarie.

It had many disputes about needing extra funding.

Eventually the New South Wales government had to buy it back at an exorbitant cost. It was a huge loss to the public purse as a result of the government attempting to privatise public facilities.

We have fought long and hard for our current ratios but private operators will do anything to resist them. They cost money and the private operators have an obligation to provide profits to their shareholders. There is a very big question as to how long the new private Northern Beaches hospital will maintain ratios, if they have them at all.”

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 25

FILM FESTIVAL

3

A mini Cannes in Waterloo 1

2 26 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

4

5

The fourth Nurses and Midwives’ Short Film Festival witnessed the world release of 12 films, all created by Association members.

1. Grace Moscatelli who entered her film Nursing is a lifestyle.

2. Winner Ciara Rafferty celebrates with her friends and suporters.

3. Judith Peterson, Angela Medwin and Leonie Keen.

4. And the winners are: (l-r) Asobede Dawodu (Echoes), Carolyn Guichard (The Soul Catcher), and Ciara Rafferty (Arthur). Leonie Keen who won the Maureen Pulhmann encouragement award for The Phone Call.

5. The winner Ciara Rafferty with judge and compere, Patrick McInerney (left) Brett Holmes and Michael Dwyer from First State Super, our main sponsor.

TV and documentary producer, Patrick McInerney, who worked for many years on the popular hospital documentary, RPA, launched the fourth festival Issues such as mental health nursing, grief, community nursing, what it is like to be a nurse and childhood illness were among those covered in the festival’s entries.

This year’s winner was Ciara Rafferty for her very witty entry Arthur. Ciara won a $5000 prize sponsored by First State Super.

Second prize went to Carolyn Guichard for The Soul Catcher and third prize went to Asobede Dawodu for Echoes. Leonie Keen won the Maureen Pulhmann encouragement award for The Phone Call.

The inaugural Nurses and Midwives’ short film Festival was first held in 2009 and is now a biennial event on the New South Wales arts calendar.

You can watch all of the festival’s short films on the NSWNMA website.

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 27

NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK

NSWNMA member Ann Maree Battersby and Prime Minister Julia Gillard speak with a Tasmanian patient Peggy Kendall at a NBN launch.

28 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

Pioneering remote care

PHOTO BY JANE DEMPSTER

/ NEWSPIX

A Hunter region study shows the potential to remotely manage chronic illness in the home via high-speed broadband internet.

Nurse Anne Maree Battersby with Catherine Bradley using the Intel Health Guide remote patient monitoring system at Catherine's home in Sydney, New South Wales.

A NEWCASTLE NURSE HAS HELPED PIONEER THE use of an in-home patient monitoring system in Australian homes, showing the potential of high-speed broadband to revolutionise the care of people with chronic illness.

NSWNMA member Ann Maree Battersby was the clinical nurse specialist assisting a pilot study of the Intel Health Guide patient monitoring system across the Hunter region of New South Wales.

The study involved 57 community patients with one or more chronic diseases such as congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The study ran for 18 months and patients took part for about six months on average.

Each patient was given a home monitor linked by a broadband internet connection to staff at Hunter Nursing, a community-nursing provider based in the Newcastle suburb of Toronto.

The touch-screen monitor connected patients to devices that measured indicators such as blood pressure, oxygenation and weight.The monitor also issued patient reminders, conducted surveys and displayed educational videos.

Ann Maree said the study showed patients could benefit from remote monitoring and care, using the latest medical technology with existing standard internet speeds.

She said the much faster internet speeds provided

by the National Broadband Network would produce even better results. If rolled out across Australia, the NBN would allow nurses to remotely monitor and communicate with patients in their homes, wherever they live.

“The trial of the Intel health Guide allowed us to see a patient’s real data every day, rather than weekly or fortnightly, and to detect sudden problems and negative trends much earlier,”Ann Maree said.“Patients were given a set time each day to do their health sessions. The monitor sounded an alarm, the patient lifted the lid of the monitor and the session started straight away.

“The data was instantly transmitted to the care management program in the office where a nurse checked the results of each patient’s session every day.

We were therefore able to act quickly on whatever the data indicated.

“For instance, if blood pressure was showing high the nurse could speak to and see the patient via real-time video conference, make sure the patient was okay, get them to do their blood pressure again, and if necessary send a nurse or arrange to get them to a GP. “The system can send a report to the GP showing blood pressure results over a period of time.”

Ann Maree said the monitor also helped gauge the patient’s physical and mental state by asking Continued page 31 THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 29

NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK

“More and more specialist consultations will require improvements in speed and bandwidth.”

NBN is top priority for bush Rural health workers say high speed broadband is crucial to promote new models of care outside the big cities.

BUILDING THE NATIONAL BROADBAND Network was the top priority recommendation from a recent national rural health conference organised by the National Rural Health Alliance of 13 national bodies, including the Australian Nursing Federation.

The conference called on all political parties to commit to the delivery of highspeed broadband to rural and remote areas, warning that to do otherwise would entrench “the communications divide” between rural and metropolitan Australia.

The alliance says high broadband speeds are crucial for facilitating new and emerging best-practice models of health care, such as those that incorporate high definition videoconferences, data exchange and highresolution image transfer.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, the Rural Health Alliance said 30 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

many valuable applications for telehealth and e-health were already technically feasible but only available where there was fibre connection – a key feature of the NBN. These include real time videoconferencing and the transfer of digital images such as x-rays and CAT scans.

“High-speed broadband will provide the platform for making these proven modalities (as well as those yet to be developed) available everywhere,” the submission stressed.

“A real time interactive videoconference consultation between a remote outpost where there are, for example, several burns patients following a serious accident, must be able to go ahead with the acute burns treatment specialist team at a major urban centre – possibly in another state.

“If the remote outpost is not part of

the state public hospital intranet or similar, the connection will rely on the internet.

The connection to and from the outpost should sustain a two-way, real-time conversation with good visualisation of the patients and their injuries.”

The submission said the NBN would help rural health providers to use the skills of city-based specialists in areas such as psychiatry and psychology, skin cancer assessments, eye health and in some areas of rehabilitation.

“While some such telehealth interactions may be possible with current connections in some of the better served rural areas, more and more specialist consultations will require improvements in speed and bandwidth.

“The specialist needs a high quality image, not just an idea of the patient’s face.

It must be possible to zoom in and visualise a wound or skin rash in sufficient detail to advise on management. More and more, the practitioner with the patient will also need this same quality of image for detailed, interactive advice from the specialist on what can be done locally and at home.”

The alliance pointed out that mental health services were increasingly being provided via the internet and had been found to be effective, particularly for young people.

The NBN will “enable people living in rural and remote areas to have the same access to online mental health support as people in metropolitan areas.”

The submission also warned that health professionals would be reluctant to go to rural and remote areas where there was inadequate broadband access.

“The considerations here include access to professional support, ongoing professional education and e-health technologies, as well as maintaining social links,” it said. “The NBN will enable rural and remote health practitioners to access necessary support, advice and continuing education to improve services and health outcomes for people in the bush.”

Continued from page 29

the patient to record how they were feeling by ticking boxes.

“If people indicated they were depressed or anxious we could immediately talk to them ‘face-to-face’ via the monitor.”

The monitor also screened ondemand, educational videos dealing with issues such as blood pressure, medication, diabetes and heart disease.

Intel sent Ann Maree to its United States headquarters to be trained in the use of its Health Guide and on her return to Australia she trained other nurses. Ann Maree said patients found the equipment easy to use.

“They liked the security of doing a health session every day and being monitored by a nurse every day in the comfort of their own homes.

“We were able to reduce the number of required home visits and yet the nurses got to know the patients a lot better.

“There was less travelling for patients too – the system made them more independent in their own homes.

“There was less need to visit the doctor and we kept patients out of hospital through early detection of problems such as chest infections.

“We had very good feedback from patients. When the pilot study finished one lady said she felt she was losing a friend.”

A patient from outside the Hunter region, Peggy Kendall from the town of Scottsdale in northeast Tasmania, also took part in the study. Scottsdale, about 60 kilometres from Launceston, was one of the first towns in Australia to be connected to the NBN. Mrs Kendall initially relied on a standard internet connection, until she was hooked up to the NBN for Prime Minister Gillard’s launch of the network in the Tasmanian town of Midway Point, 250km from Scotttsdale.

At the NBN launch, Ann Maree helped the Prime Minister speak to Mrs Kendall via the at-home monitor. Ann Maree said videoconferencing over the NBN’s much-faster internet speed was a big improvement, producing a sharp picture and clear sound with no delay in transmission.

Ann Maree is available for consultation on the home monitoring system.

For more information email annmaree.battersby@gmail.com

WHAT IS THE NBN? The National Broadband Network (NBN) is a high-speed network designed to reach all Australian premises. Its supporters say it can be part of the solution to rising health care costs, by allowing Australians to access better quality care in the home.

Using NBN-assisted live video, health care professionals can: • Monitor a patient’s vital signs such as blood pressure and blood oxygen levels; • Manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma; and • Assess progression of conditions such as skin cancer and dementia.

The NBN also has the potential to help with the growing demand for aged care by: • Connecting elderly Australians with health professionals from their homes, using video; • Reducing social isolation through video connection with friends and family; and • Lengthening the time spent at home before going to an aged care facility.

The NBN will be capable of connecting all homes, hospitals, laboratories, GPs, super clinics, pharmacies, allied health clinics and specialists. This could make Australia’s health system more efficient and productive by: • Improving medical record management, access and security; • Reducing duplication of expensive and time consuming tests; and • Assisting in the continuing education of health care professionals.

Poor state of rural health About seven million people or 32% of the total Australian population live outside major cities.

On average, they have lower levels of education, lower incomes and poorer health risk factor profiles than people in the major cities.

People in these areas also have lower levels of access to health and other services; almost all health professionals are less prevalent, some dramatically so.

The need to travel to specialist services in capital cities, especially for ongoing treatment, can greatly disrupt occupations and family life.

Death rates in regional and remote areas are, on average, 1.05-1.15 and 1.2-1.7 times higher than in major cities, according to the National Rural Health Alliance.

It estimates that overall life expectancy is up to four years lower in rural, regional and remote areas than in Australia’s major cities.

Suicide rates have consistently been found to be higher in rural than in metropolitan areas. Adolescent and young adult males, especially those in rural or remote areas, have particularly high suicide rates, the alliance says.

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 31

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Q&A

ASK JUDITH Certified back pain I work in a public hospital and recently had three days sick leave due to back pain, which was not the result of a workrelated injury. My manager has requested I supply a medical certificate. I did not go to the doctor but I did go to my physiotherapist for treatment. Can my manager enforce the provision of a medical certificate?

Yes. Subclause (i) (c) of Clause 37, Sick Leave, of the Public Health System Nurses’ and Midwives’ (State) Award 2011 states: “All periods of sickness shall be certified to by the Medical Superintendent or Director of Nursing of the employer or by the employee’s own legally-qualified medical practitioner or dentist. The employer may dispense with the requirement of a medical certificate where the absence does not exceed 2 consecutive days or where, in the employer’s opinion, the circumstances are such as not to warrant such requirement.”

There is also a Ministry of Health Policy Directive 2009-050 that deals with the Management of Sick Leave. It includes the following: “Written certificates in support of sick leave applications may be issued by registered health service providers as listed hereunder: Registered medical practitioners; or Other persons listed in the relevant award for particular award classifications (e.g. the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, the Director of Nursing); or For a period of up to one week of sick leave, registered health service providers such as: Dentists, Optometrists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Physiotherapists, Oral and maxillo-facial surgeons, Nurse practitioners, and At the Director-General’s discretion, other registered health service providers.”

When it comes to your rights and entitlements at work, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary JUDITH KIEJDA has the answers.

concerns around procedural matters during the meeting. It does not allow them to answer questions on behalf of the member they represent in respect to any allegations the member is being questioned about. The role of your union representative is to ensure that member(s) are afforded “procedural fairness” during any fact finding investigation or meeting that may end up with disciplinary action being taken by the employer.

They are there to guide and advise you through the meeting process and, depending on the outcome, any follow up work or support necessary.

The use of restraint I am an RN working in a public mental health in-patient facility. I am aware there have been recent efforts to reduce and (where possible) eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint in New South Wales public mental health services. Can you advise where I can find more information about this?

The NSW Ministry of Health has a policy directive about this, it is PD2012_035, Aggression, Seclusion & Restraint in Mental Health Facilities in NSW and is available on NSW Health’s website at www.health.nsw.gov.au.PD2012_035 replaces PD2007_054 and outlines in detail the methods of managing aggressive behaviour.

Staff working in this environment should read it.

When to register?

I am a student undertaking a Bachelor of Nursing program and would like advice on how far in advance of completing my studies I should apply to AHPRA to organise my registration?

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website www.ahpra.gov.au suggests that students should apply for registration four to six weeks prior to the end of their course to enable the application process to be undertaken and for them to be admitted on the register. I suggest a phone call to AHPRA to confirm this is correct.

Silent witness My employer has asked me to attend a Fact Finding Investigation (FFI) in regard to some allegations made against me. A union representative is supporting me and the employer is saying my representative must be a “silent witness”. Is this correct?

No. The case law on this matter has recently been extended and clarified in a case in the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia called Vong v Sika Australia Pty Ltd [2010] FMCA, where the court found an employee had the right to be represented by a union representative during disciplinary proceedings.

What this means is your union representative is able to raise

Continuing allowance while on leave I am an RN in a public hospital with an advanced diploma for which I receive the Continuing Education Allowance (CEA). I am about to go on leave and would like to know if I am entitled to the CEA while on leave?

Yes you are as the CEA is payable on all paid leave under the Public Health System Nurses’ and Midwives (State) Award 2011, clause 13 Continuing Education Allowance, subclause (XI): “The allowances are payable during periods of paid leave taken by an employee.”

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 33

SWITCH TO DIRECT DEBIT AND WIN

a wonderful escape to

Norfolk Island

Start paying your NSWNMA fees by Direct Debit for the chance to win a holiday for two to Norfolk Island!

The prize includes return airfares for two from Sydney or Brisbane International airport with Air New Zealand; 4 nights accommodation at the boutique Poinciana Cottages; car hire; half-day orientation island tour; sunset cliff top fish fry; breakfast bush walk with NI Touring; Mastering Taste chef school with Hilli’s Restaurant & Wine Bar; Two Chimney Winery platter and bottle of wine; and a welcome pack on arrival for each person.

Norfolk Island, the wonderful Island destination, is just a 2 and a half hours short flight away with Air New Zealand.

There’s more to Norfolk Island than you may think.

Relax over a famous “Vineyard Platter”, enjoyed with a local glass or two, on the Cellar Door verandah at the Two Chimney’s Winery; learn to cook like a chef with Hilli’s Restaurant & Wine Bar Mastering Taste Cooking Tour. Whether you are having a quick bite to eat between activities, or settling in for an extended dining experience, Norfolk Island’s dining experience

is enhanced by the seasonal, homegrown freshness of its produce.

Try your best swing at the Norfolk Island Golf Course, dramatically situated along the rugged coastline. Snorkel in Emily Bay, explore around the islands historic salt farms from under the turquoise water or escape for the afternoon at one of the many picnic spots along the cliff tops.

We look forward to welcoming you to our 360º of Wonder.

Contact Adventure World on 1300 295 161 or email info@adventureworld.com.au for more information about Norfolk Island.

Conditions: the prize is not transferable or redeemable in cash; prize is valid for 12 months after the draw date; flights and accommodation are subject to availability; times of tours and availability are subject to change without notice.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN WIN s # s #ANCEL YOUR PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS AND START PAYING YOUR FEES ANCEL YOUR PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS AND START PAYING YOUR FEES through direct debit and you will go into the lucky draw and/or s # s #ONVINCE YOUR COLLEAGUES TO CONVERT FROM PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS ONVINCE YOUR COLLEAGUES TO CONVERT FROM PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS to direct debit, and you and each of your colleagues who switch to direct debit will go into the lucky draw and/or s 3 s 3IGN UP A NEW MEMBER USING THE DIRECT DEBIT METHOD OF IGN UP A NEW MEMBER USING THE DIRECT DEBIT METHOD OF w member will go into paying their fees, and you and the new the lucky draw draw..

luxuryy holiday!

Direct debit is not only the easiest and most convenient way to pay your membership, but switching over could win you a luxur Don’tt risk your membership lapsing from changing workplaces. W With ith direct debit you are always protected on the job.

Don’

Membership Application forms or Direct Debit forms can be downloaded from our website www www.nswnma.asn.au. .nswnma.asn.au.

Alternatively call the NSWNMA on 8595 1234 (metro area) or 1300 367 962 (non-metro area) for more information.

WHAT’S

SOCIAL MEDIA

HOT

NURSE UNCUT

THIS MONTH

A BLOG FOR AUSTRALIAN NURSES AND MIDWIVES www.nurseuncut.com.au

Sign up for the weekly email that alerts you to new posts.

Nurse Uncut is also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NurseUncutAustralia. And on Twitter @nurseuncut

Nurses must stop “eating their young” www.nurseuncut.com.au/cne-nurses-must-stop-eating-their-young/

A clinical nurse educator stands up for new grad nurses, who she thinks are often treated badly by experienced staff.

When I am old and gay (or lesbian or trans ...) www.nurseuncut.com.au/compassionate-care-lgbti/

How can aged care staff address the needs of gay and lesbian people?

I’m an unemployed new grad www.nurseuncut.com.au/experience-im-an-unemployed-new-grad/

An unemployed accountant decided to retrain as a nurse in order to get into a stable job market – little did he know.

A student nurse’s poem Nursing the Nation www.nurseuncut.com.au/a-student-nurses-poem-nursing-the-nation

British student nurse Molly Case caused a sensation with her beautiful poem at the Royal College of Nursing Congress in England.

Drugs and alcohol: a discussion www.nurseuncut.com.au/a-substantial-discussion/

Drug and alcohol nurse Max Hacker hosted a public forum on what’s working and what’s not working in drug and alcohol policies.

Living with coal dust www.nurseuncut.com.au/living-with-coal-dust/

One Newcastle family’s story of living with dust and the clang of the coal trains.

Video – Beth Mohle of the QNU www.nurseuncut.com.au/queensland-health-cuts-beth-mohle-of-the-qnu/

A video interview with Beth Mohle of the Queensland Nurses Union about savage cuts to health in that state.

Mental health nurses in uniform? www.nurseuncut.com.au/mental-health-nurses-in-uniform

The pros and cons of mental health nurses wearing uniforms.

ONLINE

nsw nurses & midwives

@nurseuncut

Follow us on Twitter >> NSWNurses & Midwives @nswnma Watch us on YouTube >> SupportNurses Connect with us on Facebook >> www.facebook.com/nswnma >> www.facebook.com/agedcarenurses >> www.facebook.com/safepatientcare THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 35

NURSES AND MIDWIVES IT’S IMPORT IMPORTANT ORT TANT A TO TO NOTE NOTE You Y ou o must be a

FINANCIAL MEMBER of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association to ensure your entitlement to

2 2 2

ALL ASSOCIATION ASSOCIAATTION SERV SERVICES ACCIDENT JOURNEY INSURANCE PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

All these services are only available to members who are financial members.

Make sure your membership remains financial by switching from payroll deductions to Direct Debit.

UNSURE IF YOU ARE FINANCIAL? It’s It’s easy! Ring and check today on 8595 1234 (metro) or 1300 367 962 (rural).

Download, complete and return your Direct Debit form to the Association.

www.nswnma.asn.au www ww w.nswnma.asn.au .nswnma.a .

Authorised by B.Holmes, General Secretary, NSWNMA SW

SOCIAL MEDIA

WHAT

NURSES & MIDWIVES SAID & LIKED on facebook

Keep me logged in

www.facebook.com/nswnma

May Day march NSWNMA’s entry in the May Day parade brought back fond memories for some.

STOP PRESS

Forgot your Password?

We asked our friends on s ok to copy and paste thi ebo Fac page: message on their profile has flatly nt me ern gov ll rre ’Fa “O claim to rejected the NSWNMA t ratios”. ien pat tosenur e rov imp ple It reached 40,000 peo over 2 days. !

THANKS FOR SHARING

I still love the old nursing uniform tradition. Everyone knew who was who easily. Love the photos and the campaign.

How wonderful to see the old white veil. I think the general public had more respect for nurses when we wore one.

Nothing like a uniform to reassure.

I remember wearing one of those uniforms ... memories of when we looked like nurses, not pyjama wearers, lol.

Campaigning Foodies A photo of campaign cupcakes drew a humorous rebuke.

Nurses in aged care Have your say about dementia care for the NSWNMA submission to the Senate inquiry

Does gender matter?

What happens when gay, lesbian or transsexual people end up in aged care?

How do you respond? How does your facility respond?

New blood We carried the story of a new grad that could not get onto a new grad program or into any other work.

Go with the nurse patient ratios but not the cakes! Enough overweight nurses in the profession at the moment. Think healthy, NSWNMA! As the family member of someone currently in hospital who was transferred from a care facility, it would be fantastic if the nursing home could have taken the time to share a one-page profile of my relative – not only about her medical needs, but also her likes and dislikes, to make her stay in hospital a little less stressful. E.g. “prefers to be seated near a window when out of bed”.

It’s always the little things about their routine that are vitally important.

The training of staff is well under what is needed.

Biggest issue is lack of staff. If there was more staff, activities and interventions could be more tailored for residents to reduce the episodes of behaviour.

Treat them the exact same way as you would any other resident!

But the article argues that they are not “the same”.

They are living, breathing people with a heart and soul. They all bleed red blood like we do, how aren’t they the same? Their sexual preference shouldn’t matter; if they need aged care give it to them, the same as you would anyone else. It’s their choice to be gay/transgender and it’s our choice to treat them with dignity and respect.

No human being should ever be denied the right to health care or the right to be respected and treated with dignity.

I find it amazing how so many new nursing grads are struggling to find employment at various health facilities around Australia. If the state governments reduce health costs in order to trim budgets, it will to some degree cost more later on to make up the shortfall. It also means that as nurses retire in Australia there will be less experienced nurses available, costing more to deal with later on.

This is ridiculous. We still encourage the 457 visa (and I was a recipient once upon a time) but won’t give work to our new Australian graduates!

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 37

NURSING RESEARCH ONLINE

If you are looking for smart, independent, evidence-based analysis and discussion of the current issues in health, The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/au) is a great place to start.

Tough choices: how to rein in Australia’s rising health bill

Explainer: what is health rationing?

Stephen Duckett, Cassie McGannon, Grattan Institute Health spending is eating up more and more of government budgets, both state and federal. In fact, government health spending grew 74% over the past decade, far faster than GDP, which grew 46% above CPI. Health spending started from a large base too. Australian governments are spending almost A$42 billion more this year in real terms on health, than they did a decade ago, compared to A$28 billion more on welfare and A$22 billion more on education.

For government budgets, health is a big deal and getting bigger. Health expenses are 19% of Australian government budgets (state and federal), compared to 17% in 2002- 03.

Although all categories of government health spending are growing, some are growing faster than others.

Anthony Scott, University of Melbourne Any mention of the “R� word in health care immediately brings to mind cuts to services and not being able to access care. It also conjures images of penny-pinching bureaucrats, managers and accountants who have nothing better to do but crack the fiscal whip. Politicians publicly avoid the “R� word if they can; while doctors fight to retain the autonomy associated with doing “the best� for their patients regardless of the cost.

There’s no doubt the rationing debate needs to become more rational.

https://theconversation.com/tough-choices-how-to-rein-in-australias-risinghealth-bill-13658

ENROLLED ENROLLED NURSE STATE STTATTE

CONFERENCE 2013

The Enrolled Nurse Professional Association NSW are pleased to invite you to the 20th Enrolled Nurse state conference being held in Sydney at the Mercure Hotel. The conference is organized

by ENPPA enabling deleggates a to discuss and disseminate information to other nurses, forge friendships and networking with colleagues.

HIGHLIGHTS c 20 years On c Have your Say on your Role c What’s around the corner for EN’s c Wound Care c The use of a Robot in Surger y

DATE: DATE: 19–20 September TIME: 8am 9am Registration Registraation VENUE: Mercure Mercure Hotel 818-820 George Georgge Street, Sydney COST (for both da days): ys): Members $310 Non Members $340 (includes all meals) ENPPA Exec w ENPA would likee ould lik to in invite vite all deleg delegates gates a to join us for drinks and canop canopy’s y’s at the conclusion of the Thursdayy Prog Thursda Programme. ramme.

This is a ggreat reat wa wayy to netw ork and met other network delegates deleg ates and for form m ggreat reat friendships.

ENQUIRIES & REGISTRA REGISTRATION: ATION: T Enrolled Nurse Professional Association PO Box 775, KINGSW KINGSWOOD OOD NSW 2747 44EL s %MAIL RJROSEBY EL s %MAIL RJROSEBY GGMAIL COM MAIL COM 2EBECCA SMUDGE 2EBECCA SMUDGE HHOTMAIL COM #HRISTINE OTMAIL COM #HRISTINE . " %-0,/9%23 2%15)2).' !. ).6/)#% CONTACT . " %-0,/9%23 2%15)2).' !. ).6/)#% CONTACT 2OZ n GAROZN 2 OZ n GAROZN OOPTUSNET COM AU PTUSNET COM AU

https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-health-rationing13667

A conversation that promises savings worth dying for Peter Saul, University of Newcastle The truth is, dying is not only scary but also scarily expensive.

It’s widely known that the last year of our lives is when the most health-care dollars are spent. It’s less well known that essentially all of this is spent in the last 30 days of someone’s life.

As in a war, it’s the last, futile battle that is the most costly, in a number of ways. Because the costs of dying come in many forms – financial, opportunity, emotional and physical – all borne variously by the individual, the family and society.

Most Australians will die in acute care hospitals, and almost all will be suffering from chronic, incurable diseases. Which is, of course, not a good fit for an acute care system founded on the duty to rescue and to cure at all costs.

We can prove that talking to patients and their families reduces stress, that dying outside an intensive care unit is cheaper and less painful, that cancer patients managed through palliative care may out-survive those treated more aggressively, and that talking about death in advance is associated with both lower cost of dying and a better death. https://theconversation.com/a-conversation-that-promisessavings-worth-dying-for-13710

Six easy ways to improve health services Nicholas Graves, Queensland University of Technology Each year $120 billion is spent on health services in Australia. Yet, hardly any research is done to investigate whether this money is being used wisely.

Only 2.8% of the funding for National Health and Medical Research Council project grants was devoted to health services research projects in 2011.

Today’s climate of financial austerity means we must find ways to save costs and improve health outcomes by investing in the best possible organisation of health services. https://theconversation.com/six-easy-ways-to-improve-healthservices-9496

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 39

The Edith Cavell Trust

Scholarships for the academic year 2014 Applications for the Edith Cavell Trust Scholarships are now being accepted for 2014. Members or Associate Members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association or the Australian Nursing Federation (NSW Branch) are invited to apply.

Applicants should meet one of the following criteria: 1. Student nurses undertaking full-time courses leading to initial registration as a nurse or midwife.

2. Registered or enrolled nurses who wish to attend:

an accredited clinical nursing education course of six months or less, either full-time or part-time; an accredited nursing conference or seminar relevant to applicant’s clinical practice.

3. Properly constituted nursing organisations, faculties or schools of nursing or registered or enrolled nurses wishing to: attend full-time, relevant postbasic studies at an approved institution for a period or periods of more than six months;

undertake an academically approved research program in the theory and practice of nursing work; conduct or fund a relevant professional or clinical nursing educational program.

Applicants must be currently

registered with the Nurses and Midwives Board of Australia.

Applicants must use the official Edith Cavell Trust application form. Details of the Edith Cavell Trust Rules are available on request and will also be supplied with the application form.

For further information or forms, contact: The Secretary – The Edith Cavell Trust 50 O’Dea Ave, Waterloo, NSW 2017 T Mrs Glen Ginty on 1300 367 962 E gginty@nswnma.asn.au W www.nswnma.asn.au – click on ‘Education’

Applications close 5pm on 31 July 2013

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32

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THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 41

OBITUARY

Laureen Mary Hewson 17 December 1945 — 6 January 2013

[e\ Laureen – affectionately known as Laurie – commenced her general nursing training at St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst on 9 January 1964.

She went on to Mt St Margaret Maternity Hospital Sydney and completed her midwifery training in 1969. Laurie worked at Famenoth Private Hospital Randwick until 1971.

Laurie started work at the Mercy Hospital in Young in 1971 when Sister Ellen Higgins (then Sister Mary Simon) was matron.

In 1986 Laurie was appointed to the position of Nursing Unit Manager at Mount St Josephs’ Nursing Home,Young, where she remained a loved and highly-respected employee for 41 years. She held that position until her retirement in 2008 and after retirement continued on at the home as a casual employee Laurie was a practical person who was faithful to her God and devoted to her husband, children, family and friends.

Laurie had a great devotion to St. Mary McKillop, and

accepted her sudden illness and pending death peacefully and with dignity.

A tribute to Laurie came from the Sisters of Mercy at Mt St Joseph’s Nursing Home, who were very saddened by her sudden and unexpected death.

Laurie will be sadly missed by her nursing friends in Young, her friends who trained with her at St Vincent’s, her family and her large circle of friends.

May she rest in peace.

— Joy Cameron RN

Show you u ar are e a member of the NSWNMA by using your y speciall specially designed KeepCup. KeepCup was conceived and manufactur manufactured ed for the best environmental envir onmental outcome. It is colourful, lightweight, splashpr splashproof oof unbreakable, are to carry ar around. ound. and unbr eakable so they ar eakable, re easy e NSWNMA Keepcup $12. Quantity: To otal cost of order $ +$3 postage and handling per orderr.

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To order, fax the order form to Glen Ginty nty y, (02) 9662 1414 or post aterloo NSW 2017 to: NSWNMA, SWNMA, 50 O’Dea Av venue, Wa at .nswnma.asn.au Merchandise order forms also available on www www.nswnma.asn.au

BOOKS

BOOK ME Tabbner’s Nursing Care – Theory and Practice 6th Edition

Gabrielle Koutoukidis, Kate Stainton, Jodie Hughson j Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone Publishing Company j www.elsevierhealth.com.au j RRP $121.46 j ISBN 9780729641145

SPECIAL INTEREST

Australian Heroines of World War One (Gallipoli, Lemnos and the Western Front)

Susanna De Vries j Pirgos Press Publishing j www.susannadevries.com j RRP $34.95 j ISBN 9780980621648 This is the story of eight courageous women told through diaries, letters, original photos, paintings and maps. In Belgium, Louise Creed, a Sydney journalist caught in the besieged city of Antwerp, made a hair-raising escape from a German firing squad and lived to tell the tale. Grace Wilson, ordered to establish an emergency hospital on droughtridden Lemnos Island, arrived to find no drinking water, tents or medical supplies. Grace and her nurses tore up their petticoats to use as bandages, survived for weeks on bully beef and biscuits and saved the lives of thousands wounded at Lone Pine and the Nek. These are just two of the inspiring stories told in this book

Stories In Mental Health

Debra Nizette, Margaret McAllister, Peta Marks j Mosby/Elsevier/evolve/Resources j www.elsevierhealth.com.au j RRP $62.10 j ISBN 9780729540971 Stories in Mental Health: Reflection, Inquiry, Action features 27 video and audio interviews with a range of consumers, carers and clinicians who give a consumer voice to mental health care. Working from the premise that powerfully told stories can convey lessons remembered for life, these first-hand accounts are used to build empathy and understanding in nursing students. They also provide examples of innovative approaches to recovery-focused mental health care. All Bachelor of Nursing students in Australia and New Zealand must undertake mental health units, and mental health nursing is a specialist postgraduate area. As such, Stories in Mental Health can be a tool for undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students alike. Its usefulness extends to Diploma of Nursing, midwifery, community health and emergency nursing students, plus academics, mental health educators and teaching organisations.

Featuring significantly revised content this new edition of a popular nursing textbook reflects the current issues and scope of practice for all Enrolled Nurses, including recent regulation changes under National Registration. Procedural Guidelines are highlighted throughout the text, which also incorporates a “lifespan approach” and features four new chapters highlighting contemporary nursing issues: Leadership and Management; Older Adulthood; Acute Care; and Rural and Remote Care. The Australian and New Zealand team of editors and contributors has ensured a holistic, person-centered approach to client care, allowing students to appreciate the skill and scope required to be a competent EN. They have also strengthened the text’s critical thinking and problem solving elements for students, with review questions, clinical interest boxes and case studies for reflection and deeper learning. As well, the textbook features new, full-colour design, which highlights the pedagogy and provides ease of navigation and a visual aid to learning.

Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness (for Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Terrorism and Other Hazards) 3rd edition Edited by Tener Goodwin Veenema j Springer Publishing j www.springer.com j RRP $110 j ISBN 9780826108647

When disaster strikes nurses are on the front line helping those in need. Understanding the principles laid out in this book could help nurses to protect themselves, their families and their communities. Edited by an American expert in disaster preparedness and emergency management, the book provides information to help nurses develop the skills to efficiently and effectively respond to disasters or public health emergencies.

Meticulously researched and reviewed by experts in preparedness for terrorism, natural disasters, and other unanticipated health emergencies, the text has been revised and updated with new content, including 10 new chapters and a digital adjunct teacher’s guide with exercises and critical thinking questions.

Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine 18th Edition (2 Volumes)

Longo, Fauci, Kasper, Hauser, Jameson, Loscalzo McGraw Medical www.mcgraw-hill.com.au RRP $194.53 ISBN-9780071632447 and ISBN-9780071748872 Now presented in two, extensively revised volumes, expanded by the world’s leading physicians, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, offers a definitive review of disease mechanisms and management. All chapters have been updated to reflect the latest knowledge and evidence, and important new chapters have been added, including: Systems Biology in Health and Disease, The Human Microbiome, The Biology of Aging, and Neuropsychiatric Illnesses in War Veterans.

All books can be ordered through the publisher or your local bookshop. NSWNMA members can borrow the books featured here, and many more, from our Records and Information Centre (RIC).

Contact Jeannette Bromfield gensec@nswnma.asn.au or Cathy Matias 8595 2121 cmatias@nswnma.asn.au. All reviews by NSWNMA RIC Coordinator/Librarian Jeannette Bromfield. Some books are reviewed using information supplied and have not been independently reviewed.

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 43

ACN NURSING & HEALTH EXPOS Sunday 23 June

10am–3pm

G OL D COIN ON

E N TRY

Sydney Town Hall FFor or more info visit www www.acn.edu.au .acn.edu.au

Are you a registered nurse?

Have you considered a career in midwifery?

If you answered yes to both these questions, read on...

All applications for postgraduate midwifery student positions in NSW public hospitals and a small number of not for profit private hospitals for 2014 will be processed online through NSW Health.

Applicants are able to select up to six hospitals for their clinical training, and will be interviewed at their first preference hospital.

Applications open July 3, 2013.

Applicants will be required to provide a letter addressing the selection criteria, as part of their application.

For more information about the application process, go to: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/employment/Pages/Employment.aspx

Quality legal advice for NSWNMA members 2 Compensation and negligence claims 2 Motor vehicle claims 2 Wage loss claims 2 Industrial and Employment law

2 First Free Consultation for all members 2 Discounted rates for members on all matters 2 Free Standard Wills 2 No win – no charge*

Call the NSWNMA on 1300 367 962 and find out how you can access this great service.

Offices in Sydney, Newcastle and visiting offices in regional areas (by appointment). *Conditions apply 44 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

e m i t p f u o r b s 2 u ’ r 01 tI o sc 3! t

W With ith every pur purchase rchase c of a Scrub TTop, op op, o you yo ou rreceive e eceive this campaign TT-Shirt --Shirt for

FREE!

Order your NSWNMA campaign scrub uniforms for conference and rally times, and make an impression!

SCRUB TOP

Over the past few months, NSWNMA and Total Image Group have been working together to create a new fit for purpose scrubs range. The new campaign uniform range endorses a modern appearance and offers both comfort and durable features, while still embracing NSWNMA image.

Sizes range from XS-5XL to ensure various body shapes and sizes are catered. Most importantly, the range has been designed to ensure a comfortable fit every time.

Size (cm)

XS

S

M

L

XL

2XL

3XL

4XL

5XL

Half Chest Circumference

53

56

59

62

66

69

73

77

81

Half Hem Circumference

54

74

78

82

General Guide for Female 8/10 SCRUB PANTS PANTS A

The new range consists of a Unisex Scrub Top and Unisex Classic Pant. Both made from 65% polyester, 35% cotton. This fabric blend is durable and of superior quality. The scrub campaign uniform also has number of functional features, including jet pockets, pen partition, drawstring front on pants and brushed fabric coating for added comfort.

57

60

63

67

70

10/12

12/14

14/16

16/18

18/20

20/22 22/24 24/26

33

37

40.5

43.5

46.5

50.5

54.5

58.5

Half Waist (Relaxed)

29

Half Waist (Stretched)

47

51

55

58.5

61.5

64.5

68.5

72.5

76.5

Half Hip

55

59

63

66

69

72

76

80

84

Out Seam Length

103

105

107

109

111

112

113

114

115

Scrub top and pant are $20 each incl GST. You can place your order by the following methods: 2

Shop online, online, by registering as a user on www.totalimagegrouponline.com/nswnurses on our tailored NSWNMA online store.

2 Browse through the customised catalogue, catalogue complete the order form and send back to Total Image by: email sales@totalimagegroup.com.au Fax: 9569 6200 or Post PO Box 199, Westgate NSW 2048 Total Image accepts credit card payment

by Visa, MasterCard, and AMEX (3.5% surcharge on AMEX) or cheque/money order.

Delivery by Australia Post within 10-14 working days and charged at $5 incl GST.

For more information please contact TTotal otal Image on (02) 9569 6233 or email uniforms@totalimagegroup.com.au

Recruit a new member and go in the draw for A Wonderful Holiday of a Lifetime Travel from Sydney to Perth in the classic Gold Service on the mighty Indian Pacific.

The Indian Pacific is an epic journey that spans a continent. Over 3 days and 3 nights guests experience some of the most diverse scenery on earth – from the stunning Blue mountains with lush tree canopies and spectacular valley views, through the great Dividing Range, the salt lakes and sand dunes of South Australia and over the longest straight stretch of rail track in the world across the Nullarbor Plain.

Prize includes one way journey to Perth for two on the Indian Pacific, airfares for two from Perth to Sydney and five-night’s accommodation in a Novotel Perth Langley’s Superior King Room, including full buffet breakfast for two*.

Thomson Bay, Rottnest Island.

Credit: Tourism Western Australia

Remember for every new member you recruit/have recruited from 30 June 2012 to 30 June 2013 means you will have your name submitted to the draw.

RECRUITERS NOTE: Nurses and midwives can now join online! If you refer a new member to join online, make sure you ask them to put your name and workplace on the online application form. You will then be entitled to your vouchers and draw/s in the NSWNMA Recruitment Incentive Scheme.

Keep warm this winter in NSWNMA mer rc chan merchandise chandise

Navy y Bonded B Polar Fleece ece Vests

$25 $2

available e in S, M, L, L and an XXXL XL, XXL

Red Heron Jackets – also available in Navy

$40

available in S, M, L, XL (Red) and M, L, XL (Navy)

Bonded Polar Fleece Zip Front Jackets

$30

NSWNMA mer merchandise chandise is not only stylish and comfortable, it is affordable afffor f dable and sold at cost to members.

available in S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL

To order der form T o order, order, fax the or to Glen Ginty, (02) 9662 1414 or post to: NSWNMA, venue, Avenue, 50 O’Dea A ven v Waterloo Waterloo NSW 2017

Navy Layered Vests

$40

der forms Merchandise order Merchandise or also available on

www www.nswnma.asn.au .nswnma.asn.au

ORDER FORM

available in S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL

Navy Bonded ded Polar Fleece Ve ests $25.. Quantity: Size: S M L XL XXL XXXL Red Heron Jackets $40. Quantity: Size: S M L XL

Address Postcod Postcode Phone (h)

Navy Heron Jackets $40.. Quantity: Size: M L XL Navy Layered Vests e $40. Quantity: M L XL XXL Size: S

Name

(w)

Method of payment

XXXL

Bonded Polar Fleece Zip Front Jacket $30.. Quantity: M L XL XXL XXXL Size: S Total o cost of order $ Please include postage and handling of $5 per orderr.

(mob) Cheque Bankcard

Mastercard Money Order

Visa

Name of card holder Card number

Expiry date

/

T H E eL A M P J U N E 2 0 1 3 | 4 7 Signatur

FIT FOR FOR

HARD

AVARA NAVY

WORKING

FEE FEET T

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AVALON

The Athlete’s Athlete’s F Foot oot sstock tock a rrange ange of p premium remium m men’s en’s and w women’s omen’s Asc Ascent ent duty shoes. These shoes ffeautre eautre slip resistant resistant and oil rresistant esistant rubber outsoles out soles with an abundanc abundance e of support and cushioning for for all day day (or night) ccomfort. omfort. The Athlete’s Athlete’s F Foot oot ar are e pr proud oud ent shoes, a to exclusively Ascent to e xclusively sstock tock Asc brand provides durability brand that pr ovidess comfort, ability c ort, dur ete’s Foot Foot and a great fit. The Athlete’s highly high trained Fit Technicians ians use ® exclusive FitPrint technology ology to find the right

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MOVIES

movies of the month

THE LOOK OF LOVE A strangely uninvolving film that fails to get under the skin of a larger-than-life character, writes Stephanie Gray.

The Look of Love is the fourth collaboration between director Michael Winterbottom and star Steve Coogan and endeavours to tell the rag-to-riches story of Paul Raymond, the man credited with opening Britain’s first strip club.

The ingredients are there for an enthralling biopic; porn, drugs, money and death. But the film is less than the sum of its parts – a surprisingly tame take on the life of a man whose name became synonymous with sex.

Raymond’s tale isn’t told in chronological order and, while it is an entertaining journey, you can’t help but feel we are not seeing the big picture. We see him as, “The King of Soho” yet we never become privy to his business dealings and get no sense of how vast his empire really is.

Matt Greenhalgh’s script concentrates on Raymond’s relationship with women. More specifically the three women who dominate his life – first wife Jean (Anna Friel), who was his rock and with whom he had an open relationship, and whose divorce cost him one of the biggest settlements in British history. Model “Amber” (Tamsin Egerton), a vicar’s daughter who was instrumental in the aforementioned divorce and who became a tabloid favourite. And Debbie (Imogen Poots), his self-destructive daughter, best friend, and heir to the Raymond throne, and from whose early death he seemingly never recovered.

The film looks and sounds amazing however, with Soho captured in all its seedy 70s glory and a sound track by the likes of Roxy Music, T-Rex, Hot Chocolate and Soft Cell.

Stephanie Gray is an RN with the Australian Red Cross Blood Services IN CINEMAS 27 JUNE

ciné files director michael winterbottom and actor steve coogan have worked together on three other films, 24 Hour Party People (2002), A Cock and Bull Story (2005) and The Trip (2011)

MEMBERGIVEAWAY The Lamp has 15 in-season double passes to give away to The Look of Love thanks to Madman Entertainment. The first 15 members to email their name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au will win.

Steve Coogan as Paul Raymond

THE LAMP JUNE 2013 | 49

DIARY DATES

conferences, seminars, meetings NSW

ACT

Forrest Community Services/CFA NSW Continence Education Days 6-7 June, Wagga RSL Club Marilyn Woodcock 8741 5699 cfansw@optusnet.com.au Australian College of Nursing and Health Expo 23 June, Sydney Town Hall www.acn.edu.au Fieldwork Skills for Epidemiological Research 27 June, Glebe www.woolcock.org.au/courses education@woolcock.org.au Grace Centre for Newborn Care Seminar: The vulnerable neonate and the surgical NICU 2 August, Parramatta CCNC.SCHN@health.nsw.gov.au 23rd Annual Spinal Injury Conference 19-20 August, Burwood jhebblewhite@bigpond.com www.sina.org.au 13th Rural Critical Care Conference 23-24 August, Albury www.ruralcriticalcare.asn.au Enrolled Nurses Professional Association of NSW Annual Conference 19-20 September, Sydney Members $310 Non-members $340 1300 554 249 rjroseby@gmail.com PANDDA 24th Conference 16-17 October, Parramatta Damian Heron 9842 2306 damian.heron@pandda.net www.pandda.net Australian Nursing and Midwifery Conference 17-18 October, Newcastle Amy McIntosh 0423 497 038 www.nursingmidwiferyconference.com.au 2013 Transplant Nurses’ Association Conference 24-25 October, Sydney www.gemsevents.com.au/tna2013/

12th Australian Palliative Care Conference 3-6 September, Canberra www.dcconferences.com.au/apcc2013/

INTERSTATE ACMHN Consultation Liaison Special Interest Group Conference 5-7 June, Noosa Jenni.Bryant@calvarymater.org.au Health Informatics Conference 15-18 July, Adelaide hic2013@hisa.org.au www.hisa.org.au Cancer Nurses Society of Australia 16th Winter Congress 25-27 July, Brisbane www.csnawintercongress.com.au 14th International Mental Health Conference 2013 5-6 August, Surfers Paradise anzmh.asn.au/conference Mental Health Services 23rd Annual Conference 20-23 August, Melbourne (02) 9810 8700 Fax (02) 9810 8733 info@themhs.org www.themhs.org 9th Australasian Nursing & Allied Health Stroke Conference 22-23 August, Brisbane Stephanie Rogers smartstrokes@theassociationspecialists. com.au www.smartstrokes.com.au Australian College of Nurse Practitioners 2013 Conference 24-27 September, Hobart www.dcconferences.com.au/acnp2013/ Australian College of Midwives 18th Biennial Conference 30 September - 3 October, Hobart www.acm2013.com

Crossword solution S O M A T O T O P A G N O S I S

P I L U L N H E S A S O L L U U T

L I

R A M T I N R A T T E R Y N P T A O P U H A N G

D E N O M N F P L E F R X P E U T I M A B S O G I U C L E A M I M I C A A A T T O O O I U R O S C S N

50 | THE LAMP JUNE 2013

A V A S C U L A R I S A T I O N

5th Australian Rural & Remote Mental Health Symposium 14-16 October, Geelong (07) 5502 2068 hanzmh.asn.au/rrmh/ Dementia and Community Care Conference 30-31 October, Melbourne Wayne Woff 03 9571 5606 office@totalagedservices.com.au www.totalagedservices.com.au

OVERSEAS 24th International Nursing Research Congress 22-26 July, Prague, Czech Republic www.nursingsociety.org/STTIEvents/Res earchCongress/ 2nd World Congress of Clinical Safety 12-13 September, Heidelberg, Germany www.iarmm.org 8th European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry 23-26 October, Ghent, Belgium www.oudconsultancy.nl/GhentSite/

REUNIONS Wollongong Hospital May 1972-75 Date TBA Maureen Robertson (nee Sherley) 0438 830 790 Wagga – Mary Potter Nursing Home All staff 1985-2010 22 June 2013 Fay 02 6933 1159 fay.martin@yahoo.com.au RPA June 1983 – 30-year reunion 29 June 6pm, Camperdown Cathy Robinson (nee Mccrudden) 0242 342 778 0432 381 703 RPA July 1963 – 50-year-reunion 6th July venue TBA Evelyn Patrick (nee White Rogers) evelyn-patrick@hotmail.com Mater Graduate Nurses Association annual reunion 20 October, North Sydney Joan Stort 0401 344 363 joans2458@yahoo.com

NOTICE

E X C T R A C U T G C A H G P I

C H O B U R E S N T I T E L Y X P I E N R I S I O E R M N N C I E R A

Former Australian Inland Mission (AIM) nurses who worked under John Flynn and Rev Fred McKay till 1977 sought for research project Daryl Lightfoot 02 9690 9374 archives@pcnsw.org.au wmhs@gmail.com

diary dates is a free service.

Please send details of your event by the 5th of each month, in the format used here – event, date, contact details, website if applicable.

Email: lamp@nswnma.asn.au Fax: 9550 3667 Post: 50 O’Dea Ave, Waterloo NSW 2017

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This advertisement contains general information only and is issued by FSS Trustee Corporation (ABN 11 118 202 672, AFSL 293340) as Trustee of the First State Superannuation Scheme (ABN 53 226 460 365). Any advice it contains does not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation or needs.

Consider the Product Disclosure Statement available at www.firststatesuper.com.au or by calling 1300 650 873 before making a decision in relation to your membership. Financial planning services are provided by Health Super Financial Services Pty Ltd (HSFS) (ABN 37 096 452 318, AFSL 240019) trading as FSS Financial Planning (FSSFP) and Health Super Financial Planning (HSFP), which is wholly owned by the FSS Trustee Corporation. HSFS is responsible for the advice they provide. November 2012.