From the Nurses & Midwives e-cohort team

Since our last newsletter, we have been busy working hard on the construction and piloting of Survey 3, writing publications and assimilating comments and feedback from our participants

Survey 3 - coming to you soon

Survey 3 will go live before the end of this month. As usual, an email alert will be sent to you. Please complete the survey as soon as you can, we have had a large number of people who leave it too late and miss out. Please note that when you are doing your survey that you CANNOT GO BACKWARDS. We have consulted with our IT providers and to do this would involve very expensive programming. As we rely on grant monies, we are limited with the type and amount of expenditure that we can make. Apologies in advance if this is an issue for you...we are continuing to work on a solution.

Publications

Since the e-cohort study started in 2006, we have published eight articles. We have another 3 that have been submitted to journals and we hope to report their publication this year.

The 8th and most recent article is titled Shift work and work-related injuries among health care workers: a systematic review and has been published in the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27 (3). The publication was lead by Isabella Zhao who is a PhD student in the School of Nursing & Midwifery at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Your comments and feedback

In the last newsletter, we asked the following 3 questions:

1. Why are nurses & midwives leaving the profession??
2. What can be done to retain clinical staff?
3. Why are students leaving nursing courses?

First, I want to say a big thank you to the 200+ participants that responded - I have been working through each email and replying personally (this is still a work in progress). I am, as many of you will know, seeking permission from each participant to publish their comments in part or full (without any identifying information) in the next newsletter. I was impressed by the calibre of the comments but quite saddened to hear of some of the problems within the nursing and midwifery professions. However, it is not all gloom and doom - I was inspired by many of the stories and comments that people sent in. I really enjoyed reading your perspectives be they positive or negative, - so thanks again! You will see from survey 3 that we have included a couple of questions that address this area.

Regards, Lindy (Project Manager)

The Prince Charles Hospital

 

2nd Biennial

Cardiology Nursing Conference

Target audience is all levels of nurses working in cardiology, and those interested in learning more about heart disease and the current therapies used to manage their condition.

Monday 4th October 2010

Chermside, Brisbane, Australia

Contact: Janelle Taylor on +61 7 3139-5342 or email

33rd Annual Oncology Nurses Group Conference

‘Multidisciplinary care: We are all in this together’

Date: Thursday 9th September and Friday 10th September 2010

Venue: Radisson Resort Gold Coast, Palm Meadows Drive, Carrara, Queensland 4211 Australia.

The program will offer a range of topics relevant to health professionals caring for people and their families by cancer from pre-diagnosis through all stages of the illness trajectory. A exciting and engaging program is currently being developed, including current trends in diagnosis, treatment, psychosocial care, research and health education relevant to everyday clinical practice in both regional and metropolitan settings.

As a conference first, a Health Professionals Breast Cancer Education Day will be held as part of day two.

Who should attend?

All nurses, allied health professionals and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers working in the primary health care setting, hospitals and communities across Queensland, with an interest in cancer care, are invited to register.

This year delegates will also have the opportunity to extend their stay on the Gold Coast for further professional development and networking at the 2nd National Conference for Young Women Affected by Breast Cancer.

For further details regarding abstracts, travel grants, and to register for this special event please visit our website or email ong@cancerqld.org.au.

International Day of the Midwife (May 5th) & International Day of the Nurse (May 12th)

How did you celebrate this year? These annual days provide members of the professions and public an opportunity to reflect upon the valuable contributions that nurses and midwives have made throughout history and the important roles that they continue to perform every day. In acknowledgement of their wonderful work, we present a brief synopsis of Mary Jane Seacole.

Who was Mary Jane Seacole?

A portrait of Mary Seacole , c.1869, by London artist Albert Charles Challen

Mary Jane Seacole (1805 - 14 May 1881), sometimes known as Mother Seacole or Mary Grant, was a Jamaican nurse best known for her involvement in the Crimean War. She distinguished herself treating battlefield wounded, often nursing wounded soldiers from both sides while under fire. When the conflict ended in 1856 she found herself stranded and almost destitute, and was only saved from adversity by friends from the Crimean War.

Seacole was honoured in her lifetime, alongside Florence Nightingale, and is noted for her bravery and medical skills and as "a woman who succeeded despite the racial prejudice of influential sections of Victorian society". Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857), is said to be a vivid account of her experiences, and is one of the earliest autobiographies of a mixed-race woman.

Source: Wikipedia