	April 2007 Newsletter Have you told your friends at work about the Nurses and Midwives e-cohort Study? Encourage them to register at www.e-cohort.net.

First birthday for the Nurses and Midwives e-cohort study! It's been just over a year now since we began recruiting to the study and we're almost to the 10,000 participant mark! However there's still room for more, and so recruitment will continue until mid 2008. After the end of June this year, we'll start to analyse data from the first survey you completed. We should be able to give you some preliminary feedback on the survey results later this year. Thanks to those of you who we contacted in December/January for feedback on your experiences in filling out the first survey. Many of you told us you found the survey very lengthy, so we're looking at ways to keep future ones as short as possible. We'll be contacting you in early 2008 to complete the first follow-up survey. Thank you all for continuing to participate. We won't be able to achieve our study goals without every one of you responding regularly to our requests to complete surveys. We appreciate it! Kind regards, Cathy Turner and Annette Huntington [Study Directors] Staff profile: Lynda Gaynor Lynda is one of several PhD scholars who will be using the project data in their higher degree theses. Lynda's interest in the impact of job stress on the physical and mental health of nurses was stimulated by her recognition of her own stress as a new graduate. "I used to drive home from work and find myself still worrying about my patients", she says. However, despite these anxieties, Lynda is still working one or two shifts in paediatrics at the Nambour Hospital, as well as completing a post graduate unit "Introduction to Epidemiology" online and finding time to spend with her son. "I'm hoping that the de-identified information the e-cohort participants share with the study will help me to better understand the different effects of job stress on health outcomes, work-related injury patterns and health-related behaviours (such as smoking, drinking and diet) in undegraduates, new graduates and more experienced nurses", Lynda said. Due to be completed in three years, Lynda's thesis will be an important contribution to the analysis of e-cohort data. Prize winner's tropical island getaway "Vanuatu is a beautiful place, the people are wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for giving us this opportunity!" Brisbane midwifery student and e-cohort participant Gwen Cadan flew to Vanuatu with her husband on the flight that she won for registering with the Nurses and Midwives e-cohort Study. Gwen reports that she had a wonderful holiday which included a visit to an open-air aquarium, feeding giant turtles and sharks, the local museum and prawn farm. She and her husband toured the town of Port Vila and the Island of Efate, where they enjoyed the beautiful scenery, little creeks with crystal clear water, rainforests, mountains and villages full of friendly people. According to Gwen, "The colours of the water are just as real as on the postcards!" The lucky couple lunched at a wonderful restaurant where they were entertained by a local string band, followed by a dip in the hot springs. Gwen also managed to visit Vanuatu Central Hospital, where bottle feeding is apparently not encouraged (see picture below!) Upcoming Conferences and Events 30 April to 4 May 2007 RCN International Nurses Research Conference Caird Hall, Dundee, Scotland 5 May 2007 International Day of the Midwife 11 May 2007 There will be a breakfast to celebrate nursing and midwifery at the Sebel & Citigate Hotel King George Square, Brisbane. The event will be joint hosted by the Queensland Nurses Union and the Queensland Nursing Council, with proceeds to go to Club 139. For futher details or to book a place, contact the QNU office on (07) 38401444 or outside Brisbane 1800177273. 12 May 2007 International Nurses Day Positive practice environments: Quality workplaces = quality patient care. 11 to 14 July 2007 RCNA Annual Conference: Illuminating Nursing Sofitel, Sydney 10 to 11 August 2007 The 4th New Zealand Nurses Organisation Primary Health Care Nurses Conference: Pulling it All Together Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, Auckland, NZ	Apologies for the technology glitches and spam Our sincere apologies to those of you who received a test email from the e-cohort study in March. The test was to assist us automate our email contact system and it shouldn't have been sent to actual participants. Some of you were lucky enough to get more than one email, so double (or even triple!) apologies to you. We now have protocols in place which we hope will prevent any repeats. Thank you for your understanding, patience, tolerance, forbearance, other (please insert your appropriate response - just to get you into the mood for answering another survey!) Keeping in touch! With the first anniversary of the study now past and the first follow-up survey being planned, it's really important that we have current contact details for everyone. If you move house, change job, or get a new email address, please let us know by logging into the study website and updating your personal details. If you don't know how to do this, click here to find out or email us for more information. Farewell to Virgin Our Virgin sponsorship came to a close last month. Thirty-six lucky winners like Gwen Cadan (read her story in this edition!) from Australia and New Zealand have enjoyed holidays or flight prizes since 2006. Four UK nurses have won flights from London to New York with Virgin Atlantic. On behalf of our winners, thanks to Virgin for their generosity. In future, new participants will receive only the warm inner glow of knowing that they are doing something for their profession by continuing to provide data to help better understand the workforce issues facing nurses and midwives in three countries! Doctors to have their own e-cohort! The Doctors e-cohort Study is a project similar to the Nurses e-cohort study, and will begin in June 2007. You may notice some changes to the study website to accommodate the new study. The Doctors e-cohort study will examine the career paths of Australia's medical workforce and will identify a range of factors, including country of birth and nature of medical training, that may influence long term retention in the workforce. Thought for the day "Real success is finding your life work in the work that you love." David McCullough Upcoming event? If you have an event you would like to advertise in the next newsletter (due for publication in August 2007) or if you have any other suggestions for the content of this newsletter, please let us know by clicking here to send an email.

April 2007 Newsletter

Have you told your friends at work about the Nurses and Midwives e-cohort Study? Encourage them to register at www.e-cohort.net.

First birthday for the Nurses and Midwives e-cohort study!

It's been just over a year now since we began recruiting to the study and we're almost to the 10,000 participant mark! However there's still room for more, and so recruitment will continue until mid 2008.

After the end of June this year, we'll start to analyse data from the first survey you completed. We should be able to give you some preliminary feedback on the survey results later this year.

Thanks to those of you who we contacted in December/January for feedback on your experiences in filling out the first survey. Many of you told us you found the survey very lengthy, so we're looking at ways to keep future ones as short as possible. We'll be contacting you in early 2008 to complete the first follow-up survey.

Thank you all for continuing to participate. We won't be able to achieve our study goals without every one of you responding regularly to our requests to complete surveys. We appreciate it!

Kind regards,

Cathy Turner and Annette Huntington

[Study Directors]

Staff profile: Lynda Gaynor

Lynda is one of several PhD scholars who will be using the project data in their higher degree theses. Lynda's interest in the impact of job stress on the physical and mental health of nurses was stimulated by her recognition of her own stress as a new graduate. "I used to drive home from work and find myself still worrying about my patients", she says. However, despite these anxieties, Lynda is still working one or two shifts in paediatrics at the Nambour Hospital, as well as completing a post graduate unit "Introduction to Epidemiology" online and finding time to spend with her son.

"I'm hoping that the de-identified information the e-cohort participants share with the study will help me to better understand the different effects of job stress on health outcomes, work-related injury patterns and health-related behaviours (such as smoking, drinking and diet) in undegraduates, new graduates and more experienced nurses", Lynda said. Due to be completed in three years, Lynda's thesis will be an important contribution to the analysis of e-cohort data.

Prize winner's tropical island getaway

"Vanuatu is a beautiful place, the people are wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for giving us this opportunity!"

Brisbane midwifery student and e-cohort participant Gwen Cadan flew to Vanuatu with her husband on the flight that she won for registering with the Nurses and Midwives e-cohort Study. Gwen reports that she had a wonderful holiday which included a visit to an open-air aquarium, feeding giant turtles and sharks, the local museum and prawn farm.

She and her husband toured the town of Port Vila and the Island of Efate, where they enjoyed the beautiful scenery, little creeks with crystal clear water, rainforests, mountains and villages full of friendly people. According to Gwen, "The colours of the water are just as real as on the postcards!"

The lucky couple lunched at a wonderful restaurant where they were entertained by a local string band, followed by a dip in the hot springs. Gwen also managed to visit Vanuatu Central Hospital, where bottle feeding is apparently not encouraged (see picture below!)

Upcoming Conferences and Events

30 April to 4 May 2007

RCN International Nurses Research Conference

Caird Hall, Dundee, Scotland

5 May 2007

International Day of the Midwife

11 May 2007

There will be a breakfast to celebrate nursing and midwifery at the Sebel & Citigate Hotel King George Square, Brisbane. The event will be joint hosted by the Queensland Nurses Union and the Queensland Nursing Council, with proceeds to go to Club 139. For futher details or to book a place, contact the QNU office on (07) 38401444 or outside Brisbane 1800177273.

12 May 2007

International Nurses Day

Positive practice environments: Quality workplaces = quality patient care.

11 to 14 July 2007

RCNA Annual Conference: Illuminating Nursing

Sofitel, Sydney

10 to 11 August 2007

The 4th New Zealand Nurses Organisation Primary Health Care Nurses Conference: Pulling it All Together

Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, Auckland, NZ

Apologies for the technology glitches and spam

Our sincere apologies to those of you who received a test email from the e-cohort study in March. The test was to assist us automate our email contact system and it shouldn't have been sent to actual participants. Some of you were lucky enough to get more than one email, so double (or even triple!) apologies to you. We now have protocols in place which we hope will prevent any repeats. Thank you for your understanding, patience, tolerance, forbearance, other (please insert your appropriate response - just to get you into the mood for answering another survey!)

Keeping in touch!

With the first anniversary of the study now past and the first follow-up survey being planned, it's really important that we have current contact details for everyone. If you move house, change job, or get a new email address, please let us know by logging into the study website and updating your personal details. If you don't know how to do this, click here to find out or email us for more information.

Farewell to Virgin

Our Virgin sponsorship came to a close last month. Thirty-six lucky winners like Gwen Cadan (read her story in this edition!) from Australia and New Zealand have enjoyed holidays or flight prizes since 2006. Four UK nurses have won flights from London to New York with Virgin Atlantic. On behalf of our winners, thanks to Virgin for their generosity.

In future, new participants will receive only the warm inner glow of knowing that they are doing something for their profession by continuing to provide data to help better understand the workforce issues facing nurses and midwives in three countries!

Doctors to have their own e-cohort!

The Doctors e-cohort Study is a project similar to the Nurses e-cohort study, and will begin in June 2007. You may notice some changes to the study website to accommodate the new study. The Doctors e-cohort study will examine the career paths of Australia's medical workforce and will identify a range of factors, including country of birth and nature of medical training, that may influence long term retention in the workforce.

Thought for the day

"Real success is finding your life work in the work that you love."

David McCullough

Upcoming event?

If you have an event you would like to advertise in the next newsletter (due for publication in August 2007) or if you have any other suggestions for the content of this newsletter, please let us know by clicking here to send an email.