Course Information and Enrolment Phone: 02 9745 7500 Toll free 1800 265 534 Fax: 02 9745 7501 Email: csc@nursing.edu.au
Customised Education and Consultative Service Phone: 02 9745 7500 Fax: 02 9745 7501 Email: cecs@nursing.edu.au
Grants and Scholarships Phone: 02 9745 7560 Email: grants@nursing.edu.au
Library Phone: 02 9745 7536 Fax: 02 9745 7503 Email: library@nursing.edu.au
Membership Services Phone: 02 9745 7569 Fax: 02 9745 7501 Email: members@nursing.edu.au
The College of Nursing ACN 000 106 829 Locked Bag 3030 Burwood NSW 1805 Australia Tel +61 2 9745 7500 Fax +61 2 9745 7501 Web www.nursing.edu.au
Please direct all enquiries and submissions to the editor, email: editor@nursing.edu.au The mention of a product or service, person or company in this publication does not indicate the publisher’s endorsement. The views expressed on this website do not necessarily represent the opinion of the publisher, its agents, officers or employees.
Site design by John Thrift design and publishing
The College of Nursing acknowledges the traditional owners of Australia, particularly the Dharug People and the Wangal Clan on whose land the College is located.
Local news
WEEK COMMENCING 30 MAY 2009
Medicare struggling; Australia headed towards US user-pays system
3 June 2009
The Australian system of free universal healthcare is set to disappear in as little as five years, prompting a radical plan for a new federal-state partnership to take control of hospitals and patient care.
AMA wants hospital specialists to do four day week to train
3 June 2009
Hospital specialists will have to cut back to a four-day week so they can spend the fifth day training an army of new medical graduates, the new president of the Australian Medical Association says.
Diet and mental health in adolescents
2 June 2009
A study has found that “teenagers who eat lots of take-aways are more likely to behave badly,” reported the Daily Express. It said that the finding confirms the belief that poor diets are linked to mental health problems. According to the newspaper, the researchers blamed junk food for problems such as depression, aggression and delinquency.
Legal issues lead Cairns doctors to cease medical abortion
2 June 2009
As senior medical practitioners who for the past three years have been offering medical abortion services to women in Far North Queensland, it is with great regret that we announce that we are, at least temporarily, ceasing this practice.
Roxon: Myth busting - cardiovascular disease and women
2 June 2009
The leading cause of death among women in Australia today is cardiovascular disease (CVD). More than 22,000 women each year die of cardiovascular disease and it is especially prevalent in older women. Despite this, cardiovascular disease is still seen as being something that is largely associated with middle-aged males. This is a myth that should be debunked.
Alternative medicine
2 June 2009
Dogged is a word often used to describe Andrew Pesce, the Sydney obstetrician who has just been chosen to lead the peak doctors group during one of the most tumultuous periods for health reform in a generation. "Like a dog with a bone" is how Kerryn Phelps, president of the Australian Medical Association from May 2000 to May 2003, sums up Pesce's approach during the medical indemnity crisis that coincided with most of her presidency.
Government urged to fund fat-busting ops
2 June 2009
A parliamentary inquiry has urged the Federal Government to increase public funding for obese people to have lap band surgery in a bid to tackle obesity rates.
Private health changes pass first test
2 June 2009
The fight over cuts to the private health insurance rebate will move to the Senate after the Rudd government's legislation passed the lower house late on Tuesday night.
New AMA leader 'will engage'
1 June 2009
The AMA has chosen Sydney obstetrician Dr Andrew Pesce as its new president, after he vowed to engage with government rather than continue the confrontational approach of his predecessor Dr Rosanna Capolingua. Dr Pesce was elected to the presidency at the AMA’s annual conference in Melbourne this weekend against a background of accusations that he was too pro-government.
Government subsidises new drugs
1 June 2009
The Australian Government will subsidise new forms of several drugs already listed on the PBS and will extend the listing of Adalimumab as an alternative treatment for severe psoriasis from today.
Free stomach-shrinking surgery shot down
1 June 2009
Federal parliament's push for taxpayer-funded stomach reduction surgery for morbidly obese people has been shot down by researchers and health groups.
AMA head to work with Canberra
1 June 2009
Yesterday, the presidency. Today, the Prime Minister's Canberra residence. Sydney obstetrician Andrew Pesce will cap his weekend election as the new president of the powerful Australian Medical Association with a lunch function for child and maternity service workers at The Lodge this morning.
New AMA head rejects minister's charge
1 June 2009
The Australian Medical Association's new president, Andrew Pesce, has used his first hours in the job to criticise federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon for "vilification" of doctors.
Sydney obstetrician new AMA president
31 May 2009
A Sydney obstetrician has been elected as the new president of the Australian Medical Association. Dr Andrew Pesce was elected to a 12-month term at the AMA's national conference in Melbourne on Sunday.
Swine flu now in the bush
31 May 2009
The swine flu outbreak has spread outside Melbourne, with confirmation the virus has hit at least three regions in rural Victoria. As GPs yesterday warned of a critical shortage of protective masks, the state's tally of confirmed cases hit 173 - an increase of 35 since Friday. The national tally stood at 254 last night.
Australian swine flu tally hits 255
31 May 2009
Australia has recorded 255 cases of human swine flu. There are now swine flu cases in every Australian state and territory, with the Northern Territory recording its first case, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.
Pandemic woes exposed
31 May 2009
As immediate fears over the swine flu outbreak subside concerns have emerged about Australia's lack of preparedness for an influenza pandemic.
Our nursing homes in turmoil
31 May 2009
Complaints about nursing homes have tripled in a year, with authorities investigating serious cases of physical and sexual abuse as well as referring more than 30 deaths to the coroner. The Department of Health and Ageing's Complaints Investigation Scheme (CIS) looked at almost 7500 complaints in 2007-08.
Physician Rudd, go heal thyself
30 May 2009
Something truly bizarre happened in the Parliament on Wednesday. Kevin Rudd morphed into the GP to the nation. Here's what "Doctor" Rudd said in an important message to all Australians: "If you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, fever, sore throat, cough, headache and muscle aches and pains - seek the advice of a health professional."
Half of aged care residents 'too sick to eat'
30 May 2009
A senior Australian dietitian says up to half of people in aged care homes and up to 40 per cent of people in hospitals are malnourished.
Outgoing AMA president lashes out at Kevin Rudd policy
30 May 2009
Departing Australian Medical Association president Rosanna Capolingua has delivered the profession's most scathing assessment of a federal government in a decade, accusing it of vilifying doctors and pursuing ineffectual, "Kumbaya"-style health reform. She used her final speech to the AMA national conference yesterday to describe the federal Government's policies in its first 18 months in office as the "starkest challenge" faced by the profession in a generation.
SA worst state for smoking
30 May 2009
South Australia is the worst in the nation at stamping out smoking, the Australian Medical Association says. The state was handed the humiliating Dirty Ashtray Award by the AMA yesterday for making the least progress in combating smoking in 2008.
Physicians heal thyselves
29 May 2009
A three-way race tomorrow for the AMA national presidency may decide whether Australia's once-feared political lobby retrieves its potency. Andrew Pesce is being conciliatory. "It's important to do it outside of confrontational debate," he says of attempts to reform Australia's creaking health-care system, with its fraught rivalries between professional groups.
Physicians heal thyselves
29 May 2009
A three-way race tomorrow for the AMA national presidency may decide whether Australia's once-feared political lobby retrieves its potency. Andrew Pesce is being conciliatory. "It's important to do it outside of confrontational debate," he says of attempts to reform Australia's creaking health-care system, with its fraught rivalries between professional groups.
Let swine flu run its course: expert
29 May 2009
Infectious disease experts are starting to criticise Australia's swine flu containment policy, instead pushing for it to be treated like any other seasonal flu.
Doctors vilified - AMA boss
29 May 2009
The president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has used her farewell speech to attack the Federal Government and the media for vilifying doctors.
Roxon: Campaign on sexually transmitted infections
29 May 2009
A national campaign launched today aims to reduce the rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among Australians, especially young people and Indigenous people. The Australian Government has committed $9.8 million to the National STI Prevention Program to address a worrying rise in chlamydia, HIV/AIDS, and syphilis infections.
International news
Recession is making nursing shortage worse
2 June 2009
When the commencement ceremonies have concluded, the graduation parties are over, and the relatives have left town, many nursing graduates will wake up to an unexpected reality: a tough job market. This is surprising because some health experts warn that a nursing shortage, with dire consequences, is upon us. Others say the nursing shortage has been averted, and that the supply of nurses is meeting demand. The truth is both, and neither.
UK: Nurses given increased pension incentive to keep working to 65
31 May 2009
Thousands of nurses are to be offered bigger pensions to carry on working until 65 - in a bid to defuse a staffing "timebomb".
More teachers, funding key to nursing shortage, experts say
31 May 2009
At one point, Lynn Bridges considered taking a job as a nursing instructor at a community college. The pay, though, stopped the registered nurse. Her pay basically would have been cut in half, she said, and that's something the single mother couldn't afford.
US: A study in fixing nursing shortage
30 May 2009
A report released last year by Dr. Peter Buerhaus and other researchers found that the nation could fall short by as many as 500,000 nurses in the next 16 years, in part because age will thin the current ranks of caregivers.
US: State: Nurse practitioner wrongly doled out painkillers
30 May 2009
Deborah S. Rehberg, a nurse practitioner in Wenatchee, has been charged by the state Nursing Commission with unprofessional conduct for writing what it says were large amounts of narcotic prescriptions to patients with narcotics addiction problems.
NEWS PORTALS
The College’s mission is to lead the development of the profession in line with the changing needs of the community, trends in health service delivery and the aspirations of nursing professionals themselves.
DISCLAIMER
The mention of a product or service, person or company on this website does not indicate The College of Nursing’s endorsement.
The views expressed on linked websites do not necessarily represent the opinion of The College of Nursing, its agents, officers or employees.
The College of Nursing does not take responsibility for the accuracy of information or any opinion expressed on any websites to which links are provided. For more information, please email: feedback@nursing.edu.au