Salaries and conditions vary greatly by state; as budget conditions look set to get worse, some stakeholders call for more unified bargaining.  When Jane-Marie Smith decided to become a nurse, she knew she wouldn’t be living a life of luxury ...

The health system needs better retention of nurses or the expense will be crippling.  To ensure a sustainable health system for Australia, workforce planning and reform that target nurse retention are critical, a recent study shows. Published online in early ...

Adjunct associate professor Lydia Dennett, chief nurse and midwifery officer for SA Health, looks to the complex challenges of the future with a focus on the individual. Now that we’ve celebrated International Day of the Nurse and Midwife around the ...

Caring for others can mean nurses neglect to manage their own feelings. Here’s how to improve your wellbeing.  Graduate nurse Laurie Bickhoff knew her career would be punctuated with emotional distress when she was assigned to care for a patient ...

Postgraduate qualifications can lead to more pay and advanced positions for nurses, but many candidates are driven by more personal goals.  Nursing sustains a reputation as one of Australia’s lowest-paid employee categories. Further study can present an array of choices ...

Nurses say consultants’ idea to shuffle workforce roles isn’t the answer for overworked staff.  Public hospitals could save up to $430 million a year by making better matches between workers and their work, a new report states. Co-authors Grattan Institute ...

Clinical professor Fiona Stoker, chief nurse and midwifery officer for Tasmania, discusses embedding the infrastructure for simulation-based learning. The Tasmanian health and education sector has made significant investments in simulation equipment and infrastructure over the last five years to support ...

Studies show the benefits to patients of time spent under a nurse’s care after surgery.  Increased pressure on administrative systems to cut costs and improve business efficiency has hospitals whipping out patients hours after surgery – which isn’t necessarily in ...

It may sound paradoxical, but ‘boutique’ continuity of care through midwives costs public hospitals less.  Women who see the same midwife through the course of their pregnancy not only encounter fewer interventions at birth but cost less to the public ...

In order to combat the large and growing problem of power abuse, organisations must understand its many forms.  For more than 30 years, Melanie Stephens has worked as a nurse. She has moved around Australia working in different hospitals and ...