As a sector, aged care has a breadth of responsibility that sets it apart. Supporting not only older people’s daily activities, living arrangements, and social needs but also attending to many of their health-related care needs. For aged care clients ...
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Prioritising a learning culture for nurses of the future is key to improving patient care: opinion
Today, nurses are increasingly playing a greater role in diagnosing and prescribing treatments. The digitalisation of healthcare systems in recent years also meant that nurses had to upskill to keep up with new administrative demands in addition to their extensive ...
More »What I wish I knew when I was diagnosed with cancer: opinion
I don’t think I heard a word after she said, ‘you have cancer’. As my husband and I sat across from my breast surgeon, I’m pretty sure I went straight into shock. The world continued to spin on its axis ...
More »Under immense stress, nurses can benefit from self care: opinion
Two years into the pandemic, the healthcare system has been under unprecedented pressure to plan, respond, adapt and ‘step up’ to the evolving health crisis. Nurses, at the forefront of the response, are reporting high levels of burnout, fatigue and ...
More »Decreasing medical errors by reducing nurses’ cognitive overload
In Australia, medical errors result in as many as 18,000 unnecessary deaths, while more than 50,000 patients become disabled each year. Estimates suggest that 86 per cent of these events occur in a hospital setting.1 Medical errors can be caused ...
More »Palliative care reimagined: the compassionate communities model
It has been suggested that the western world has lost its 'death literacy' as we increasingly look to outsource end of life care to businesses. A new public health approach to palliative care has been put forward as a compassionate alternative ...
More »Poor staffing contributes to missed care in residential aged care
The recent announcement of a Royal Commission into aged care has brought issues of the staffing levels and skill mix of residential aged care facilities into focus. Demand for aged care services is increasing due to the ageing of the ...
More »On the safe side: nurse manager talks drownings in Australia
Queensland is known as the Sunshine State. Its hot, humid summers and cool, dry winters make it an attractive place to live. Given the beautiful climate, outdoor recreation is promoted and often includes surfing and swimming. And there are endless ...
More »Nursing on the front line: volunteer’s journey into a war zone
Allah yerhamu – “God have mercy on him”. This is one of the first lines of Arabic I needed to learn after arriving in Tal Abyad Hospital in northern Syria. They are the only words of comfort to offer when ...
More »Childhood obesity: what can we do about it?
Despite abundant opportunities to engage in a healthy lifestyle, Australian adults are experiencing critical levels of overweight and obesity (63 per cent in total). So too are our children, with 20 per cent overweight and 7 per cent obese. These ...
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