People who live alone are more at risk of being admitted to hospital and staying there longer. Professor Jane Hall, of the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at the University of Technology, Sydney, said living alone increases ...

Nearly 800 hospitals around the world have enrolled in a study of the use of drips in patients. More than 100 Australian hospitals signed up to the One Million Global (OMG) Peripheral Intravenous Catheters’ study, including the Sunshine Coast’s Nambour General Hospital. ...

There is growing evidence that napping may improve productivity and safety at work, a sleep expert has said. RMIT University's Dr Melinda Jackson, a registered psychologist who specialises in sleep disorders, said there is mounting evidence that napping during a shift ...

The need to put on a certain emotional face in some jobs is taking its toll on workers and the nation’s productivity, say Sydney researchers. The workplace stress, known as “emotional labour”, refers to the emotional effort some employees must ...

Health reform gives nurses a golden opportunity to develop a new vision for what the profession can be in the future. Understanding scope of practice is an important part of seizing this chance. Allison Willis, principal consultant at the Health Objective, made this point with ...

Usability and utility have been described as the missing links in evaluation of healthcare information systems. Dr Ian McGrath, from RMIT University, presented the idea at the Worldwide Nursing Conference. McGrath said usability relates to how easy the system is to ...

Avatars can compensate for literacy issues by relaying important messages to patients, an Australian researcher told attendees of an international nursing conference. Professor Robyn Clark from Flinders University, said using avatars – figures, often cartoons, that depict a person digitally ...

Parents whose babies are dying could be better supported and the core task for nurses during such a time is engagement with and empowerment of parents. These are among the key points Dr Andrew Watkins, from Mercy Hospital in Melbourne, raised during ...

The Hospital for Specialist Surgery officially launched today, designed and run by 48 specialist doctors. The hospital is the creation of a group of professionals at a day surgery clinic in Castle Hill, who decided to set up a larger scale hospital ...

There are core nursing skills to be learnt in the aged-care setting that some students may be taking for granted in pursuit of more advanced clinical skills. That’s according to University of Western Sydney PhD candidate Maricris Algoso, whose most ...