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 ...

Public health campaigns could be making expectant mothers anxious, an Australian health scientist has warned. Dr Heather Rowe, along with professor Jane Fisher, from the Jean Hailes Research Unit at Monash University, identified links between perinatal anxiety and social and ...

Australian women are being warned against complacency when it comes to breast cancer amid a fall in screening rates. New figures reveal the number of women aged 50–69 attending their free mammogram every two years has been in decline since ...

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 ...

Overseas placements develop leadership skills and make worldwide improvements real. By Justine Roberts In my childhood, I was inspired by a Little Golden Book my grandmother read me. It was about people from all around the world who, although culturally ...

The separation of mental and clinical healthcare funding is a barrier to improving wellbeing, a senior research fellow has said. To overcome this, RDNS, along with Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria, is trialling a wellness and re-enablement model of integrated physical, social and ...

A trial of individualised education that engages older patients in falls prevention has shown falls and resulting injuries reduced by 40 per cent. The study involved more than 3500 people across eight Western Australian aged-care rehabilitation units. It encouraged patients ...