“There is no patient emergency more important than the safety of our healthcare workforce.” This is the first principle of a new, 88-page set of guidelines for emergency clinicians on the COVID-19 pandemic frontlines, released by the Australasian College for ...
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CDU takes on nurse-led visiting program for Indigenous mums, infants
Last year marked a decade that the Australian Nurse-Family Partnership Program (ANFPP) was launched on the lands of the Arrernte people. A health initiative of the Australian government funded as part of the Closing the Gap Strategy, it aims to empower ...
More »There’s a hole in the aged care funding bucket
The royal commission’s interim report, ominously titled Neglect, was released on 31 October. A great early Christmas present for all Australians, chosen especially with the government in mind. In response, Prime Minister Scott Morrison joined Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck, ...
More »Protecting healthcare workers from violent attacks
According to the World Health Organization, between eight and 38 per cent of healthcare workers suffer physical violence at some point in their careers and many more are threatened or exposed to verbal aggression.1 An Australian study of 9,951 doctors ...
More »Innovation, not ratios the key to fixing aged care: chief executive
“Ratios, ratios, ratios. Everybody will tell you that.” This was the response of aged care resident Merle Mitchell earlier this year at the royal commission when asked to nominate one thing she would change in the sector given the chance. ...
More »Public health physician discusses how hospitals can tackle climate change
This week climate change has been thrust to the forefront of national debate with catastrophic fires engulfing parts of the nation. Australian summers already have devastating health effects on the community each year and the health system comes under increasing ...
More »Balance of power: the nurses representing you in Canberra
Few nurses have served in the Australian Federal Parliament in recent memory. There was Judith Adams, elected in 2004, who represented WA in the senate until her death from cancer in 2012. And until Ged Kearney came along in 2018, closely followed ...
More »The rise of precarious care
Perhaps the most damaging side effect of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is that instead of dealing with the problems of the aged care system, we have a de facto policy of ‘wait and see’. Actions ...
More »Government announces long term health blueprint, Medicare priorities
The government has released Australia’s Long-Term National Health Plan, promising to make the health system “the world’s number one”. “The story of health in Australia is sometimes viewed through the prism of large numbers, such as $435 billion for the ...
More »Do we still need unpaid carers in a competitive aged care market?
Is the unpaid assistance provided in the main by family caregivers or other close relatives, friends or associates still necessary, or have carers become a problem? Do they require a new specialised management approach to ensure they don’t get in ...
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