Gold Coast author Katherine Howell worked as a paramedic in Sydney and on the far north coast of New South Wales up until six years ago, when job stress forced her to leave the ambulance service.

Katherine now uses her paramedic background to write novels centered on police detective Ella Marconi and intertwines one or two paramedics into each murder story.

It’s a formula that’s clearly working.

Katherine, who is the only author to win the Davitt Award for crime fiction twice, has just released her fifth novel, Silent Fear, she is now finishing work on her sixth Ella Marconi book and will soon start planning the seventh.

Katherine said she draws on her former career to help build her characters and develop her story.

“I’ve been out of the job for six years but I can still clearly remember things like the exhaustion of night shift, how it felt to do CPR on all sorts of different-sized people, and the sights and sounds and smells you encounter on every shift,” she said.

“Also, I try to show that camaraderie that I so enjoyed, as well as give a real insight into a job that hasn’t been portrayed often in fiction.”

Katherine began writing while working as a paramedic but found as her writing improved, the more difficult it was to face the downside of her work.

“...the more I was writing, and the better I got at putting myself into other people’s shoes - something every writer needs to be able to do - the harder it was to keep my mental and emotional distance from the patients and their families in the tough cases that came along,” she said.

“I was having reactions in the form of hypertension and skin rashes for a few years, and seeing a psychologist as well, and then finally one year I went on annual leave and decided that was it – I wasn’t going back.”

While she may have left the profession behind, Katherine has received encouraging feedback from her paramedic friends and even from paramedics she doesn’t know.

“They’ve said they’re thrilled to see themselves and their job on the page, and some give their own friends and families the books as a way of showing them what their work lives are like,” she said.

“It makes me really proud that they feel this way.”

“I’ve been trained to look after really sick and vulnerable patients and now the Baillieu Government expects me to provide sub-standard care,” she says.

“You don’t become a nurse in Victoria for the big bucks. You become a nurse because you care.

“This fight is about maintaining and improving our nurse-patient ratios.

“This government knows that, we know that, you need to know that.”

This nurse is one of the eight faces of the Australian Nursing Federation Victorian branch’s battle with the Victorian State Government.

The union has released three advertisements aimed at highlighting the government’s plans to end nurse and midwife-patient ratios in public hospitals, as its feud with the government hits the eight month mark.

ANF Vic branch secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said the ads give nurses and midwives a voice in the dispute.

“Victorians won’t know until they’re in a hospital bed whether it’s a nurse with three years’ training or a health assistant with three months’ training who’s caring for them,” she said.

“By replacing nurses with health assistants as part of the ratios and by replacing nurses’ eight-hour shifts with unlimited four-hour shifts and split shifts, they’re going to risk patients’ lives for the sake of saving (a) dollar.”

Victorian nurses will continue to up the ante in their dispute, with around 200 nurses and midwives planning to doorknock residents in the state’s most marginal seat of Bentleigh - which is held by former nurse and now Liberal MP Elizabeth Miller by just 262 votes.

The bureau has completed its review of the helicopter and winch and released a preliminary report into the incident.

The organisation will continue its investigation, turning its attention to the ropes and other equipment, alongside the winching operation and the experience and qualifications of those involved in the ill-fated rescue.

Mr Wilson, a paramedic for 15 years, died after a winch line was cut during a complex rescue operation at Carrington Falls on the state’s south coast.

The bureau, which plans to release its final report early next year, has recovered data from the helicopter’s voice recorders and interviewed crew and witnesses involved in the tragic incident.

Mr Wilson’s wife Kellie, a nurse, and their three children farewelled the experienced paramedic at his funeral, held at St James Anglican Church in Sydney on January 3.

“There are many people out there that owe their lives to my beautiful husband,” Mrs Wilson told media.

Mr Wilson was the first NSW paramedic to be killed on duty in more than 30 years.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is also investigating the accident.

An appeal has been established to support the Wilson family. To support the family, visit the Commonwealth Bank and donate to the ‘Mick Wilson Family Appeal’, BSB 062-177, Account No 1024 7793.

Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian Amanda Clark said a 2007 survey of inpatients at the Currumbin Clinic found 73 per cent reported unwanted weight gain during their admission.

Ms Clark, who has been consulting to the clinic for more than 10 years, found clients felt their self- esteem plummet as their weight increased due to their medication.

“It has been reported that an average of 4.5 to 7 kilograms is gained in the first three months after introduction of Olanzapine, the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic medication,” she said. “Rapid weight gain in these patients is the most cited reason for non-compliance, and also contributes to poorer overall health by increasing diabetes and heart disease risk.

“Addressing patients’ need to feel good about themselves is critical.”

Ms Clark, from Great Ideas in Nutrition at Coolangatta, said she introduced her Portion Perfection Plate program in 2008 to help patients focus on nutritional balance, portion control and conscious eating.

“This intervention reduced the level of reported unwanted weight gain to 38 per cent of inpatients,” she said.

“We have further reduced this to 35 per cent by modifying the portion size of mid meals.”

Ms Clark said the simple and effective program helped the clinic win the Baxter Healthcare Award in 2010, while it also received recognition with an ‘outstanding achievement’ in the nutrition component of the clinic’s recent accreditation.

A practising dietitian of 25 years, Ms Clark said her work has focused on developing a range of user-friendly tools for weight loss, food and mood.

“I like the challenge of breaking health behaviours down into steps and helping individuals find a manageable dietary change that can be the beginning of a snowball effect for positive change,” she said.

The Anglicare-operated Ginninderra Gardens nursing home at Page has been banned from accepting new residents for six months after an Aged Care and Standards Accreditation Agency audit found the centre failed to meet residents’ nutritional needs and safely manage medication.

The audit also found some patients were malnourished while terminally-ill residents were not receiving dignified care.

ANF ACT branch secretary Jenny Miragaya said registered and enrolled nurses along with assistants-in-nursing working at the centre have battled issues such as staffing, workload, skills mix and allegations of bullying and harassment since early 2009.

“It hasn’t been a happy site from our perspective for some time,” she said.

“A lot of our members there feel quite conflicted.

“They want to give the best possible care that they possibly can and in fact they feel that they have been unable to give that care because of the constraints on staff.”

Ms Miragaya said the issue was directly related to an inadequate number of skilled staff to meet a demanding workload.

She said the centre’s problems could be indicative of problems facing the future of aged care unless the sector receives more support.

Ms Miragaya said an experienced RN at an Anglicare facility earned around $250 less a fortnight on base salary than a nurse performing an equivalent role in the public sector; a pay gap reflected right across the aged care sector.

“Unfortunately a lot of our members have decided to leave (Ginninderra Gardens),” she said.

“When you have a difficult working site and complex work…aged care is very confronting.

“It’s quite often quite heavy and quite often not very glamorous work and when you are finding the conditions difficult, there are other aged care facilities where you may get better conditions and better pay rates.”

The Canterbury District Health Board has been forced to suddenly close the 1923-built theatre block at Ashburton Hospital, after engineering assessments raised fears the unreinforced masonry buildings could collapse in the event of a major earthquake.

The hospital’s general operating theatre carries out 1500 procedures each year on a day and short stay basis, made up of mainly general surgery and gynaecology.

CDHB cancelled 13 scheduled surgeries and rescheduled others at Christchurch Hospital as concerns grew that further buildings at Ashburton may be closed due to quake risk.

Meanwhile, Christchurch Hospital, which provides services to over 35,600 inpatients each year, will have its landmark chimney removed amid fears it could crumble in another earthquake.

Since the September 2010 quake, more than 7500 CDHB hospital rooms have been damaged.

The organisation has made urgent major repairs while further inspections are continuing at some of its 200 buildings throughout the Canterbury region.

Up to 14 theatre staff at Ashburton Hospital will be affected and while no job losses are envisaged, some staff could be asked to work in different areas at the hospital or at different locations.

CDHB chief executive David Meates said the building was assessed as part of CDHB’s process of reviewing the seismic capacity of buildings.

“We cannot continue to operate in this theatre given that we are still experiencing quakes and we know parts of the building are earthquake-prone,” he said.

“We are waiting for engineering assessments on other buildings on the Ashburton site.

“However, because of their age it is likely some of these buildings, including wards, may also be earthquake prone.”

Mr Meates said he expected the reports to be completed within weeks.

“At that point we will need to explore a range of options for service delivery in Ashburton.”

CDHB expects the cost of repairs, initially estimated to be $70 million, could rise as a result of further inspections.

Nurses and allied health professionals who have migrated here along with non-migrant workers are wanted to take part in the Public Services International study.

The New South Wales Nurses’ Association and Queensland Nurses Union are taking part in the research project, surveying nurses and midwives to collate evidence about migration experiences and to find out why people migrate and how the experience of migration can be improved.

With a global shortage of more than four million health care workers and an exodus of workers leaving the sector, with many migrating in search of better pay and conditions in other countries, PSI wants to map migration and forge a global report on the issue, which will be presented at its international conference in South Africa later this year.

NSW Nurses’ Association acting assistant general secretary Lisa Kremmer said the survey hoped to provide a snapshot of health worker migration to Australia.

“There’s been a recent report released of research in South Africa and Australia is one of their more population destinations,” she said.

“Australia is one of the first countries of destination to be participating (in the study) so it’s very exciting.”

Ms Kremmer said the two separate surveys, one for migration and the other for non-migration, would discover migrating nurses and midwives’ country of origin, their job position, reasons for migration, when they migrated, their experiences and whether their experience or skills had been recognised here and what can be done to improve the process.

The non-migration survey explores what value overseas nurses play in Australia, any issues, and what can be done to improve the transition, she said.

“It explores a whole range of things around an overseas nurse working in the Australian context,” she said.

“I think there’s lots of areas that we can learn from with this project to try and improve on in the future.”

Ms Kremmer said while the union was targeting nurses and midwives, the survey was open for all health care workers to complete.

For more information contact Lisa Kremmer on (02) 8595 1234 or lkremmer@nswnurses.asn.au.

Surveys are available electronically and can be returned via email.

The course has been so popular the College has more than doubled course placements to meet demand and extra staff are being contracted to cover the workload.

The re-entry course has made headlines in the past few months after the NSW Nurses’ Association and the Australian Nursing Federation raised concerns the $10,000 course fee was prohibiting New South Wales’ unregistered nurses, who have been out of the profession for five to 10 years, from returning to the workforce.

The College has moved to address the concerns, issuing a statement about the course.

In it, it states the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency assesses each re-entry case individually, taking into account how recently a nurse has practised, before referring some nurses on to the course.

“These are not refresher courses, they are programs designed to assess the competence of the individual to practise safe and contemporary nursing in today’s increasingly complex and demanding clinical environments,” it states.

“AHPRA’s primary purpose is to protect the public and takes its role in ensuring safe and competent health practitioners are registered to practise, very seriously.”

Participants wanting to enrol in the course must have a current letter of referral from the Nurses and Midwives Board of Australia.

The College states the 300-hour course is equally divided into a face-to-face theory component and professional experience placement, with the $10,000 fee due to professional indemnity insurance for the professional experience component coupled with the cost of the two-day one-on-one assessment of competence, carried out by the College’s clinical facilitators.

And it states the cost is comparable with other Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) accredited programs across the country.

The course is conducted at the College’s registered training facility at Burwood in NSW but the College states opportunities are available for people living outside Sydney to apply for practical placements closer to home.

The course is the only one run in NSW but there are other options for nurses wishing to return to the workforce, including scholarships, interstate studies and hospital placements.

For more information on the next Assessment of Competency course contact The College of Nursing’s student services centre on 02 9745 7500 or 1800 265 5343 or email ssc@nursing.edu.au.

During a stint of rural practice with the Royal Flying Doctors Service’s On the Road program, Lisa found herself living and travelling to a variety of places in the region.

Now a registered nurse, Lisa has spent the past four months working in Karratha at the Medibank Health Solutions Workplace Health Clinic.

Karratha, which is located about 1535 kilometres north of Perth, was built in 1968 to service and accommodate workers mining iron ore in the Hamersley Ranges.

More than four decades on, Lisa works to provide professional occupational medicine services for some of the largest employers in the Pilbara region, including BHP, Rio Tinto and Chevron.

The Medibank clinic provides a broad range of medical and allied health services including acute injury treatment, injury rehabilitation, occupational physiotherapy treatment and injury prevention consultancy, alongside immigration medicals and travel health consultations and vaccinations.

“I really loved the lifestyle up here (during my time with the RFDS) and knew I wanted to live up here,” Lisa said.

“When I saw this job advertised, it was exactly what I’d been looking for. It ties in well with my post-grad studies in Occupational Medicine, Health and Safety, so I jumped at the chance to relocate.”

But the move to the remote location wasn’t a major readjustment for Lisa, who spent time as a nursing student in Tanzania, Africa, working in hospitals in Dar Es Salaam and out in the rural communities.

Originally from Scotland, Lisa has lived in Perth for 20 years and has family who also live in the area.

Lisa said it was a challenge travelling to Perth to carry out her initial training while settling into the new job.

The other challenge has been the isolation.

“I’m the only nurse up here (for Medibank), so if I have a nursing question, there is no-one physically on hand to help me straight away,” she said.

“However, Medibank are very supportive and nurses in our other offices around the state and country are always able to point me in the right direction.” Lisa said she loves working in the area and has no plans to move.

“I get to meet a variety of people and definitely a few characters in my job, and the team I work with are fantastic,” she said.

“I can’t see myself ever moving back to the hectic city life.”

Medibank employs more than 1500 health care professionals, ranging from GPs to occupational physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, rehabilitation counsellors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, social workers and registered nurses.

Nurses working in rural and remote parts of Australia are being asked to participate in a research study that aims to identify whether or not remote health programs are living up to expectations.

The research, being conducted by the Centre for Remote Health and supported by the leading voice of Australia’s remote and isolated health workforce, CRANAplus, is calling upon nurses to come forward and participate in the study.

The research is being conducted using questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and via telephone interviews. It is hoped up to 10 nurses will volunteer to participate in the research in the first instance, before the research is rolled out more broadly.

CRANAplus was founded in 1983 when 130 remote area nurses from across the country gathered in Alice Springs to put remote health issues on the national agenda. General concern about poor health status of people who live in remote areas and the inequities, quality and accessibility in services available to these Australians was and remains the catalyst for action. Membership was extended to all remote health professionals and their supporters in 2001.

Christopher Cliffe, president of CRANAplus, says the research study is the culmination of an immense amount of work in a bid to guarantee standards among working nurses in remote areas. The aim is to clearly define remote areas of Australia and identify the minimum skills needed for nurses employed in these areas.

“This is a challenging and political area because there are inter-disciplinarian and political issues to consider. We are walking on egg shells when trying to address this issue, but we know that if you don’t put the question out there, there will be no debate,” Mr Cliffe said.

Currently, credentials are a voluntary process for those working in remote parts of the country. And while most nurses could comfortably meet those requirements, some clarity is needed to fill in the professional development gaps.

“Nurses interested in being involved in the development of this can be credentialed as remote area nurses from a professional association and their employer will be credentialed,” he said.

Cliffe is a strong advocate for credentialing, adding that remote area nurses are a motivated part of the workforce who are often passionate about the health of their community. Often, transient lucum health nurses service remote areas, which present very unique challenges, he says.

“While locum nurses are certainly part of the solution of quickly filling roles that have been vacated, they are not the solution in its entirety. While the needs of the community are important, remote health service can’t be run entirely by part-time locum nurses.”

According to the CRANAplus website, remote health professionals work in a variety of settings, including railways, mines, indigenous communities, outback towns and islands, and are an integral part of the health care delivery to remote Australia. Remote area nurses make up more than 50 per cent of the health work force in remote areas.

Remote health professionals are typically hard working, flexible, adaptable, resourceful and passionate about their work, the site says.

Nurses are being asked to volunteer to participate in the study if they are a graduate nurses from a CRANAplus and Centre for Remote Health program, or have experience as an administrator of a health service where graduates of the program have completed their clinical experience and/or are employed.

It is anticipated that any changes made to systems in remote areas as a result of the research will ultimately improve the quality of care delivered by health care personnel, and so contribute to improved health outcomes.

If you are interested in participating in this research, contact Robyn Aitken at the Centre for Remote Health on (08) 8951 4739 or email robyn.aitken@flinders.edu.au

The study, published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, found dedication to the profession was the main message from nurses and it recommended management build upon that foundation to enable nurses to gain more meaning and value from their work.

The researchers also suggested organisations tailor different retention strategies to three key age groups, including Baby Boomers, 48 to 66 years, Generation X, 33 to 47 years, and Generation Y, under 32 years, instead of a one-size-fits-all policy.

Researchers Dr Kate Shacklock and Dr Yvonne Brunetto surveyed 900 nurses from seven private hospitals across four states. Most were women, over 42 years of age, working as Registered Nurses, and working between five and eight shifts a week.

The large scale survey of nurses comes as developed countries across the world continue to battle a shortage of nurses.

Dr Shacklock, a Griffith University Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations and Human Resources, said the study, which could be applicable to many international hospitals, showed there was no single driver behind nurse retention.

“One clear message emerged - that nurses feel a strong attachment to healing and to working in the nursing profession,” she said.

“This was the only variable identified by all three age groups. We believe that strategies that build on this and the other variables identified in our study may improve hospital retention rates."

The study found older Baby Boomers’ intentions to continue working as nurses were affected by variables such as their commitment to healing and nursing, work-family conflict, being allowed to decide how and when to carry out tasks, how well they get along with colleagues and the importance of working.

Generation X nurses identified their commitment to healing and nursing and the quality of their relationship with their supervisor while Generation Y singled out their commitment to healing and nursing.

Dr Shacklock said flexible working arrangements, which have been suggested by some as a possible solution to retention issues, did not prove to be a significant influence in any of the age groups.

“The results of our study provide compelling arguments for changes to how governments and healthcare providers tackle the growing challenges posed by the global nursing shortage,” said Dr Brunetto, a Southern Cross University Associate Professor in the School of Commerce and Management.

To view the study visit: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05709.x/pdf

Physiotherapy New Zealand president Gill Stotter has accused the government of squandering millions of dollars on drugs and hospital care for the disease, which ranks as the fourth biggest killer in New Zealand, when pulmonary rehabilitation would have improved, less costly results.

The Asthma Foundation recommends pulmonary rehabilitation, a six-week education and exercise program usually run at hospital respiratory departments, as an important step in managing the disease.

But new research shows less than one to two per cent of New Zealanders with the lung disease are attending rehabilitation due to a lack of direction and financial incentives at public policy level.

The Asthma Foundation estimates COPD, which often goes undiagnosed, affects about 15 per cent of New Zealand’s adults aged 45 and over.

More than 85 per cent of COPD is caused by tobacco smoking while cannabis use and dust exposure can also contribute to the disease, which is preventable but irreversible.

Ms Stotter said the government paid out more than $102 million in 2003 on direct health care costs for the disease, with most of the funds paying for hospital admissions.

“This makes no sense, from any point of view, when greater investment in pulmonary rehabilitation would have such demonstrable benefits and less cost,” she said.

Ms Stotter urged the government to re-think its policy and spending priorities.

"We're calling on the government to work with physiotherapists and other health professionals to make sure those dollars are spent more effectively and the public is getting quality care.”

Two patients died as a result of incorrect medication, there were seven patient suicides in an inpatient unit, one maternal death associated with labour or delivery and 46 other adverse events resulting in patient death.

There were also notifications of two cases of retained instruments or other material after surgery requiring re-operation or further surgical procedure, two cases of procedures involving wrong patient or wrong body part resulting in major permanent loss of function, and one haemolytic blood transfusion reaction resulting from ABO incompatibility.

WA Health has released the information in its seventh annual sentinel event report, outlining rare, preventable health care incidents that lead to serious patient adverse outcomes, known as sentinels, in a bid to learn lessons from past errors and improve patient safety in the future.

WA Health began sentinel reporting in 2003, recording 22 sentinel deaths in 2004/2005, 45 in 2007/2008, 48 in 2008/2009 and 30 in 2009/2010.

WA Health director general Kim Snowball said the reporting of sentinel events reflected the commitment of hospitals and health services to identify and effectively manage clinical incidents to improve patient safety.

Mr Snowball said the events represented 0.01 per cent of all public and private health service patient separations – the equivalent of one sentinel event per 10,000 patient separations.

“WA Health welcomes the examination of all events and continues to be the only state where private hospitals are required to report sentinel events to their health department,” he said.

“All events are thoroughly investigated and lessons learned are shared across the WA Health system to further improve patient safety.”

Most often, nurses lose the ability or even the chance to incorporate warmth, rapport and interactive participatory communication with the patient, and with patient’s family members. This is mainly due to time management constraints, high acuity of patient load, and the intricate documentation required for any shift to progress. Moreover, the higher the acuity of patients, the more clinical skills are appropriated into the nurse’s practice. It is cost-effective, efficient, and exceptional; yet, nurses fail to understand that communication and proper nurse-patient interrelationship whether in a period of 8 hours, several days or weeks or even months is crucial to the patients’ healing process. The advantages are:

It is most crucial that patients are aware of what procedures they have been through especially after surgery just to remind them of their diets, their drips, their drains and their calf compressors and to reiterate what they are NOT allowed to do post operatively. Hence, this communication incorporates patient education in an affirmative constructive pattern as part of nursing care.

Nurses must always establish a therapeutic relationship. It is part of their role as health care providers. It has always been lectured in universities and written in textbooks. However years of practice can blur or even overshadow this important aspect of the healing process with other highly technical skills. This article is just a minute reminder of the essentials.

The University of Maryland’s School of Nursing surveyed 2103 female nurses and found nurses who work long hours were significantly more likely to be obese than their underweight or normal weight colleagues.

The study has prompted the Australian Nursing Federation to stress the importance of longer breaks between late shifts and early starts and urging nurses, working both shift and non-shift work, to remain fit and healthy.

A spokesperson for the ANF said while there was no known Australian study demonstrating a link between shift work and obesity, shift work often interfered in nurses’ lives.

“We do know that shift work creates disruption in the lives of members, particularly when shifts are staggered or rosters constantly change,” he said.

“Longer breaks between a late shift and early starts are important.

“Adequate rest between shifts is also necessary and in some states there are staggered starts for nurses who have worked the late shift one night and then rotate onto an early (start) the next day.”

The spokesperson urged nurses to keep healthy but said it was often more challenging for shift workers to include regular exercise, maintain a healthy diet and achieve adequate amounts of rest.

In the study, published in the Journal of Nursing Administration, 57 per cent of nurses surveyed were obese.

It found nurses working long hours were more stressed and in roles requiring less physical exertion and movement.

Lead researcher Kihye Han, a postdoctoral fellow at the School, said the study results provide timely evidence-based information for nurse executives and administrators who may consider rethinking their nurse scheduling.

“Long work hours and shift work adversely affect quantity and quality of sleep, which often interferes with adherence to healthy behaviour and increases obesity,” she said.

Researchers suggest allowing nurses to nap in the workplace in a bid to stave off the effects of work-related sleep deprivation, which would reduce fatigue and boost energy for healthy lifestyle behaviours.

The Dietitians Association of Australia is working to promote APDs as the ‘go to’ experts for people to find support and motivation to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

With statistics showing 62 per cent of Australian adults and one in four children are obese, the organisation representing Australia’s 3700 APDs wants Australians to seek the professional help of an APD as the first, and not the last, resort.

DAA CEO Claire Hewat said when it comes to diet and nutrition it can often be difficult for people to sort fact from fiction.

“There is so much information available – on websites, in magazines and from people who have very little qualifications in nutrition,” she said.

“A key part of the AHWW (Australia’s Healthy Weight Week) campaign is to highlight APDs as the experts in nutrition.

“APDs are university-qualified in nutrition, and keep up-to-date with the latest science in this area.

“They are best-placed to support and motivate people to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.”

The campaign comes as a DAA survey of 18 to 24-year-old women found two thirds of respondents listed their New Year’s resolutions as aiming to lose weight, to eat better and exercise more.

Despite the resolutions, weight gains among women aged 18-25 are higher than other Australians, affecting fertility and long term health.

APDs are getting on board the health kick campaign, holding almost 50 community and workplace events registered to mark Australia’s Healthy Weight Week, running from January 22-29.

Ms Hewat said APDs are being encouraged to spread the word.

“The more APDs involved in AHWW, the stronger our voice – and the better we’ll be at helping Australians to eat better and feel better,” she said.

Ms Hewat said the organisation launched AHWW in 2008 to help address overweight and obesity levels in Australia.

“DAA is committed to improving the health of Australians – and overweight and obesity is a top priority,” she said.

“DAA has also been calling for a host of actions in this area, including tighter regulation of food marketing - especially to children, healthier food choices in food service settings, and improved and better access to APDs.

“We’re taking a lead in this area, but we know we’ll only affect obesity rates by working collaboratively with other stakeholders.”

Visit www.healthyweightweek.com.au for more information and to join the AHWW pledge campaign.

Gold Coast CIB and the Homicide Squad are calling for information from colleagues and the general public in a bid to help solve the suspicious death of the 38-year-old father of two.

Mr Williams’ body was discovered in his Sunshine Boulevard unit in Mermaid Waters on Christmas Eve at around 2pm.

Regional Crime Coordinator Detective Acting Superintendent Brian Swan said public assistance in the investigation could prove invaluable in solving the murder case.

“We are appealing for any person who has any information at all in relation to Mr Williams and his death to come forward to police,” he said.

“Any information at all, however irrelevant it might seem, could be of assistance to the investigation.”

Det Acting Supt Swan said the investigation, which has included the use of police divers to search nearby waterways for evidence, was “progressing well”.

“We have interviewed a large number of people and are still in the process of interviewing people who knew Mr Williams,” he said.

“(We would like to) try and get some more information from the public in terms of…these investigations are always extremely difficult, we are looking at all avenues of inquiry and are certainly feeling that this is a person who is very much loved and popular and talented and we believe that someone out there may know something.”

Mr Williams, a singer with band Sex N Chocolate, was originally from New Zealand.

Anyone with any information can contact their local police, Crime Stoppers or Police Link on 131 444.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has told media the country’s large number of out of work nurses, including the 68,000 who recently passed nursing board examinations, could be the answer to Australia’s nursing shortage.

“With…its healthcare system now with an acute need for registered nurses and other allied professionals, there are tremendous opportunities to widen the gateway for jobs for Filipinos in Australia across all industries and across all states and territories,” POEA administrator Carlos Cao Jr said.

A spokesman for Acting Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the Australian Government welcomed suitably qualified nurses from overseas, including the Philippines.

“There are opportunities for overseas trained nurses to work in Australia,” he said.

“However, nurses and midwives seeking to practise in Australia must meet the professional standards required by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.

“These standards apply equally to all Australian citizens and permanent residents as well as internationally qualified health professionals.”

The spokesman said the government was delivering on its commitment to the Australian nursing workforce, providing training for an additional 3220 registered nurses in the past three years while increasing the number of registered nurses by 21 per cent, up from 34,871 in 2007 to 42,182 in 2010.

“The Gillard Government is… supporting nurses to work in places of high need such as rural health, aged care, primary care and emergency medicine,” he said.

“In addition as part of the Australian Government’s $425 million commitment to further expand clinical training places, 32 per cent will go to nursing.”

The spokesman said the nation’s health workforce agency, Health Workforce Australia, was working with states and territories on a range of key programs including areas of workforce planning, clinical education and training, and international recruitment, aimed at meeting the future needs of the nursing workforce.

The Australian Psychological Society, which represents 20,000 psychologists, wants the government to reinstate six Medicare-funded psychology sessions for patients in the most acute distress.

The government reduced the number of funded sessions, as part of its Better Access to Mental Health Care initiative, from 18 to 10 last November, in a bid to save $174.6 million.

APS executive director Lyn Littlefield said the government could still save $117.5 million by introducing stricter rules for accessing the extra six sessions under exceptional circumstances.

“A large number of vulnerable Australians have been left without access to crucial care,” she said.

“With a slight adjustment to the rules and a relatively small expenditure, the government can protect them, while keeping the cuts it has used for other mental health investments.

“The heavy demand for Medicare-funded mental health sessions are testament to the immense need in the Australian community.”

The APS has outlined the proposal in its pre-budget submission to the government, alongside a list of proposals including greater access to neuropsychological assessments for older Australians, to ensure precise diagnosis of cognitive impairment-related health issues and more cost-effective treatment.

It is also seeking investment for a scheme to increase the number of psychologists in aged care facilities, in a bid to reduce the unnecessary use of medications for those with dementia, mood disorders and disruptive behaviour.

More than 30 projects involving NPs across Australia will be funded under the Nurse Practitioner – Aged Care Models of Practice Program to help bolster the role of NPs in the aged care sector.

Adelaide’s Resthaven Incorporated will receive more than $500,000 funding to employ a palliative care nurse practitioner who will support people in the end phase of the ageing process.

Some of the other funding recipients include the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, La Trobe University, Royal College of Nursing ACT, Southern Cross Care, Illawarra Retirement and The Nurse Practitioner Acute Care Team.

The Australian College of Nurse Practitioners and the Australian Nursing Federation have both applauded the move as recognition of the vital work of NPs in delivering quality health care.

ACNP president Helen Gosby said the project would highlight the valuable contribution of NPs, which now number more than 600 across Australia.

“I think it’s the fact that they can see that NPs are a good model to be able to provide this care, I think it’s really good,” she said.

“This is an area often without resources and NPs will be able to provide care to a lot of these people in residential care and keep them out of hospital.”

ANF federal secretary Lee Thomas welcomed the roll out of the initiative.

“NPs are increasingly being called upon to provide frontline health services across all parts of the community,” she said.

In announcing the program, Mental Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler said older people want to remain in their homes for as long as possible.

“The new nurse practitioner will improve end of life care and allow more people to die at their preferred place,” he said.

Mr Butler said the program would also provide new and extended career paths for aged care nurses.

“Delivering flexible training initiatives focused on improved clinical care will assist industry recruitment and retention and create attractive career paths in aged care.”

The figures come as the Labor ACT Government has committed to double its funding for nurse-led walk-in centres in Canberra, if it is re-elected to power in October.

Chief Minister and Health Minister Katy Gallagher wants to talk to local GPs, consumers and nurses about the preferred model for establishing the services, which could involve two or three centres – with nurse-led walk-in centres also mooted for Belconnen and Tuggeranong.

Ms Gallagher said the ACT Health Walk-In Centre, based at the Canberra Hospital, has shown “positive” growth since it opened in May 2010, while helping alleviate pressure on the state’s busy hospital emergency departments.

“The most common reason for people presenting to the WiC is for upper respiratory tract infections, which equates to over 20 per cent of presentations since it opened,” Ms Gallagher said.

“The nurse-led centres have also treated a variety of other conditions which have included wounds and lacerations, ear conditions, tonsillitis and gastroenteritis.”

Ms Gallagher said feedback showed 80 per cent of patients have been very satisfied with their treatment or advice.

A spokeswoman for Ms Gallagher said the final model of the proposed expanded service would depend on the outcome of discussions with stakeholders.

“For example, one way would be to retain the Canberra Hospital Walk-in Centre and create a hub and spoke model with two smaller WiCs in Tuggeranong and Belconnen,” the spokeswoman said.

“Another possibility is to move the existing WiC off the Canberra Hospital campus, keeping the Canberra Hospital for acute care services, and create two larger walk-in centres in Tuggeranong and Belconnen.”

The ACT branch of the Australian Nursing Federation has welcomed Labor’s commitment to expand the centres.

ACT ANF branch secretary Jenny Miragaya said the Canberra Hospital centre, which is staffed by a small group of highly-skilled nurses, has made “significant improvements” to healthcare services and options available in the region.

“The high rates of utilisation, short waiting times and consumers’ high levels of satisfaction with the advice and treatment they received reflect well on the nurse-led WiC model and the skill and ability of the staff,” she said.

“The nurses who staff the existing walk-in centre are very experienced and highly educated healthcare professionals.

“The ACT ANF hopes that with the proposed expansion of the WiC model the role of the nurse practitioners will be expanded to allow them to deliver healthcare within their full scope of practice,” Ms Miragaya said.   

Nurses from the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland are expected to start work with New South Wales Health in the first quarter of this year while 1646 undergraduate nurses have accepted offers to commence as newly registered nurses in 2012.

The nursing injection comes as NSW Health works to add an extra 2475 nurses to its wards within the next four years in a bid to bolster patient care.

A NSW Ministry of Health spokesperson said the influx of undergraduate and overseas nurses will add to the extra 970 nurses who began roles with the NSW public health system between March and October last year.

NSW Health cast its recruitment net internationally last year, with positions advertised in general nursing, medical/surgical, mental health, palliative care, acute rehab, emergency, operating theatres and in midwifery.

The spokesperson said the campaign targeted experienced nurses eligible for Australian registration across the UK, USA and Ireland.

“The response to the recruitment campaign was good and there was interest from experienced nurses in all the countries visited, particularly due to Australia’s climate and working conditions,” she said.

“Most of the nurses who will join the workforce from overseas are in the process of getting registered, applying for visas and making arrangements to move to Australia.”

The spokesperson said “a number” of the overseas nurses were expected to start work within the first quarter of the year.

“The health system throughout NSW will benefit from new nurses, who will be placed in areas depending on their particular expertise and where staff vacancies exist,” she said.

The $1 million University of Canberra custom-built mobile clinic will feature postgraduate students offering physiotherapy, nutrition, dietetics, midwifery, pharmacy, psychology and occupational therapy services under the supervision of qualified health practitioners.

The clinic, which will be based at Narooma for two weeks of the month and will also visit Moruya and Eden, will provide an extra 56 new clinical placements within the Greater Southern Area Health Service.

The supervised students will also have access to e-health technology as part of a trial program to link students, by real-time video and audio, with specialist clinical trainers.

University of Canberra dean of health Professor Diane Gibson said the clinic would help train much needed health professionals.

“We can increase access to affordable healthcare while at the same time addressing the shortage of clinical placements, which is a key obstacle to getting more health professionals into the workforce,” she said.

Nutrition and dietetics students will provide assistance for people with chronic conditions ranging from cancer to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity through dietary assessments, dietary advice and providing healthy eating plans and nutrition resources.

Physiotherapy students will treat patients with musculoskeletal conditions such as pre and post orthopaedic surgery, sports injuries and back or neck pain.

The 14m long mobile clinic, which expands in width and length when operational, includes three stretchers/consultation rooms, classroom space, a kitchenette, storage, office, lounge area and electric hydraulic wheelchair lift.

The health organisation has called for more than 250 people who applied for 17 positions, including jobs as a clinical psychologist, clinical nurse specialist, pharmacist, occupational therapist, nurse educator, community mental health nurse, district nurses and registered nurses, to re-apply or contact Waikato DHB.

The move comes after Waikato DHB’s hosted server, which receives online job applications for its website - www.waikatodhb.health.nz - was disrupted earlier this month.

The glitch was originally thought to be the result of hackers but has since been blamed on an overwhelming influx of spam email.

The DHB, which receives an average of about 50 applications a day on its website, believes no applications for the jobs reached the server and as a result is urging those people who applied for the health jobs to email the organisation.

Waikato DHB human resources general manager Fiona McCarthy said the website receives more than 280,000 hits a month, of which 80 per cent are job-related, and many applicants are often from overseas.

“We always get many applications from overseas – places like Australia, the United Kingdom and India are particularly active in looking in our market,” she said.

In a statement, the DHB said its system is now “under control and investigations continue”.

Anyone interested in checking their application can email recruit@waikatodhb.health.nz.

Stop-work meetings have been held at the Launceston General Hospital, the North-West Regional Hospital and the Royal Hobart Hospital with nurses voting in favour of a 48-hour ban on overtime and double shifts, beginning December 14.

Under the bans, nurses will not undertake clerical or cleaning work and will claim all missed meal breaks and entitlements.

The State Government is refusing to back down as it attempts to shave $100 million from its budget; with its 2011-2012 budget sitting at $1.377 billion, up $92 million on the previous year.

State Health Minister Michelle O’Byrne said she was disappointed at the bans and urged nurses to re-think their industrial action.

“I respect the rights of nurses to engage in this debate and the rights of their union to take action legally available to them,” she said.

“But my message has not changed and it will not change because it cannot change – we must act to secure our health system for the future.”

Ms O’Byrne recently announced the government would honour its commitment, outlined in an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement last year between the government and the Australian Nursing Federation, to give the state’s 4500 nurses a 2.75 per cent pay rise, with more than 1000 receiving around a 4 per cent rise.

Ms O’Byrne also denied claims that nurses are being sacked.

ANF Tasmanian branch secretary Neroli Ellis said nurses were standing up to the government, which was slashing hospital beds and planning to halt the employment of up to 900 nurses.

“Nurses are still working double shifts and overtime to cope with the hospitals running near 100 per cent occupancy, whilst the DHHS now terminates nurses on fixed term contracts,” she said.

“This is not a cost saving and despite the risks identified by nurses, the government is unwavering in its short-sighted attempt to cut costs, which is now putting patient care at risk.

“We understand the seriousness of stop work action but this government has pushed us to the point where we have no other option.”

The committee’s inquiry into strategies to reduce the risk of violence in Victoria’s hospital emergency departments has ruled against firearms and said while it disagrees with capsicum spray and tasers as a general principle, it stated “individual hospitals should have the power to decide what other forms of restraint and security mechanisms should be employed”.

The committee has outlined a long list of recommendations including the use of CCTV footage in EDs and other areas to monitor aggression, improved communication of waiting times which is often the cause of frustration and aggression, duress alarms for staff and encouraging more staff to report incidents.

Deputy Premier Peter Ryan ordered the inquiry after concerns were raised at the government’s $21 million plan to install protective service officers (PSOs) in Victorian EDs.

The committee said introducing PSOs was “inappropriate and contrary to the good management of security in hospitals and poses a greater safety risk”.

“The overwhelming response to this inquiry has been that under no circumstances should either armed or unarmed Victoria Police Protective Service Officers or any other armed officer be placed in Victorian Hospitals or emergency rooms to assist with security,” its inquiry report stated.

“This view has been repeatedly stated to the committee by doctors, nurses, ambulance officers and executive hospital management amongst others.”

The committee has also recommended that a specific offence of assaulting, obstructing, hindering or delaying a hospital or health worker or a licensed security guard or emergency worker in the execution or performance of their duties be considered.