Weekly Update

Dear CRANAplus Members,

The 12th National University Rural Health Conference (NURHC) will be held at the Alice Springs Convention Center July 15-17.  Conference organisers expect 400 allied health, medical and nursing members, stakeholders and health professionals in attendance.Television personality Ernie Dingo as conference MC will be a highlight of the conference as will be the stunning location of Alice Springs.

CRANAplus CEO Carole Taylor will participate in an open forum with other stakeholders to discuss with delegates current issues affecting the remote sector.

CRANAplus is offering as an award a set of publications designed to support rural and remote health professionals in their practice. Among these publications are the Clinical Procedures, Womens Business and CARPA Manuals. We ask CRANAplus student members to nominate a fellow nursing colleague or yourself to win this set of resources that will truly support your rural and remote practice. You will need to outline what the applicant has done to demonstrate an interest in rural, remote and indigenous health and why you think they to deserve to benefit from having these books. You must be attending the CRANAplus Nursing Stakeholder Lunch to be a recipient.  Please hand your short 200 - 300 word application into the CRANAplus booth at NURHC by 1pm Thursday 15th July.

Regards,

Anne-Marie Borchers
Business Manager

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eRemote Program Launched

CRANAplus proudly launched a new resource this week that furthers our mission to educate remote health practitioners. The new eRemote online learning program will empower health professionals by delivering learning modules that are engaging, interactive and relevant to remote practice. The program offers specialised educational opportunities for nurses, doctors, paramedics and Aboriginal health workers.

eRemote is the final of the four new educational programs to be launched in the past 10 months as part of the First Line Emergency Care program. A launch event was held Tuesday, 29 June in Alice Springs and was attended by over 30 people. Minister Warren Snowdon launched the program by teleconference from Darwin. Following a welcome to country by Pat Ancell Dodds, a traditional Arrente woman. Online coordinator Julia Stewart, gave an overview of the program invited attendees to test-drive eRemote on the computers available at the event.

The feed back from those present was extremely positive and the team have had enquires already from people wishing to utilize the learning tool. CRANAplus CEO said, "There is no doubt that Libby Bowel and Julia Stewart and the team including the advisory group have done an amazing job. The product itself is so comprehensive and they seem to have thought of everything in terms of remote accessibility and need. There is something in this for everyone and it will grow as other needs are identified. "

For more information about this exciting new resource, visit the CRANAplus website or contact Julia Stewart at julia@crana.org.au.

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Deadline for Back from the Edge survey

'Back From the Edge' is a comprehensive survey of nurses investigating the stressors resulting from their work in the very remote regions of Australia. This four-year project compares and contrasts the occurrence of occupational stress of remote nursing with that of nurses working in other contexts. The primary objective is to develop and implement interventions that prevent or reduce the impact of occupational stressors in the remote workplace. If you haven’t received your questionnaire or would like to participate, please email Sue.lenthall@flinders.edu.au . Please participate and encourage your colleagues to do so as well - It’s your story we need to better understand.

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Meetings & Conferences

The 28th CRANAplus Conference
13-16 October 2010
Adelaide, SA

SNAICC National Conference
27-29 July 2010
Alice Springs, NT

The Australian Association of Gerontology (SA & NT Division)
AAG Northern Territory Conference
12 & 13 August 2010
Darwin, NT

Australian Diabetes Society & Australian Diabetes Educators Association
Annual Scientific Meeting
1-3 September 2010
Sydney, NSW

Early Childhood Development in Indigenous Communities
21-22 September 2010
Darwin, NT

2nd Rural & Remote Mental Health Symposium
29-30 September 2010
Sydney, NSW

The 4th Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Suicide Prevention
17-20 November 2010
Brisbane, QLD

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Scholarships & Educational Opportunities

CRANAplus/YNA Undergraduate Scholarships
Deadline - 31st August 2010
Each year CRANAplus in partnership with Your Nursing Agency (YNA) offer a total of six $1000 scholarships. These scholarships are available to students who as part of their undergraduate course of study in a health discipline at any Australian university, undertakes a remote location placement.

PHC: Making a difference
25-26 October 2010
This short course has been developed to strengthen health professionals understanding of the social, environmental, structural, political and philosophical issues that impact upon health care provision in remote Australia. The workshop will explore primary health care, its current status and potential in Australian health care as well as the recognition of the importance of integrating health promotion and prevention strategies in remote health settings.

AUSMED: Improving Your Knowledge of Medicines Seminar
Brisbane: 19 - 20 August
Adelaide: 15 - 16 November
Perth: 2 - 3 December
As medicines are one of the highest areas of risk for ALL nurses; it is essential that YOU regularly update your knowledge on this key professional area.

Live Strong: Closing the Gap on Chronic Disease
DVD available to order
Live Strong is the latest of the half hour documentary style programs in the Rural Health Education Foundation’s Strong Series.

ASISTApplied suicide intervention skills training
15-16 July 2010 - two day workshop
Melbourne, Vic
Phone: 03 8841 3000 - Email: mchs@mannchs.org.au

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Articles of Interest

NURSES THREATEN TO BURN UNIFORMS
Northern Territory Government-employed flight nurses are threatening to burn their uniforms over what they describe as a loss of jobs in the sector.

FAST FOOD OPERATORS FORCED TO DECLARE CALORIE CONTENT
Fast food restaurants in Victoria will soon have to include calorie counts on their main menus.

OBSTETRICIAN APPOINTED IN THE PILBARA
The Rural Doctors' Association has welcomed the appointment of a new obstetrician in the Pilbara but says rural women still face challenges in accessing specialist medical services.

REDUCE RISK OF DIABETES BY SWITCHING TO BROWN RICE
Reducing your risk of diabetes may be as simple as having a bowl of brown rice instead of white.

THE 2010 LIFE AWARDS ARE NOW OPEN FOR NOMINATION
The LIFE Awards, held annually in conjuntion with International World Suicide Prevention Day, recognise the outstanding contribution to suicide prevention in Australia.

DEPRESSION TREATMENT NOT EFFECTIVE FOR OLDER MEN: AUSTRALIAN STUDY
Anti-depressant treatments often do not work fully, leaving sufferers to battle a condition known to " shorten people's lives", an Australian study revealed on Monday.

STROKE PATIENTS TO GET Wii THERAPY OVER THE NBN
The NBN Co has begun selling the National Broadband Network’s (NBN) benefit to the health sector, announcing that stroke patients will shortly receive Wii-based therapy over the network.

4600 REASONS FOR THE RUDD GOVERNMENT TO TAKE MORE ACTION ON RURAL HEALTH, AUSTRALIA
Today's release of Australia's Health 2010 provides 4600 reasons why the Rudd Government must take more action-and urgently-to entice more doctors to rural and remote Australia and boost access to healthcare in the bush, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) has warned.

WA BABY DEATHS DOUBLE
Health experts are worried by a doubling in the number of WA babies dying unexpectedly.

RISKS KNOWN WHEN PAY SYSTEM WENT LIVE
Queensland Health's bungled payroll system cost a whopping $64.5 million and was given the green light by a project team that knew of its defects, a report has found.

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