Online therapy key to helping young people with OCD

Date of Posting: 31-08-2016

Preliminary findings from new Curtin University research has reinforced the importance of online therapyin significantly reducing the symptoms and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in young people. The study looked at the effectivene Read More...

Diversity presents unique health service challenges

Date of Posting: 29-08-2016

The unique opportunities and challenges facing health and social service access and delivery for New Zealand’s increasingly diverse society will be discussed in Auckland next week. By 2038 about one in five New Zealanders and one in three Au Read More...

Arthrogryposis - the congenital disorder linked to Zika

Last Updated: 29-08-2016

Michelle Giles, Monash University and Gina Ravenscroft, University of Western Australia While we’re used to seeing the distressing images of small heads caused by infection with the Zika virus during pregnancy, a recent study has suggest Read More...

Why males are more likely to die from conception to old age

Date of Posting: 29-08-2016

Claire Roberts, University of Adelaide Sexual inequality begins in the womb, but not in the way you might think. In a study of more than 574,000 births in South Australia between 1981 and 2011, we found boys are more likely to be born preterm Read More...

Ansell announces the winners of the 2016 H.E.R.O. Nurse Service Award

Last Updated: 25-08-2016

Ansell has announced the winners of the 2016 Ansell CARES™ H.E.R.O. Nurse Service Award, established to recognise nurses who have made lasting impressions on their peers, patients, profession, and community. Ansell would like to offer our wa Read More...

Call to ban doctors from conscientious objection: QUT lecture

Date of Posting: 25-08-2016

Doctors working in the public system should not be able to object to performing procedures such as abortions or prescribing contraception on the basis of their own values or religious beliefs, says bioethicist Professor Julian Savulescu, who is speak Read More...

Step forward in midwifery gender equity dispute

Date of Posting: 19-08-2016

New Zealand’s largest equal pay challenge will now head to mediation. The New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) has accepted an eleventh hour Ministry of Health offer to have its case heard in mediation instead of court.[subscribe] The Read More...

Household pesticides pose exposure risk for small children

Date of Posting: 15-08-2016

Calls to a poisons hotline have revealed a disproportionate number of young children referred to hospital following suspected exposure to a household bug and spider spray. The University of Queensland analysed insecticide-related calls made to the Read More...

Health study calls for five-fold boost to activity levels

Date of Posting: 11-08-2016

Researchers are calling for a major boost to physical activity recommendations, with a new study linking more weekly exercise to a reduced risk of five common diseases. University of Queensland researcher Dr Lennert Veerman said a significant boos Read More...

Study reveals cholesterol link in aggressive cancers

Date of Posting: 09-08-2016

University of Queensland research has revealed how fats – including cholesterol – could increase the progression of aggressive cancers. UQ Diamantina Institute study leader Associate Professor Michelle Hill said the findings offered po Read More...

Winners of national aged care awards announced

Last Updated: 09-08-2016

 A QLD sub-acute care program that piloted a program to better manage clinical deterioration in residents, an organisation that launched health and wellness centres in SA and NT, and a Victorian aged care professional who pioneered better wound Read More...

Advanced Practice Nursing: A level in its own right

Last Updated: 04-08-2016

A summit of Australian nursing leaders was recently held in Melbourne to discuss the future of advanced practice nursing. The attendees included officers and representatives from leading colleges, regulatory bodies, chief nursing and midwifery off Read More...

Jobs forecast in nursing, midwifery and allied health

Last Updated: 04-08-2016

A review of New Zealand’s health workforce points to job opportunities for midwives in rural areas, nurses in advanced practice areas and demand for sonographers and MRI technicians. The Health Workforce New Zealand report, Health of the Hea Read More...

Strengthening Clinician Engagement Conference 29th - 30th July

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Strategies to drive performance, safety & quality 29th & 30th July 2015, Mercure Sydney [subscribe] Today’s clinical standards in the health care sector are changing rapidly which has triggered budgets to tighten up throughout hospit Read More...

Education gets clinical exercise physiology moving

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

A new specialised exercise rehabilitation clinic is working to strengthen New Zealand’s emerging clinical exercise physiology profession. More than 30 Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) Bachelor and Postgraduate Diploma of Sport and Ex Read More...

Paramedics, nurses and midwives apply for nanny program

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

It’s no easy feat being shift-working parents - just ask Neil and Valerie Noble. The Cairns paramedics and parents of Matthew, aged 7, and Courtney, 11, often face the work-life juggle of finding carers for their children when their work ros Read More...

Food for thought - a healthy diet could save someone from losing vision

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

This year, Macular Degeneration Awareness Week is 22-28 May. Experts advise that, while there is no cure, the key to avoiding blindness may be found in the refrigerator. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 60 ye Read More...

Aussies unite for first ever Big Aussie Hearing Check

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

With Hearing Awareness Week (23 – 29 August 2015) just around the corner, Australian Hearing is rallying the country, to come together on one special day and prioritise their hearing, as part of the first ever, nation-wide Big Aussie Hearing Ch Read More...

Training midwives to tackle domestic violence

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

New research could pave the way for Australian midwives to receive training to address domestic violence in pregnancy. Statistics show 30 per cent of domestic violence incidents occur when women are pregnant, while domestic violence is also a prim Read More...

Labor pledges nurse to patient ratios for Queensland

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Queensland will legislate nurse to patient ratios under a Labor state government. Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has pledged to legislate safe patient ratios in public hospitals if Labor wins the January 31 election.[subscribe] Under i Read More...

Labor pledges to legislate nurse to patient ratios

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Victoria could become the first state in Australia to enshrine nurse to patient ratios in legislation. Opposition leader Daniel Andrews has pledged to legislate safe patient ratios if Labor wins the November 29 state election.[subscribe] Nurse Read More...

Scheme attracts nurses and midwives to rural areas

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Graduate nurses, midwives, sonographers and specialists are continuing to be attracted to rural and other hard-to-staff communities in New Zealand. Registrations for the 2015 intake of the nation’s Voluntary Bonding Scheme, the seventh intak Read More...

Women, Children and Cardiovascular Disease

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Cardiovascular disease kills an estimated 17.3 million people worldwide each year including over 45,000 Australians. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease include smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet. People may also be predisposed to heart dise Read More...

Do men need to exercise harder than women to prevent stroke?

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Michelle McDonnell, University of South Australia Emerging evidence suggests physical activity is a good means of preventing a stroke. In the event that someone who regularly exercises does have a stroke, they are likely to have a less severe Read More...

Pharmacists rate high in customer satisfaction

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Pharmacists have received top marks in yet another public poll - this time for customer satisfaction. The Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards reveal Australia’s big-name chain pharmacies have received satisfaction ratings ranging from 85 Read More...

Physiotherapist debunks concussion myths

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Players and professional athletes should be removed from play after receiving a head-injury on the sporting field amid estimates only 10 per cent of concussions result in unconsciousness, according to an Australian physiotherapy researcher. Profes Read More...

Physiotherapist paves the way in mental health

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Seventeen years ago, Kevin Lau had a few reservations about working as a physiotherapist in the mental health field. Today, as the head of the physiotherapy department at a large psychiatric hospital in Western Australia, he wouldn’t have it Read More...

Physiotherapists tackle obesity

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Physiotherapists are playing a pivotal role in working to trim the nation’s expanding waistlines. As experts in physical activity, weight management, heart disease and diabetes prevention, physiotherapists are increasingly treating patients Read More...

Older people with depression more likely to fall

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Allied health professionals and nurses should treat depressive symptoms in older people with a combination of physical exercise and psychosocial therapies, according to new research. The message comes after Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) Read More...

Walk with midwives to raise funds for Indigenous midwifery students

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Midwives for a better tomorrow. That’s the theme of this year’s International Day of the Midwife (IDM), established by the International Confederation of Midwives, and held around the globe each year on May 5.[subscribe] The Austral Read More...

Do we crave the food our bodies need?

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Vincent Ho, Western Sydney University Food craving is an intense desire to consume a particular food that is difficult to resist. This is different from hunger, as consumption of any number of foods satisfies hunger. Food cravings are very Read More...

Male nurses earn more than female nurses

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Male nurses are earning an average of $5100 more a year than female nurses despite working in a female-dominated profession, according to new research to come out of the United States. A study of 290,000 registered nurses spanning 25 years, publis Read More...

Mental health nurses excluded from expert group

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

First it was nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners being excluded from the federal government’s two key health reform groups, now mental health nurses have also been overlooked. Mental health nurses, the largest part of the health care wo Read More...

Country kids face twice as many tooth fillings as city cousins

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

A new research report just released by the Royal Flying Doctor Service shines a spotlight on oral health for country Australians. Oral health and dental care access disparities between the city and the bush include: • Childhood cavities are 5 Read More...

Paramedics pledge to campaign against government

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Victorian paramedics have vowed to actively campaign against the state government in the lead up to this month’s election. Ambulance Employees Association Victoria (AEAV) and the Coalition have failed to come to an agreement over wages and c Read More...

Aussie health professionals sign up for Ebola response

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

More than a thousand health professionals have applied to join the Australian Government’s response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Health care provider Aspen Medical, which is coordinating the provision of a 100-bed Ebola Treatment Un Read More...

Waikato topples hospital fall rates

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Orange non-slip socks, sensor mats and Invisa-Beams are working to reduce falls at Waikato District Health Board (DHB). The measures are part of a range of initiatives credited for reducing falls by 41 per cent at the DHB in the past four years.[s Read More...

Research points to patient safety in nurse numbers

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

International research shows nurse staffing levels contribute to a seven-fold difference in patient mortality rates between hospitals. Patient safety researcher Dr Linda Aiken, a keynote speaker at today’s Queensland Nurses’ Union&rsqu Read More...

Reforms needed to improve end-of-life care

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Vital reforms to end-of-life care are essential to assist the majority of Australians who want to die ‘a good death’ at home. A Grattan Institute perspective published in the Medical Journal of Australia, based on its earlier Dying Wel Read More...

Big data can improve health but first we need to build the foundations

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Julian Elliott, Cochrane “What if we, as government, got out of the way and gave consumers full access to their own personalised health data and full control over how they choose to use it?” Health Minister Sussan Ley asked in her Read More...