Pandemic vaccine rolls into town

We have been regular participants in weekly teleconferences conducted by the Chief Medical Officer and the Office of Health Protection, culminating in the roll out this week of the vaccine. The information about the seriousness of the pandemic is still important to understand now we have seen a decline in cases in Australia - all indications are that the northern hemisphere are starting to see a new surge in cases with some evidence that the second wave may be more serious than the first. All health professionals need to be immunised and that means you! You need to understand why, and why your patients should be immunised, particularly the priority groups.
It is going to be an interesting exercise to see how general practice delivers on a major public health initiative like this. I will be really interested in any comments on how its going, problems and good news stories. We have every confidence that practice nurses will be a key enabler in the successful roll out of this! For all the latest information go to our website www.apna.asn.au
By the time I write my next blog we will be in our new premises and hopefully it will have all gone smoothly but we ask that people be tolerant if phones/internet etc experience some disruption. Wish us luck!

A deep breath

I have had a quiet 10 days or so with my eldest daughter having a tonsillectomy. There is nothing like looking after a crotchety teenager in pain to make you take a break from thinking about work! It also proved that once a nurse always a nurse - I think I did a pretty good job looking after her, ensuring she was hydrated, in minimal pain, kept moving when able to and largely self-managing in good spirits.

However, sitting next to her for hours cuddling and just 'being there' gave me plenty of time for reflection and the opportunity to take a deep breath before launching into what promises to be an extremely busy next few months.

• Responses to salary and conditions survey are currently sitting at 311 which is fantastic but we need more.


• First meeting of 2010 conference committee is on Friday and what a motivated bunch they are - I am really looking forward to it


• Patient satisfaction data collection tool project is in its final stages beofre submitting report to the government. Thanks to all who participated- your patients love you!


• Nominations for Best Practice Awards are rolling in and the best part of my day currently and until it closes is reading the applications as they come in - inspiring. With the BPA awards this year we are having a one-day clinical symposium for practice nurses in Sydney where we are often criticised for not having much of a presence. I hope to see as many of the APNA Sydney members there as possible on the 27th November.


• Finalising the next strategic plan and consulting with you all on it - again is looking exciting but need to knuckle down and concentrate on pulling it all together


• And we are entering conference season for the general practice sector- while we can't attend all due to costs, we try to have a presence at as many as possible. Coming up are the RACGP conference, Australian Association of Practice Managers, Australian General Practice Network, Australian College of Nurse Practitioners etc.


• And moving offices.........

I hope you all saw our letter in Ausdoc this week regarding a cartoon 2 weeks ago. I would encourage any of you with sensible GPs to write in support of it or nurses generally. We were appalled by the demeaning portrayal of nurses and their clinical decision making in the cartoon.

Moving, NP Advisory Group, Swine Flu

It has been a big month for us since my last blog. We have decided on new premises for the APNA office in Carlton, Victoria and are looking forward to moving in on October 9th at this stage. The office will allow us to have our own meeting room/s and will look a lot less transient than the current office. The building is a Victorian terrace and is being repainted inside and out and recarpeted etc for our moving in. The location is also close to public transport, beautiful gardens and the best coffee in Melbourne which is always important! We were asked to provide a nurse practitioner/GP combination to represent APNA on the Nurse Practitioner Advisory Group, which has been set up to implement the NP and Midwife Access to MBS and PBS legislation. APNA member Cassie Holland and Dr Robert Clarke are doing this and we really appreciate their commitment. They are being supported and advised by other members of the NP special interest group within APNA. If any of you want to join this, email me and I will add you to the email group.

Scholarships and Best Practice Awards have been released and as always mean the phones are running hot in here. I always enjoy the Best Practice Awards process as we get to hear so many inspirign stories which give meaning to what we do every day. I encourage all of you to have a go at these awards even you entered before as we have had a very hard time deciding each year.

Planning for next years conference are well underway and the 2010 conference committee is meeting face to face at the end of next week to decide on the final program for release. Any great ideas, email lucy.dear@apna.asn.au so we can incorporate them.

We continue to meet with the Chief Medical Officer on a weekly basis presently around teh rollout of the swine flu vaccine program and Karen Booth and Jenny Dandeaux are doing a marvellous job representing practice nurse concerns and issues - and the department really seems to be listening and responding to all concerns. If anyone wants to contact them, email me and I will forward it on.

I am working from home next week while looking after a teenager post-tonsillectomy (joys of balancing motherhood and work) which will be a great time to finalise the draft 2010-2015 strategic plan for members to look at.