News Archive
2012
The Inherent Requirements in Nursing Education project being led from the School as receives another award
The Inherent Requirements in Nursing Education project being led from the School as receives another award – a UWS Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning. The citation reads:
For leadership in the development and implementation of inherent requirements to facilitate the access and participation and support of undergraduate nursing students with a disability.
The School congratulates the IRONE team - Dr. Amanda Johnson, Assoc Prof Cec Hengstberger-Sims, Toni Azzopadi, Mary Goldsmith, Cathy Dixon, Kirralee Phillips (project Officer) and Trevor Allen. This is first time inherent requirements have been developed for any discipline, so the team worked from scratch to develop the framework and the requirements. As would be expected, there is considerable national interest in the inherent requirements from nursing and other disciplines.
Congratulations to the team.
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December 2012
UWS midwifery researcher named one of Sydney’s ‘leading thinkers’
Congratulations to Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen (opens in new window), a leading midwifery researcher in the University of Western Sydney’s School of Nursing and Midwifery (opens in new window)
, who has been named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 “people who change our city for the better”.
Associate Professor Dahlen’s research has made a significant contribution to maternity services development in Australia and internationally.
Her research interests fall under two major themes:
Associate Professor Dahlen has strong national and international research partnerships, has received 12 grants since 2000, including being CI on two NHMRC grants in 2011 and has had over 60 publications in the past seven years. She has spoken at over 100 national and international conference and given keynote addresses at half of these.
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30 November 2012
UWS awarded OLT citations and grants
UWS was again very successful in the national Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Awards and Grants scheme, receiving five citations in the School of Education, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, and School of Nursing and Midwifery.
UWS was also successful in the OLT Round One Grants Scheme, which involves working with partner institutions in a national context.
Dr Lucie Ramjan, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, was awarded a citation for contextualising nursing concepts within the classroom – Lucie recreates a realistic clinical practice for her students.
“My teaching philosophy is focused on narrowing the theory-practice gap and contextualising students’ learning so that it’s relevant, realistic and inspiring,” Lucie explains. “I influence, motivate and inspire students to learn by establishing a rapport with them and showing them the clinical relevance of their learning (now and for their future career as nurses).”
Lucie says this way of teaching makes the lessons more memorable and she recognises that catering for different learning styles is important and implements a variety of teaching styles, including hands-on approaches and multimedia formats.
Lucie explains that winning this citation means further developing these learning strategies “to assist our diverse student needs within the School of Nursing and Midwifery, and to further strengthen quality teaching and learning within the School”.
Congratulations to all the recipients of the OLT citations and grants. To view a full list of the fellowship and grant recipients, visit the OLT Grants and Projects website (opens in new window). More information about these and other learning and teaching awards can be found on the Awards and Grants for Learning and Teaching webpage (opens in new window).
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7 September 2012
Private hospitals drive surge in caesareans, inductions
A new study led by the University of Western Sydney has found low risk women giving birth in private hospitals in New South Wales are much more likely to have obstetric interventions such as inductions and caesareans compared to low risk women giving birth in public hospitals.
The study, published online today in the British Medical Journal Open, found women having their first baby in a private hospital had a 20 percent lower normal vaginal birth rate, and 15 percent lower rate if it was a subsequent baby.
Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen, from the UWS School of Nursing and Midwifery’s Family and Community Health Research Group, studied over 650,000 births in New South Wales over eight years (2000-2008).
The study allowed researchers to determine if taking a matched low risk population would result in different levels of obstetric intervention for women giving birth in private and public hospitals.
It also repeated a study undertaken a decade ago, providing a clear indication of current trends in childbirth.
Associate Professor Dahlen’s findings show low-risk women giving birth to their first baby in a private hospital compared to a public hospital had:
- Higher rates of induction (31 percent vs 23 percent)
- Higher rates of instrumental birth (29 percent vs 18 percent)
- Higher rates of caesarean section (27 precent vs 18 percent)
- Higher rates of epidural (53 percent vs 32 precent)
- Higher rates of episiotomy (28 percent vs 12 percent)
- Lower rates of vaginal births (44 percent vs 64 percent)
“The results stunned us,” says Professor Dahlen. “Ten yeas ago we were concerned at what came out, but today there is no conceivable explanation for such high rates of intervention in the private sector. When only 15 out of 100 low risk, healthy young women have a normal vaginal birth without intervention for their first baby in a private hospital, then questions need to be asked.”
Over the past decade the rate of caesarean amongst low risk women has risen by 5 percent in the public sector and double that in the private sector (10 precent).
“If we were saving more babies then we would accept this as necessary for safety, but we are not,” says Associate Professor Dahlen.
“The argument that is often used by private obstetricians is women are older and sicker now and therefore the rates of intervention are higher, but we have controlled for that and included the same low risk criteria used a decade ago (20-34 years of age, no medical or obstetric complications, term babies and babies with good birth weights), and the intervention rate is only going one way, and that is up and up.
“The cost to the public purse of such high levels of intervention is not insignificant, not to mention the impact on women’s health and the short and long-term health of children. With emerging evidence of links between caesarean section and diabetes, asthma, obesity and other immunological disorders in children, it is time to take a serious look at this issue,” says Professor Dahlen.
The paper, titled: Rates of intervention among low risk women giving birth in private and public hospitals in NSW: A population-based descriptive study, can be obtained free online from BMJ Open.
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7 September 2012
Read the story on ABC Online, Australian Doctor, and Canberra Times online
UWS Bachelor of Midwifery Curriculum fully endorsed by the Nurses and Midwives Board of Australia
Midwives at the University of Western Sydney have been working over the past year, along with midwives from the surrounding area, to develop the UWS Bachelor of Midwifery (BMid) curriculum for 2013. We have received the exciting news that the curriculum has been fully endorsed by the Nurses and Midwives Board of Australia and is approved for 5 years.
This direct entry UWS Bachelor of Midwifery course will commence in March 2013 and consist of 24 subjects spread across three full-time years. Eight of the 24 BMid subjects will be shared with our nursing colleagues and 16 of the subjects will be midwifery specific. Shared subjects include Primary Health Care, Bioscience 1, Health in a Culturally Diverse Community and Research Principles. Midwifery specific subjects will focus on normal pregnancy, birth and postnatal care in the first half of the course then complex health needs and legal and ethical issues in the second half of the course.
The UWS Bachelor of Midwifery course is underpinned by a ‘partnership orientated’ primary health care philosophy with a strong focus on woman centred care. The course will prepare students to provide culturally safe care to women and their families from any cultural group. Students will also develop skills in working collaboratively with all members of the health care team, in order to optimise the health and well being of women and their families. Students will have the opportunity to learn from midwives in a variety of settings including hospital and community based midwives, caseload midwives and privately practicing midwives working in a Group Practice.
From left to right: Fiona Arundell, Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen, Dr Elaine Burns, Leanne Luck, Professor Virginia Schmied and Dr Margaret Duff.
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14th August 2012
Midwifery Educators Workshop
On the 27th of July the UWS School of Nursing and Midwifery held a workshop to discuss the placement of BMid students in the local health facilities.
We were fortunate to have more than 20 midwifery educators and managers from the local hospitals attend the workshop.
The highlight of the day was the excellent presentation from our very generous colleagues at John Hunter Hospital who travelled to Parramatta Campus for the day. We are very grateful to Susan Forbes and Mandy Hunter for their inspiring presentation on the John Hunter Hospital experience of accommodating
30 first year BMid students in 2011 and 60 students in 2012 (as the second year of the course is now underway).
You can read more about the John Hunter Hospital experience in the article by Val Fullerton in this edition of Midwifery Matters.
Thank you also to Athena Sheehan and Allison Cummins who shared the UTS experience and demonstrated that we are all working towards the same goal: to provide the very best educational experiences for future midwives.
So here we are at UWS very eagerly awaiting the start of the academic year in 2013,and, along with our midwifery colleagues in the local health districts, we can’t wait to meet and support the 50 smart students who choose Midwifery as their future!
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July 2012
UWS School of Nursing and Midwifery Staff Graduate - FULT Program
All full time Associate Lecturers and Senior Lecturers who are new to teaching at UWS complete The Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (FULT) program which is offered twice a year by the Teaching Development Unit (TDU). The key concepts taught in this program are student-focused teaching, constructive alignment and reflective practice.
Congratulations to Stacy Blythe, Kate Dito and Lauren-Leigh Metcalf for graduating from the program in July 2012.
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July 2012
2011
Dr Amanda Johnson wins award for Excellence in Leadership (Individual Academic) at the UWS 2011 VC's Excellence Awards
The winners of the VC’s Excellence Awards were announced at the 2011 University Awards ceremony held on Friday 9 December.
Awards were presented to staff and students in seven categories including: teaching; professional service; postgraduate research, training and supervision; engagement; sustainability; leadership; and the UWSCollege award for excellence.
Congratulations to School of Nursing and Midwifery academic staff member Dr Amanda Johnson who won the award for Excellence in Leadership (Individual Academic).
2011 UWS Learning and Teaching Awards recognises staff from School of Nursing and Midwifery
Congratulations to School of Nursing and Midwifery academic staff Dr Lucie Ramjan and Associate Professor Yenna Salamonson for recently receiving recognition during October at the 2011 Learning and Teaching Awards.
Dr Lucie Ramjan: Citation – “for bridging the theory-practice gap by contextualising nursing concepts: representing the reality of clinical practice and instilling a desire for learning, critical thinking, and analysis.”
From L-R: Dr Lucie Ramjan and Professor Kerri-Lee Krause, Pro Vice Chancellor (Education)
Dr Yenna Salamonson: Excellence award for her significant and sustained contribution to the enhancement of quality of learning and teaching in Nursing.
From L-R: Professor Kerri-Lee Krause, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) and
Associate Professor Dr Yenna Salamonson
The Inherent Requirements of Nursing Education (IRONE) Project - An Update
The School of Nursing and Midwifery (SoNM) academic staff together with the Head of UWS Disability Services identified the need to manage undergraduate nursing students with disabilities in a more accountable, equitable and efficient manner. The IRONE project was established in March 2010 between both areas of the university. This project was underpinned by a commitment to provide quality learning experiences for students with disability and act as a risk management straretegy.
The IRONE project sits within a wider context of the need to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act [DDA] (2009) and Disability Standards for Education (2005) legislation. Further it sits within the higher education agenda for inclusive curriculum promoting accessibility to learning experiences, for students with disability. Since the project's inception the IRONE team have formulated inherent requirement statements (IRS) for the Bachelor of Nursing Program. These statements were recently validated by an expert reference group to ensure validity within the nursing profession and disability sector. In addition, a framework and domains were developed to facilitate articulation of the statements; the process underpinning the IRS was mapped and a best practice model developed; and an assessment tool was constructed to assist in the documentation, monitoring and evaluation of the reasonalbe adjustments in relation to the IRS. Further, university policy was amended to include inherent requirement statements for all new courses from 2013 as part of the approval process. Such an initiative demonstrates the university' commitment to inclusive curriculum, its mission for making possbile learning opportunities for all and its accountability by informing potential and current students of course inherency.
Where are we headed now?
As part of the wider dissemination of IRS the univeristy has established a web portel which will house all Courses IRS. Potential and current students will be able to access these via a link to make informed decisions about course admission and progression. This site will go live for the BN course IRS shortly and will be updated as other courses develop their IRS.
With the finalisation of the IRONE project, and the university's comitment to have all courses identify IRS, an educational strateggy will be rolled out across September (15th and 21st) and follow up with individual Schools will occur from October to December. By the end of December it is anticipated that all UWS courses will have developed their IRS. This in itself places UWS as a leader in the areas of promoting inclusive curriculum practice for all students.
For further details on the education roll out of IRS please contact Kirrilee on k.phillips@uws.edu.au.
The IRONE team members: (L-R) Ms Toni Azzopardi, Dr Amanda Johnson, Ms Cathy Dickson, Ms Mary Goldsmith, Ms Kirrilee Phillips, Assoc Professor Cecily Hengstberger-Sims and Mr Trevor Allan.
UWS School of Nursing and Midwifery staff receive Best Practice Award by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency
Staff members from the School of Nursing and Midwifery have been recognised for being part of a project that received a Best Practice Award by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency.
The award was presented to Principal Shoalhaven Nursing Home, a Domain Principal Group aged care residence, for their outstanding contribution in providing individualised care to residents at the end of their life. This care forms a part of the Namaste Care Program and is a component of a wider project called ‘Avoiding “high tech” through “high touch” in end stage dementia: Protocol for care at the end of life’.
UWS researchers involved in the program include Professor Esther Chang (lead researcher), Dr Amanda Johnson, Dr Daniel Nicholls (now at University of Canberra) and Project Manager Dr Michel Edenborough.
The Namaste Care Program, developed by University of Western Sydney’s Adjunct Associate Professor Joyce Simard from the United States of America, promotes a ‘high touch’ approach to care. ‘Namaste’ means ‘to honour the spirit within’.
Michel says the Namaste Care Program for people with severe and end stage dementia focuses on the person, rather than the disease.
‘The Namaste Care Program incorporates activities of daily living including washing and massaging hands and feet, moisturising faces, shaving, gently brushing hair, providing various forms of nourishment, playing music, showing nature DVDs, burning seasonal incense, giving them real life animals to pat and life-like baby dolls to hold,’ says Michel.
‘The program also encourages family members and friends to participate in the care activities, so they feel a sense of connection to their family member or friend at a time when communication is very limited.’
The award was presented by Accreditation Agency’s Chairman, Mr Jim Harrowell AM, for the Residential Lifestyle category. Jim congratulated winners by saying ‘Their efforts are testament to the high quality care in Australia’s residential aged care industry and they are deserving of recognition’. He also said ‘The managers and staff at these award-winning homes are going above and beyond in providing the very best care for their residents, and in many cases, residents themselves are active participants in these innovative programs’.
Michel says the research team are very grateful to those who have contributed to the program’s success.
‘The research team would like to offer their congratulations to the Facility Manager, Cate Good, and the staff at the nursing home, for the level of commitment they have demonstrated to the program, which has now been recognised by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency,’ says Michel.
The Namaste Care Program is funded by a Department of Health and Ageing Local Palliative Care Grant.
School of Nursing and Midwifery Staff Graduate - FULT Program
All full time Associate Lecturers and Senior Lecturers who are new to teaching at UWS complete The Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (FULT) program which is offered twice a year by the Teaching Development Unit (TDU). The key concepts taught in this program are student-focussed teaching, constructive alignment and reflective practice.
Congratulations to Evan Alexandrou, Brenda Hayman, Sharon Jacobs, Bronwyn Smith and Suza Trajkovski for graduating from FULT – Foundations of University Learning & Teaching Program in September 2011.
4th Biennial National Conference of the Australian Association of Maternal, Child and Family Health Nurses
The 4th Biennial National Conference of the Australian Association of the Maternal, Child and Family Health Nurses was held on the Gold Coast May 19-21 2011. Over 700 delegates attended the 2 day conference and workshops and it certainly lived up to the theme of Broadening Horizons.
The key note speakers covered topics such as developmental assessments, primary health care, consumers, young families, autism, fathers, mental health and the national registration. Choosing a concurrent session to attend was difficult due to the variety with 5 concurrent sessions running at the same time.
UWS had a great presence, presenting 6 papers in concurrent sessions, five from our higher degree students (Karen Myors, Judy Reid, Kim Psails, Amiee Hesson and Sue Harvey). All were well received and stimulated lots of discussion.
We also facilitated a UWS networking lounge which was a great place to meet up with delegates and colleagues, to promote our Masters in Child and Family Health (Karitane) course and most importantly, to collect completed surveys for the CHoRUS study. We were thrilled with the response to participate in the survey. We took 400 copies with us, had another 50 photocopied there and by the end of the conference we had 325 returns. We also took the opportunity to facilitate a focus group for the study and held an impromptu breakfast session which had 40 participants) a rather large focus group).
The highlight however, had to be the gala Mamma Mia dinner. With wigs as the entrance ticket the dance floor was a sea of blondes and brunettes which didn't stop until the last song was over. Nurses and midwives certainly know how to kick up their heels.
Impromptu visit by Shadow Minister for Universities and Research to Parramatta Campus
The Shadow Minister for Universities and Research, Senator the Hon. Brett Mason made an impromptu visit to the Parramatta Campus on Wednesday May 4th.
Vice Chancellor Janice Reid and Dr Lauretta Luck escorted the Senator on a tour of Building EB and showcased UWS’s state-of-the-art nursing labs and simulation suite where the Senator played audience to interactive demonstrations performed by UWS staff.
Photos L–R: Fiona Arundell and Shadow Minister Brett Mason
May 2011 Hawkesbury Gazette
Federal Minister for Health Nicola Roxon visits the Hawkesbury campus
The University of Western Sydney welcomed Federal Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon MP to the Hawkesbury campus on Tuesday, May 3.
On her visit, Ms Roxon met and mingled with a number of the Hawkesbury campus nursing students and staff over a barbecue lunch, wishing the students all the best with their studies, and reinforcing the importance of nurses to our health services and hospital system.
The University of Western Sydney has one of the largest nursing programs in Australia, with 2577 undergraduate students enrolled across its Hawkesbury, Campbelltown and Parramatta campuses.
The UWS School of Nursing and Midwifery has 744 nursing students currently enrolled at the Hawkesbury campus.
Hawkesbury campus is particularly a focus for students undertaking their second degree, with 110 enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing (graduate entry).
Minister Roxon also had the chance to view plans for the University's substantial capital works program that is set to upgrade the existing nursing buildings and provide new state-of-the-art high fidelity clinical simulation facilities for the nursing students on campus.
UWS Bachelor of Nursing students undertake clinical placements in 190 private and public sector facilities including hospital, community, mental health and aged care settings.
May 2011 Sydney Morning Herald supplement UWS Research
Bringing Dignity to End Stage Dementia
For people in the terminal stages of dementia or other illnesses, being in a residential aged care facility can be a lonely experience. But UWS researchers are investigating whether an end-of-life care protocol developed in the USA could bring comfort and support during this time.
The Namaste Care program, created in 2004 by Associate Professor Joyce Simard, is based on loving touch and meaningful activities for residents of aged care facilities with dementia and other terminal illnesses.
UWS is undertaking the world’s first clinical evaluation of the program, which avoids ‘high tech’ treatment in favour of ‘high touch’ care, through a trial at three Sydney aged care facilities.
Professor Esther Chang, director of research at the UWS School of Nursing and Midwifery, says the program appears to bring terminally ill people dignity.
“The high-touch protocol honours and respects the person dying from dementia while maintaining them comfortably in a residential facility,” she says.
An important component of the program is restructuring the workload in the aged care facility, so that people in the end stages of dementia are cared for together, enabling staff to implement the ‘high touch’ approach required more easily.
The project will continue to the end of 2011, and is funded through the Department of Health and Ageing Local Palliative Care Grants Program, Round 5.
“If successful, we’re hoping the findings will improve the level of care while avoiding medically futile ‘high tech’ treatments that occur when palliative care patients with dementia are transferred to acute care,” Professor Chang says.
UWS researchers are not only working on evaluating Namaste Care, but have also produced a DVD for residential aged care staff, showing how the program can be implemented. This reflects the applied nature of research at UWS, according to Professor Chang.
“With aged care research,we are trying to implement practical programs to address issues facing these residential facilities, so that residents will receive better quality care.”
Photos L–R: Dr Daniel Nicholls,Professor Esther Chang, Dr Amanda Johnson and Dr Michel Edenborough, Namaste Care program at UWS.
April 2011 Sydney The Western Weekender
Holly's honour
Holly Priddis tackles a new new challenge and comes out on top
Holly Priddis was awarded the prestigious University Medal
Over 4,000 students from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) donned the cap and gown to graduate last week, and amongst them was local, Holly Priddis.
Not only did she graduate at the top of her class, but Ms Priddis was also awarded the prestigious University Medal, graduating with a Bachelor of Nursing (Honours).
“It was unexpected and very humbling to think my work deserved such recognition,” she said.
To be eligible for the University Medal, Ms Priddis needed to achieve Class 1 Honours and maintain a GPA of 6.0.
“Holly is a fantastic student, she received the highest mark of any student in the honours class,” said Associate Professor of Midwifery, Hannah Dahlen.
“She has such a strong passion for midwifery. Holly is one of our future leaders in the profession.”
For her honours project,Holly looked at the birth positions women adopt in different settings, with the hope of identifying a natural position to be incorporated into birthing facilities.
Ms Priddis will now present her research at the International Confederation of Midwives in South Africa.
“It is such a big honour to think that my research is worthy of such international interest,” she said.
Ms Priddis has now started her PhD at UWS.
March 2011 Sydney Morning Herald supplement RCNA Nursing and Health Expo
All about the women
Midwives help women deal with a painful, stressful and joyous time in their lives, writes Melinda Ham.
Rema Elhassan became a midwife because she adores working with women. The 28-year-old works night shifts in the maternity unit at Auburn Hospital and is fascinated by the social and cultural differences she sees in her patients.
‘‘I’m not in it for the baby thing,’’ she says. ‘‘I am here to be part of a woman’s life, to make a difference. I help her deliver and then nurture her child and if in the worst case it doesn’t work out, then I am there to support her with the grieving process. Birth does not always have a happy outcome, remember.’’
Elhassan trained as a nurse then went directly into a postgraduate qualification in midwifery at the University of Western Sydney.
She says there’s a healthy culture of teamwork among the midwives she works with at Auburn.
Rema Elhassan with Zahour Amoud and Toufic Zreika
Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen, from the NSW branch of the Australian College of Midwives, says the profession is going through a significant cultural shift as it distinguishes itself as an independent career to nursing, with distinct training and registration.
‘‘Now you can have direct entry into a bachelor of midwifery without going through nursing training,’’Dahlen says. The University of Technology, Sydney, was the first in NSW to offer this course, followed by Newcastle and SouthernCross universities.
UWS plans to launch its undergraduate program in 2013.
The other route to becoming a midwife is to take a post-graduate qualification after completing a bachelor of nursing.
While Elhassan works in a public hospital, Melanie Jackson works in a private practice of four women, called Midwives@Sydney and Beyond. Their service enables women to choose midwifery care during their pregnancy and then have a home birth. Jackson completed a bachelor of naturopathy, then a master’s of Nursing from the University of Sydney and finally a graduate diploma in midwifery in 2008.
‘‘As a naturopath, I always focused on women and children and then in my nursing training I was always focused on home birth,’’ she says.
Her first home birth delivery alone was assisting her best friend with her fourth child.
‘‘It was 3.30am and after a very frantic beginning it all just felt so right, so easy, just a natural, normal process,’’ she says. ‘‘I loved it and I knew I was in the right place.’’
Recent statutory changes are also positively affecting the future of privately practising midwives, Dahlen says.
Since late last year, midwives have had access to professional indemnity insurance and for the first time women having a home birth with a midwife in attendance can get aMedicare rebate for the midwife’s fees.
‘‘These changes make home births a more affordable mainstream option, more socially acceptable,’’Dahlen says.
‘‘It’s something we’ve fought for 25 years for.’’
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