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Monday, June 28, 2010

Breathing New Life into Maternity Care 2010 - Alice Springs


At last my marking is finished all but for 10 papers, they will go into my suitcase.....yeah....Marks are just about uploaded for Board of Examiners.... and its time for another Conference...talk about working to a time table....and so life goes on.... I have to say I am looking forward to Alice Springs...also meeting up with friends, colleagues and networking, i always enjoy conferences for many varied reasons....most of all the networking.
I have downloaded the program and on the plane will decide which presentations I shall attend.... there are lots to choose from.

Wednesday is our day trip to Kata Tjuta National Park: 280 miles (450km) southwest of Alice Springs. Ayers Rock/ Uluru, the world's largest monolith and an Aboriginal sacred site is Australia's most famous natural landmark. I am looking forward to maybe climbing the rock....however there seems to be conflicting advice as to whether you can climb it or not.... so you will have to wait and see the outcome....one website suggests that...."Visitors may wish to make the tough 1.6km ascent to the top or take a walking tour around the rock with an aboriginal guide , learning about its fascinating with the Uluru people and its importance in dreamtime legend."
I do know that it will be a long day for us, starting at 0600 and finishing at midnight..... wow....

On Thursday there are workshops and then there is the Beanie and ball dress party...now that should be fun...in the freezing cold...I have to remember to take my Ugg boots....now thats a great site....beanie, ball dress and Ugg boots....

The Conference begins on Friday - Saturday....watch this space for the update and review of the conference....
Breathing New Life into Maternity Care 2010

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Infomidwife in the top 10 Pregnancy and Childbirth blogs

My ego got a boost when I looked in my inbox and saw an email that said
Congratulations! Your blog, InfoMidwife, has just won the 2010 Top Medical Blog award in the Midwife category!

Have a look at the top 10 Pregnancy and Childbirth blogs..... congratulations to the other recipients......2010 Pregnancy and Chidbirth blogs.....it is nice to get recognised for our work...
Top Pregnancy and Childbirth Blog
Medical Billing and Coding Certification

Monday, June 14, 2010

Women of the 21st Centrury


Today I attended the Women's Advisory Council symposium: "Women of the 21st Century"
Unfortunately I found out and only late last week so was unable to prepare well for the day.... I had no expectations.... in fact I had no idea of what was in store for me.


The Women's Advisory Council was appointed by the Minister for Women's Interests, the Hon Robyn McSweeney MLC in January 2010. The Council comprises 13 interesting and inspiring women who want to make a difference and improve Western Australian women's lives.

The Council has chosen, as one of its priority areas, women and their economic security. An important objective is to discuss and develop recommendations relating to key issues, including access to superannuation benefits, independent source of income (self-reliance), increased education levels not corresponding with higher incomes, impact of stereotyping of women in the media and the ongoing effects of that stereotyping, and the under-representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles.

There were approximately 120 women....although that is a guess on my part. The day for me commenced at 0830 as I did not go to the breakfast at 7am.
The key note speaker for the first plenary session was Anne Riches, Leadership and Challenge Management Consultant: Australia's top speaker 2010 (National Speakers Association). I was truly inspired by this woman.... Anne spoke about women being judged on face value.... there was a case of a top executive who looked to sexy dressed in a business suit...therefore was distracting her male counterparts.....so she was dismissed...(tragedy)she took them to court for unfair dismissal. Also that women are not supported by other women they are threatened..... and I thought it was only the midwifery & nursing professions that did this, but no, it is a broader issue... I was enlightened when Anne spoke about her experiences with the AMA, to find that it's not just midwives that have a problem with them but it's women in general. The points that were most useful for me where those of having to change mindsets...and mindsets do not change easily (a bit like old habits die hard). We have changed legislation, regulations to help women and we still have equality problems, why is this? because mindsets have to be changed and as women we need to focus on changing our language and mindset as well. Women battle with mindsets.... expectations of what women should be doing a mixture of motherhood and working life.... How do we support other women to ask for more money...to ask for what we are worth???? We need to lead by example.... watching our own mindset in order to bring about change..an example of this would be when you hear someone say "what I need is a good wife".. we need to understand the language of men to bring about change.... logic will not do it in order to change mindset we also need male mentors to support the notion of change....how do we do this?.... we need to consult with the stakeholders...hard wired mindsets come from fear and lack of self confidence.....we need successful role models to change mindsets.... we need research to support us.... I am going to suggest that as Midwives we need to get obstetricians on side so that mindsets will change.. this takes time and effort.....

Ms Anne Riches


The afternoon was concurrent sessions.. it was really hard for me to decide which sessions to go to as I wanted to go to them all....

First session: Employment - I was hoping to get answers for our midwifery issues regarding employers and Midwifery Group Practice....no such luck....the session covered superannuation (GESB), Woodside mining (engineers) and Brightwater (Health): interesting session: Woodside - issues of retaining graduates - that 40% of graduates where women of which they lose half after 20 yrs so they are not going into middle or high management therefore leaving a gap...and half do not re enter the workforce. GESB - is a company that is predominately female executives and a successful company - issues of inequality of superannuation for women and most women are not adequately covered as they work part-time or take time out for children. Brightwater - discussed the low pay of carers and not having enough staff to cover the aging population.

Second session: Stereotyping of Women in Media;this was truly a surprise: the presenters were all dynamic women as expected...however the figures they presented are staggering in terms of how few women influence the media; Sue Taylor spoke of the making of her movie "The Tree" and how hard as a women it was to finance; as it is a male dominated industry....she also spoke about setting up a kids corner on the set for childcare for her children and the other women on the production....

Some interesting facts that have come from American research... girls watch lead men and women in movies.... boys however only watch lead men not lead girls..girls choose a mixture of sexes....but boys only choose boys....there is only 3-7% of female directors; there are 2.5 male actors to 1 female actor..and after the age of 40 females drop dramatically.

Celia Tait - SBS- Who do you think you are? what an amazing woman.... Celia said women leave the industry because it is a tough business.... women in TV - 5000 women left the industry compared to 750 men... wow.. and 63% of the women choose not to have children..they choose their career....Celia's focus has been on women's issues such as fertility etc....

Ruth Callaghan: Journalist. Academic at ECU; Ruth explains that for every story males are more representative of women, men are reported as the expert as opposed to women....women over 50 just don't make it ....women are also portrayed as victims and passive, they have not been recognised for there achievements or intelligence. She did say there is some good news that 75% of the journalist students are female.
You need more women in top position in order for things to change....this will take a long time because it is a male dominated industry.....

This session really highlighted for me how difficult it is to get a fair go in the media...it is predominately a private industry dominated by men with a mindset not willing to change at this time...and much work is required....no wonder we do not get anywhere with the press.....and putting women in these positions will not be easy as child care and family life are equally as important to women in current positions that work part-time.

The closing keynote speaker was Ms June Oscar; CEO Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre (Fitzroy Crossing. June spoke eloquently about community life and the role that women play within that community..... June also compared the indigenous plight to that of the recent movie Avatar... the special role of spirituality and women as related in Avatar....she was truly inspiring..... it was food for thought....

The day ended with some recommendations being presented to Robyn McSweeny MLC; the Hon Minister for Child Protection; Community Services; Seniors and Volunteering; Women's Interest, which will be on the website for comment www.communities.wa.gov.au if you would like to add a comment or recommendation you can do so....

I have gained many things from today..... mostly as women we have come a long way but there is still a long way to go...and I did not realise the impact of the mindset until today..it was like I had an epiphany...we must work together remember our passion, spirituality and led by example. A special thank you to all those who presented today......

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Eligible Midwife Australia.....this is what it looks like


The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has submitted to the Ministerial Council for approval: the Registration Standard for Eligible Midwife and Registration for Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines for Eligible Midwives.

What does this mean for the average midwife in Australia?
Requirements
To be entitled to be identified as an eligible midwife, a midwife must be able to demonstrate, at a minimum, all the following:

Current general registration as a midwife in Australia with no restrictions on practice;

Midwifery experience that constitutes the equivalent of 3 years full time post initial registration as a midwife;

Current competence to provide pregnancy, labour, birth and post natal care to women and their infants;

Successful completion of an approved professional practice review program for midwives working across the continuum of midwifery care;

20 additional hours per year of continuing professional development relating to the continuum of midwifery care;

Formal undertaking to complete within 18 months of recognition as an eligible midwife; or the successful completion of:

an accredited and approved program of study determined by the Board to develop midwives’ knowledge and skills in prescribing, or

a program that is substantially equivalent to such an approved program of study, as determined by the Board.

My understanding of the above is that you can be deemed an eligible midwife and give the undertaking that you will complete within 18 months further study for prescribing and diagnostics.

Now we have to wait for the realise of the courses that we are to do...those from WA who have already completed the Eligible Midwife program which was four units...should get some RPL (recognition for prior learning).....
Until these units are established it seems that midwives are required yet again to jump through hoops to give continuity of care.....

the bottom line is that you will have to have three years experience across the continuum of midwifery before you can become an eligible midwife..... complete your Midwifery Practice Review and do further study.....oh and don't forget you need to be insured.....
We are the midwives paving the way for the future.... don't give up....lets beat the bastards and prove this can be done.....

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Nursing Graduating Class of 2010

Brian the Master of Ceremonies and organiser:

 

The end of semester signals many things....from a lecturers point of view it is a busy time with winding up the semester, making sure the students have handed in all their work and then there's the marking, a mountain of marking...this is where you find out if the students have applied what you have taught them...getting all the marks in for the Board of Examiners..there is a quick turn around before the next semester.... then of course there are those students who have come to the end of their course...for nursing it is a the culmination of three and half years....this group of students is a particularly special group for me... as I have seen them over several semesters throughout the last two years...which can be rewarding because you see them grow and gain more confidence and you began to feel the excitement as they are coming to the end of their course.....I don't always teach in the last semester of the nursing unit, however I have done it a couple of times now and really enjoy seeing the students go out into there 10 week clinical practice and blossom over the weeks. There are off course the trials and tribulations that go with clinical practice.... the good and the bad of the nursing professions preceptors, bullying, the usual coping with being a student and time management.

Which one of these nurses will become a "midwife"?

 

As a lecture you also have the ability to see which students are going to succeed and those that will struggle...I am proud to say we have a large number of very gifted students in the class of 2010 and I would love to see where they are in 5 years time.
 
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This celebration was organised by one of the students Brian a talented man who will be a brilliant nurse...there were about 90 people...students, partners and academics.. it was really nice to see the partners there supportive and proud.... and rightly so....it was like the red carpet at the logies.... the girls were gorgeous and the guys handsome...I have to say there were some great shoes and dresses around....there was a buffet dinner again brilliant and off course desert was great.... drinking and dancing was had by all and I had a fantastic time...

 


Now at every celebration there are the traditional speeches: yes the academics as they like to hear there own voice... had something to say... Brenton whom I greatly admire (now retired) gave a heartfelt impromptu speech...and as expected it was brilliant, great words of wisdom....Lorraine wrote a poem "Ode to the new Curtin Grads"...which was excellent... Fiona...stunning wooed the audience and again thanked Brian for the enormous job he had done...and off course I had a few words to say....
The students had there own set of awards which was brilliant: "the nurse best not to upset because she has access to a variety of theatre instruments"
"The nurse most recognisable from far away"
"the nurse most likely to achieve her PhD"
"the nurse with the quietest voice and softest touch"
"the nurse most likely to hear there voice talking over the chaos in ED"
"the nurse who organised the best Xmas party"
there were a couple more that I can not remember.......

 
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There are a large number of male nurses in this group...in which area will they be in 5 years?

 
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For me I am passionate about teaching, I just love it.... and my message is to always trust yourself and your gut feeling...have integrity, honesty and cover yourself... that means always documenting everything despite time constraints.....you are armed with all the skills it is now time for you to fly..... fly high and be passionate about your work...when you have passion...success follows; and think about doing a postgraduate course after your graduate year.....Well done and good luck......