Nursing and Midwifery Emporium Nic Nash-Arnold & Sue Walker

Louise Webber has made wound therapies her life mission.  It's a fascinating take on an area that is firmly owned by the nursing and midwifery space.  We bring a unique skill set backed by an enormous body of peer reviewed scienitific evidence.  And: what's amazing is that we can practice entirely autonomously.  How I love when I hear that!  And that's precisely what Louise Webber has done.  She recognised that she possessed an advanced level of specialist knowledge and had a strong desire to share that, practice in that space and find a place in the world where it became her own pocked in the healthcare world.  And that's precisely what she's done.  She shares her story with Sue in how she came to be the queen of wound therapies.

Beth Haley is a founder of Making a Difference in Uganda where her organisation provides amazing volunteer nursing opportunities that range from medical outreaches, education, women’s empowerment and caring for young people living in the slums.  Her story is inspirational.  A nurse of 33 years having undertaken volunteer nursing experiences for over 25 years, she found herself in Uganda and so began a love story with a country and her people.  So, in 2017, she founded Making a Difference in Uganda which partners with local organisations to empower, provide hope and support those people who need it.

The Vivian Bullwinkel story is one that quintessentially demonstrates what nursing is all about.  Patient advocacy, sometimes at great personal cost, and one of everlasting camaraderie.  Arlene Bennett, President of the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre, has joined us before when she talked to us here at the Nursing and Midwifery Emporium about how the ANMC honours past, present and future nurses.  Arlene joins Sue once again but this time to take us through Vivian's profoundly terrible yet inspiring story of bravery and advocacy.

So, here's the thing.  Nurses and midwives account for 50% of the global health workforce.  Did you know that?  That's a lot! We're quite a force.  What intrigues me more about that is that while we're 50% of the workforce, our representation at the policymaking, political level or the boardroom is... at best, scant. Our role bears witness to the real experiences of people who accessing health and community services at an international level across all geopolitical and social spectrums.  Truly, we see it all.  So why is our nursing and midwifery voice not being heard where decisions about how health and community services are delivered? There a lots of reasons, but one is opportunity.  You can't just saunter in to a boardroom and just making decisions.  Australian federal MP, Ged Kearney is a proud Australian example of one of our tribe who transitioned from nurse to policymaker. But Ged's journey was long, so how do we get our start in having the nursing and midwifery voice heard? Sue chats with one of our regulars here at the Nursing & Midwifery Emporium's podcast, Wendy McIntosh because she's got a solution for us that you might not have expected: Rotary for Nurses!

Elissa O'Keefe a a queen at leveraging this little thing we call nursing, most notably in the world of cosmetic nursing. It could easily be said she's quite the pioneer in this clinical niche.  Elissa has done a great many things as a nurse including a sexual health nurse and educator, but it's cosmetic nursing that's her passion and where she's made her mark.  Elissa is the lead author of the first ever Australian standards and scope of practice document for cosmetic nursing, has published in peer-reviewed journals both nationally and internationally and is often called on for comment in the industry.  She now has an award winning company that was born when, during her career in cosmetic medicine practice, Elissa realised that there was a need for flexible, high quality, post-graduate continuing professional development for health professionals with regard to lasers and other light-based therapies that was evidence based and pitched at the high level required of this complex landscape. Elissa is also the Head of Clinical Operations and a prescriber for Cosmetic Skin Therapies. So, Sue catches up with Elissa to find out more about her nursing journey

If you ever wanted to know how far the rabbit hole for our mandate as patient advocate goes, then Toni’s story will answer that question. After working internationally, she started her Master of Bioethics and took a position at Bundaberg Base Hospital as the Nurse Unit Manager of a small ICU. The small country ICU appealed as she thought it would allow plenty of time to study.  This was not to be the case when surgeon Dr Jayant Patel came to Bundaberg Base Hospital. For two years Toni raised concerns about his practice, outcomes and behaviour but these fell on deaf ears. In fact discrediting Toni was apparently easier than addressing issues surrounding Dr Patel.  Sue talks to Toni about what whistleblowing in nursing looks like, and what the future holds, as Toni wants to continue to contribute to the profession of nursing by advocacy for patients and nurses by improving patient safety and in the education of nurses in Australia.