Chapter News

The 2009-2010 ARNA Spinal Nurses Chapter Committee

Membership continues to increase with 24 members now registered and enquiries from several others, which will hopefully increase the membership even further.

Chapter Committee Meetings

Our last committee meeting was held 28th May 2009.

Items discussed at this meeting included the report from the Spinal Competency Planning Workshop facilitated by Dr Julie Pryor . This was an amazing day. To have such a variety of experience, incredible knowledge and understanding of spinal cord injuries by nurses in one room with a common goal was inspirational. It was a privilege to be a part of that group and our sincere thanks go to Julie for her guidance and encouragement. We are delighted with the results, which exceeded our expectations. A report from that day follows this chapter report.

Our next meeting will be a General Meeting (Teleconference) for all members on the 25th June 2009 at 1230 Aust EST. Members are encouraged to submit ideas for discussion to a committee member prior to this date. This meeting / discussion will be followed by the AGM at 1330 Aust EST. All committee positions will be declared vacant and members are encouraged to nominate for the committee. Nomination forms will be emailed to all members.

ARNA SINC Report from Initial Competency Planning Meeting Report - Held PARAQUAD NSW 1st May 2009

A workshop was held 1st May to plan the structure of the Competency Workshop being held in Melbourne 14th October 2009 and to define as a group the outcomes expected of that workshop by the Spinal Injury Nurses Chapter.

Present were Dr Julie Pryor, Facilitator. Raewyn Buchanan, Julianne Malt; Pam Hesketh; Erika Schlemmer; Wendy Jannings; Kylie Wicks; Jennifer Greenaway; Lesley Brennan

The following issues were discussed and decisions made –

1. The Working Title for the project will be “The Development of ARNA Competency Standards for nursing persons with a Spinal Cord Injury”
   
2. The competencies to be useful for registered and enrolled nurses.
   
3. It is anticipated that we will develop a separate document, which will sit next to the current ARNA Competency Standard. It is anticipated this document will include a book of research evidence relating to the specialty practice of spinal cord injury nursing. It is expected that this document will be subject to frequent revision in the future as new knowledge and research becomes available.
   
   Five of the members present indicated that they may be interested in participating in a research project.
   
4. Expected time span for completion of the competencies – 2 yrs
   
5. The workshop in Melbourne 14th October will be used to trial and refine data collection methods, for the ‘Development of ARNA Competency Standards for nursing persons with a spinal Cord Injury’ A maximum of 40 key resource people to be in that group, focusing on nurses contribution to a persons journey from the time of the spinal cord injury across the life-span research.
   
6. Additional items may be added to the agenda.
   Data collected on the day will not be used as data for the project.
   
   A list was prepared by those present of nurses with spinal expertise to be invited to the workshop in Melbourne 14th October.
   
   The people on the list have been selected to provide a workshop of people in Australasia to give a balance of
   
   a. Geographical - all States of Australia and New Zealand North Island and South Island along with a spread of Metropolitan, Regional and Rural nurses.
   
   b. Work areas - i.e. spinal acute and ICU, sub acute, rehab and community based care
   
   c. General spinal knowledge and experience.
   
   All current members of ARNA SINC are included in the list, others will receive a separate invitation. Due to the need to restrict numbers and to maintain the overall balance of those present participation will be restricted to those invited.
   
7. An expert group of about 12 nurses to be selected for data analysis. The majority of this group must be ARNA SINC members
   
8. Notes from this meeting to be circulated to those present for comments, correction and omissions then circulated to all A R N A SINC members for their information.

Contact Details:
Lesley Brennan
President Spinal Nurses Chapter
M: 0402 903 188
E: lesleyrb@optusnet.com.au


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