Digital ways of working have become routine for many parts of our lives, including in health and care environments. The increasing use of digital systems to collect and provide information to nurses to help support care has potential impacts on increasing safety and efficiency of practice. However, there are also concerns that this may lead to issues with access to and delivery of care in an equitable way across vulnerable populations. This lecture will explore the role of digital technologies in nursing practice. It will consider how nursing can adapt to an increasingly digital environment, exploring issues of equity and how we develop nursing knowledge and understanding to meet the demands of a digital future.

Date: 13 May 2025 Time: 6-7:15pm Lecture and Awards, followed by Networking & Canapes Location: Ian Potter Auditorium, Kenneth Myer Building, 30 Royal Parade, Parkville VIC 3052 (or Online)

Key themes will include:

• How trauma informed practices engender trust and facilitate engagement with patients and families
• Why psychological, psychosocial and culturally attuned care is essential to patient, staff, family and visitor wellbeing
• How nurses can champion trauma informed care

Through presentations and a panel discussion, this webinar will provide a deeper understanding of interconnected trauma, innovative approaches to prevention, and the hidden layers of trauma, reaffirming the importance of trauma-informed care as a fundamental nursing practice.

Date: 20 March 2025 Time: 5-6pm Location: Online

This seminar will focus on registered nurse prescribing soon to be introduced in Australia. This will be a panel presentation, chaired by Dr Dianne Crellin (Senior Lecturer and Nurse Practitioner) to explore how RN prescribing has the potential to improve community access to medicines. Leah Bradley from the Nursing and Midwifery Board and Emma Saddington from Safer Care Victoria will introduce us to the proposed standards and legislation and the potential workforce implications for Victoria. The seminar will also include examples of the likely impact of RN prescribing on equity of access with presentations by Carmel O'Kane, Cancer Nurse Practitioner at Wimmera Heath Care Group and Cara Garrett, Clinical Nurse Consultant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital Residential Inreach (RIR).

Date: 9 October 2024 Time: 4-5 pm (followed by drinks, canapes and networking) Location: Lecture Theatre B, Level 7, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, 305 Grattan Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

Registrations close Tuesday 8 October 12pm.

 REGISTER HERE

Lecture Theatre B, Level 7 Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre 305 Grattan Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000

4-5 Lecture 5-6 Post-Lecture Networking & Canapes

Peter Mac and The University of Melbourne presents

Nursing at Melbourne: 2023 Seminar Series

Equitable access to health care is a key indicator of safety and quality of care and is fundamental to the performance of our health system. Nurses work at the intersections between primary, community and the acute health services and therefore play an important role in navigating timely access and advocating for system improvements that meet the needs of all people seeking health care.

This year the Department of Nursing, The University of Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are proud to co-host a public event series that will explore the concept of equitable health care and the critical role that nurses play in closing the equity gap.

Each event will be followed by canapés, drinks, and networking. Students are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

Our four-part series aims to:

1. Explore the design, implementation, and evaluation of nurse-led models of care that address equity of access to health care for vulnerable populations,

2. Consider strategies to optimise nurses’ scope of practice to enable better access to healthcare

3. Foster networking and collaboration among clinicians, researchers and students with an interest in health services research focussed on advancing equity of access to healthcare.

About this event:

Dot Henning – ‘Young People, Homelessness and Access to Health Care’

Dot Henning is a Youth Health Nurse Practitioner and a Midwife. She is a Registered Nurse, a midwife, has a Diploma of Adolescent Health (and Welfare), a Master of Nursing and a PhD. She was endorsed as one of the first four Nurse Practitioners in Victoria. Dot is employed at the Young People’s Health Service (YPHS), a program of the Department of Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital. YPHS is located in a community setting collocated with other services to address the needs of young people experiencing homelessness. Being a program of the hospital brings the benefits of clinical governance and support while working within a social service setting provides access to highly vulnerable young people who may not otherwise access healthcare.

Dot has worked at the Young People’s Health Service (YPHS) for 21 years developing and refining her practice to best meet the complex health needs of the young homeless. She believes health access and good health care should be equally available to all young people.

In this webinar, A/Prof Bridget Hamilton  will draw on research work with consumer academics over 15 years to share learnings about ways to plan and conduct work that sits higher on the ladder of citizen participation. She will show how this progression generates findings with greater potency for revitalising mental health service provision.

Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton is the Director of the Centre for Mental Health Nursing at the University of Melbourne. She leads a team of clinical nurse academics and consumer academics to build up the skills and contribution of mental health nurses in Victoria, for the benefit of people receiving mental healthcare. She contributes scholarship to maximising effective engagement and supported decision-making in mental healthcare settings, while building leadership and research capacity among mental health nurses and the consumer workforce. Her program of translational research in acute, emergency and community mental health settings aims to implement and sustain evidence-based interventions, including Safewards and sensory modulation. Her research expertise spans ethnographic fieldwork in healthcare settings, knowledge translation and program evaluation, discourse analysis and narrative approaches. Across her work, she highly values partnering with consumers.

Register Here (CLICK)

Professor Leanne Aitken is Professor of Critical Care and Associate Dean (Research, Enterprise & Global Engagement) at City, University of London. Her programme of research focuses on recovery after critical illness and injury and a range of clinical practice issues within critical care. Leanne is an Academic Title Holder with Griffith University, Australia, and an Ambassador for the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the Australian College of Nursing and the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses and is a Fulbright Alumnus. Leanne has published more than 150 original peer-reviewed publications, edits the textbook Critical Care Nursing and has secured more than $AUD23 million (£12.6m) in research and research training funding over her career.

To find out more or to register: CLICK HERE

Listen to Part One with Judy Parker here: 

https://unimelbnurse.podbean.com/e/talking-heads-prof-judy-parker-p1-25yrs-of-nursingunimelb/

For more information:

https://healthsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/nursing/news-and-events/celebrating-25-years-of-the-nursing-department-at-the-university-of-melbourne

To find out more about Professor Peter Hudson's Panel Discussion on the nursing implications for voluntary assisted dying, CLICK HERE

Seminar Details: 

• "What are the implications of voluntary assisted dying for nursing practice?"
• August 12th 2021 1800hrs

Register A Place Now (CLICK HERE)

Note, this Panel Webinar is fully online, consistent with public health evidence and recommendations.

"Talking Heads" features each Head of Nursing at the University of Melbourne in the last quarter-century. Each Head of Nursing talks about their innovations, leadership, challenges and goals during their time at the University of Melbourne. They also share stories and insights from their nursing careers and provide sage advice to nurses, new graduates, and those considering nursing as a career.

This episode is part-1 of two podcasts with the inaugural Head of Nursing, Professor Judith Parker. Listen to hear about the:

• divide in nursing education between UK and US models, 
• 1987 nurses strike and subsequent Governmental Inquiry
• Imposter syndrome and the schism in physiotherapy
• threatened decentralisation of tertiary nursing education in Melbourne
• important shift to clinical research
• initial stages of nursing at Melbourne University

This podcast is part of the 25 years of Nursing at Melbourne Seminar series and celebrations.

If you missed the Marian Barrett address, you can watch it here: #25NursingUoM homepage

To find out more, or book a ticket for Sancia Aranda's Marian Barrett Lecture, follow this link: https://healthsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/nursing/news-and-events/2021-marian-barrett-lecture-can-nurses-reduce-the-health-impacts-of-inequity-leading-from-the-frontline

Seminar Details:

18 March: 25 Years later: Working together with families to reduce babies’ pain hosted by Prof Denise Harrison Neonatal Pain

(With a series introduction by the first head of the Department of Nursing and our Head Professor Marie Gerdtz)

Professional Plus+ is a University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences interprofessional education initiative to improve student wellbeing and teach professionalism. 

You are welcome to contact the team from Professional Plus+

• Bronwyn Tarrant (Nursing) - bronwyn.tarrant@unimelb.edu.au
• Nicole Hill (Social Work) - hilln@unimelb.edu.au
• David Kelly (Physiotherapy) - d.Kelly@unimelb.edu.au
• Louisa Remedios (Physiotherapy) - louisajr@unimelb.edu.au
• Elizabeth Molloy (Medical Education) - elizabeth.molloy@unimelb.edu.au
• Anthea Cochrane (Optometry) - antheac@unimelb.edu.au
• Jemma Skeat (Audiology & Speech Pathology) - jskeat@unimelb.edu.au
• Rebecca Wong (Melbourne Dental School) - rhwong@unimelb.edu.au
• Ali Barr (Population & Global Health) - alison.barr@unimelb.edu.au
• Sue Durham (Population & Global Health) - sue.durham@unimelb.edu.au