At the recently held  Australasian College of Emergency Nurses' 7^th International conference, two CQUniversity academics made certain the University's name would remain with the delegates, many Emergency Department (ED) nurses, and speakers from other countries.

Physical workshops on suturing, ventilation, trauma and associated procedures preceded the presentation of papers. 

Dr. Trudy Dwyer (Rockhampton) and Marc Broadbent (Noosa) presented papers at the conference, the theme for which was "Balancing the Art and Science of Emergency Nursing", examining changes that have occurred in the profession, in relation to waiting time, violence in the ED, and mental health issues. Marc's paper dealt with mental health issues, and Trudy spoke on "Balancing Staff & Family Presence during Resuscitation", essentially discussing the presence and importance of family in traumatic situations.

Of cardiac arrest, for instance, Trudy said," Most occur in the community, and we have an expectation that when we're critically ill, or even just unwell, we want to be with our family. There's a large body of evidence to show that family want to be together at the end of a member's life, particularly."...
Dr. Trudy Dwyer 

She said that, traditionally in hospitals, whenever someone has a cardiac arrest, the friends and family are "bundled off into the waiting room to ponder until the outcome is ascertained, either way." 

Lots of studies show that having the family present during the cardiac arrest helps with the grieving process afterwards. They have less intrusive imagery about what could, and could not, have happened; what was, and might have been, done and so on. There's an assurance aspect ... that everything that was possible, was done for that family member.

Utilising CQ University's Population Lab, Trudy generated a survey which revealed that over 70% of respondents indicated they would accept the option to stay with their family member.

It wasn't all work and no play, so-to-speak. A competition was held to determine the persons best able to read, and diagnose from,  electrocardiographs (ECGs).

It really was ‘count 1,2 for CQUni'; Trudy was placed first and Marc a close second.

They were quite chuffed about the win. Marc said "It's not bad for two old hicks to pop up and beat all the ED nurses."  The pair came away with a professional cardiac stethoscope each.

The fun aside, Trudy said, "We teach nursing students, so to have two ECG reading champs can only underscore the standard of teaching in this discipline."  Marc and Trudy are clinicians, a fact which bolsters their standing in the ward, and with their students.