CQUniversity Australia
 

Engaging Indigenous people within Higher Ed

CQUniversity's Office of Indigenous Engagement recently hosted a visit from the Oodgeroo Unit of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), at Rockhampton Campus.

Professor Anita Lee Hong, Director of the Oodgeroo Unit, and Lone Pearce, Project Officer, met with Office of Indigenous Engagement staff to discuss employment issues and best practice models for engaging Indigenous people within the higher education sector, including governance matters.

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Other News…

Symposium draws mental health nurses to region 

Published on 22 June, 2006 

Central Queensland University has confirmed its commitment to mental health nursing practices and research in regional Queensland by being a major sponsor at a mental health symposium in Yeppoon this weekend.

CQU’s School of Nursing and Health Studies has sponsored The Australian & New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses (ANZCMHN) North Queensland branch’s 8th Annual Tropical Symposium to be held at Rydges in Yeppoon from June 23 to 25.

PhotoID:3254 Up to 100 nurses from the region, including Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Gladstone, Longreach, Biloela and Emerald, will attend the symposium, along with guest speakers from across Australia.

The conference will provide nurses with a platform to discuss issues relevant to the practice of mental health nursing in Australia, and in particular regional areas.

The theme of the conference is Mental Health Nursing: “It’s Hard Sometimes”.

Keynote speaker at the conference Stephen Elsom, President of ANZCMHN and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, hopes to use the conference as a platform to raise the awareness of advanced and expanded practices of mental health nurses in our communities.

His research findings have highlighted the need for nurse practitioners in the mental health arena to be allowed to prescribe, order diagnostic tests, refer patients to specialists and admit and discharge.

“These practices have been supported by nurses themselves, along with consumers, carers and some psychiatrists, however, refuting the findings are Australia’s GPs and medical organisations such as the AMA,” Mr Elsom said.

“Recent initiatives by the Commonwealth Government in relation to mental health reform are most welcome and have the potential to make a real difference,” he said.

Coordinator of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at St Vincent’s Health Service in Melbourne, Julie Sharrock, will also be a keynote speaker at the Conference.

Guest speaker and CQU lecturer Marc Broadbent will discuss the problems and possible solutions relating to emergency mental health triage. He has a 20-year background in Emergency Nursing and Critical Care.

Photo: Stephen Elsom.