Presentations

Title: ONLINE PALLIATIVE COURSES: CHANGING THE FACE OF EDUCATION IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE? Presenter: Jackie Walker  Abstract Community palliative nursing is an essential service which greatly improves the quality of life for patients with cancer (Cancer Control Strategy, 2003).  The need for this service will increase significantly as a result of the aging population, early hospital discharges and patients living longer with their illness. This service will be most effective if community nurses have a sound knowledge and skill base in generalist palliative care.  Nurses receive very limited palliative care education in their training, so additional education is essential to improve patient outcomes and maximise quality of life (MOH, 2001).  Introducing the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying (Ellershaw & Ward, 2003) has really stimulated the demand for accessible generalist palliative education for nurses working in primary care, district nursing and aged care facilities.  Many nurses are unable to access face-to-face education due to time, work and family demands and online education can address these barriers. This presentation will report on an innovative online course in end of life care, undertaken by nurses throughout the country, in 2009.  It will outline the benefits and limitations of online education in this area and reveal a vision to develop further online courses in 2010/2011. Conference: NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses conference, 25 – 27th June 2010, Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, Auckland    

Title: Moving forward: end of life care education goes online Presenters: Jackie Walker, Research Nurse Educator, NZ Institute of Community Health Care, Nurse Maude, Christchurch. Dr Daphne Manderson, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Human Services, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT), Christchurch. Abstract        Nurses working in aged care are at the forefront of providing end of life care for older people and this role will increase as the population ages.  Extending their clinical knowledge and expertise in providing quality end of life care for the dying person and their family is critically important.  This has been highlighted in the New Zealand Palliative care strategy (2001) and with the introduction of the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying (Ellershaw & Ward, 2003).    Many nurses find accessing education very difficult due to time, work and family demands.  To address these barriers, the Nurse Maude Hospice Palliative Care service and Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology have collaborated to develop online courses in end of life care for nurses.  Online education can provide flexible, accessible education to suit nurses’ lifestyle, time available and learning needs (Sheen, Chang, Chen, Chao & Tseng, 2008).  It can create a ‘virtual community’ where nurses feel connected, can share their ideas, concerns, and clinical stories. This presentation will report on this innovative project, present an evaluation of a pilot online course run in 2009, and highlight the vision to move forward in developing further online courses in end of life care. Conference: 7th National Gerontology Conference, 2nd & 3rd August 2010, Waipuna Conference Hotel and Conference Centre, Auckland  

Clinical audit as a means of validating or refuting nurses’ intuition about the efficacy of care options for patients in the community with acute cellulitis – 4th International Community Health Nursing Research Conference 2009 (S Evans & C Hendry)

Measuring performance to meet expectations – Asia Pacific Volunteer Leadership & Hospice NZ Conference 2008 ( S Kobar)

From Apprentice to Master: Skill building for effective volunteer leadership – Asia Pacific Volunteer Leadership & Hospice NZ Conference 2008 ( S Kobar)

Acute Community Nursing Team: An audit of case management and the improvement in client outcomes – National Care Management Conference 2009 ( Sandi Evans)