Other News

If you are working, or want to work in, any Australian alcohol or other drug (AOD) field, regardless of position, qualifications or experience, the Drugfields website has something for you.

You can access information about requirements for jobs in the AOD field, study opportunities for AOD qualifications or see a list of relevant conferences (glad to see that DANA 2012 is listed), workshops or seminars to consider attending.

There is lots of other information as well – quality alcohol and drugs information and resources for specific groups, short films to view, some great ethics information and so on.

Hi DANA Members

I was the lucky person who won a registration to attend the Royal College of Nursing Community and Primary Health Care Nursing Conference which was held in Hobart I October.

The Conference was held on Thursday and Friday however I decided to travel down a day early to get in a bit of site seeing and attend the welcome reception / cocktail party.

There were presenters from many different Nursing and Midwifery backgrounds who discussed how they provide nursing care and health promotion services to communities all over Australia, from some of the larger cities to some of the most remote locations in Australia.

Some of the interesting topics included:

• A presentation from a  nurse working at  The Logan Refugee Health Clinic in Brisbane who discussed the many challenges they face daily dealing with some very complex health problems that would not generally be seen in the Australian population.
• A presentation from a community nurse currently working for the Royal Flying Doctors Service in Cape York. She spoke about a three day camp that she organized to educate children on the “No Smoking” message and to promote alternative healthy activities to prevent chronic disease in an indigenous community.
• Some of the staff from Health Works, Western Region Health Centre in Melbourne gave presentations on the work they do with injecting drug users to promote harm reduction, community development and the social model of health while working with a multidisciplinary team approach. They provide services including a peer-based recruitment for cervical screening (Pap Test). Were women were paid a small amount to complete the screening and if they recruited other women they would gain another payment. Results revealed that 50% of those tested had an undiagnosed STI and almost 30% needing a colposcopy or other referral for follow up.

Another highlight included the Conference dinner on Thursday night. The food was great and the band afterwards was even better with plenty of networking and dancing well into the night.

Attending this conference helped me realize what different opportunities there are for nurses working in the Community and Primary Health setting to promote and provide health services to the general population.

On Saturday morning before my flight home I squeezed in a walk, and some breakfast at the Salamanca Place Markets. I had a great time in Hobart it is a great city and I really enjoyed having opportunity to attend this conference.

Thanks DANA for making it happen.

Chris Brittain (Queensland)

December’s issues of the Royal College of Nursing Australia’s (RCNA) magazine “Connections” will feature a story about DANA. Follow this link for a preview of the article Who is DANA?

New guidelines are now available from the NH&MRC for health professionals to identify, assess and treat people who use volatile substances, in metropolitan, rural and remote communities across Australia.

You can access the full information by following this link.

If you would like to read about l emerging trends of local and national concern in illicit drug markets follow this link to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) publication.

DANA is delighted to announce its new corporate partnership with the Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA).  The very first benefit to flow from this to DANA members is a special DANA rate to join the RCNA.

RCNA has created a new customised online membership application for DANA members. Just follow this link.

The issue of pharmaceutical misuse has been identified across Australia as an emerging problem of significant concern. Due to the need for a consolidated national response, a National Pharmaceutical Drug Misuse Strategy (NPDMS) is being developed by a consortium led by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) at Flinders University.

To participate in this important project in April and May of this year DANA collected the views of members and submitted a comprehensive document in response to this issue..

NCETA received many submissions from a variety of stakeholders who represented diverse interests. A sample of the submissions, including that made by DANA, is available on the NCETA website. If you would like to read the submission including that made by DANA following this link.

You have until 8.9.11 to respond to a discussion paper on the “Substance Misuse Service Delivery Grants Fund Guidelines August 2011”. The government has allocated some $559 million over the next four years to the Substance Misuse Service Delivery Grants Fund.  The discussion paper is your opportunity to provide feedback about the clarity of the Fund’s objectives and priorities. If you are working closely with Indigenous Australians you might be particularly keen to know more about this initiative. Follow this link for more information.

The Rural and Remote Health Workforce Innovation and Reform (RRHWIR) Strategy aims to provide national guidance on future needs, reforms and initiatives to improve the health care services of those in regional, rural and remote communities.

The Strategy is linked to Health Workforce Australia’s (HWA’s) National Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategic Framework for Action and the National Training Plan.

If this is relevant to you ,or your organisation and networks, then you will be interested in the attached invitation which contains a schedule of the consultation workshops. Details of how to register for consultation workshops or make a written submission are provided in the invitation and online at this link.

The draft background paper will be available on the Health Workforce Australia website on 29 August 2011 and circulated to consultation registrants.

Should you have any further questions please contact Judy Myers on 08 8409 4528 or [email protected]

In December 2010 and then again in April 2011 DANA members were advised about the progress that “Anex” was making in relation to establishing a controlled sterile needle and syringe provision (NSP) program in prisons. You might be interested in an update.

We have been advised that the ACT Chief Minister, Ms Katy Gallagher, is still actively considering introducing an NSP program. She supports the program in principle but faces considerable opposition from prison officers’ community and Public Sector Union.

Ms Gallagher released a report she had commissioned from former ACT Health Minister Michael Moore. The report recommends a contingency model for prison starting with a “contained NSP” to address barriers to implementation, namely officer opposition. The Government is currently taking public feedback and has indicated it will respond in 2011. A cope of the report is available at www.health.act.gov.au/communityconsultation

“Anex” has recently reviewed legislative barriers to introducing a prison NSP and developed model operational protocols. These protocols were developed consulting ex-prisoners and ex-prison officers, and were reviewed by leading experts in Australia and abroad. They are contained in a report Inside Information which is the first work of this kind worldwide. The report can be downloaded at www.anex.org.au/prisons.