Community Health Nursing

9.00am - Evidence for Clinical Practice 

• Why is evidence-based practice regarded as the clinical gold standard for nurses? 
  
• Applied research as a guide to clinical decision-making – is this realistic when working in community settings?
  
• Presentation of a brief, hypothetical scenario, for a client with chronic cardiac disease
  

9.45am - Community Help for Elderly People With Chronic Conditions
Services are available to assist those who are elderly and infirm to remain living at home. A snapshot of the range of available domiciliary and community-based services. Overview of the Commonwealth-funded community care packages for elderly clients:

•  Community Aged Care Packages (CACP)
  
•  Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH)
  
•  Extended Aged Care at Home – Dementia (EACH Dementia)
  
  • What about the future development of the ‘ageing in place’ health care policy

10.30am - Morning Tea and Coffee

11.00am - Let’s Talk About Transitions
When illness intrudes old ways of living can come to abrupt ends and new ways of living have to be created which cause great internal disturbance and turmoil. “Transitions in Chronic Illness”, RDNS, Sth. Aust. 2005.

• How can nurses and other health professionals assist chronically ill disabled clients to cope with shifting experiences and passages of change? 
  
• Areas of transitional change include self and identity.
  

11.45am - Best Nursing Practice for Optimum Rehabilitation
Presentation of a complex case study to illustrate the role of rehabilitation in full or partial recovery.

• When someone undergoing rehabilitation is affected by an acquired brain injury, what should nurses know?
  

12.30pm - Lunch Break and Time to Network

1.30pm - Clients As Partner

• What are the characteristics of a workable partnership model between health professionals/allied health workers and clients with long-term conditions? 
  
• How to diminish dependency through shared care responsibilities.
  
• Establishing appropriate partnership boundaries and collaborations.
  
• Why might families be resistive and what can be done to overcome their reservations?
  
• Appreciation that differing perspectives will give rise to differing opinions as to what is needed for the care partnership to work.

2.15pm - Long-Term Care Plans and Self Management Strategies
The Chronic Disease Management Program (CDMP) evaluation suggests some success in preventing avoidable emergency department visits. It also shows improved continuity of care and communication between health care providers and clients, as well as improved self-management and use of available community services.

• How to create high quality care plans for clients with complex care needs who are making the transition from hospitalisation back into the community?
  
• What are the benefits of self-management models of care?
  
• Useful approaches for educating patients about self-care.

3.00pm - Afternoon Tea and Coffee

3.30pm - Denial, Depression and Anxiety in Long-Term Illness – Identifying the Differences
When faced with a potentially life-changing diagnosis of a chronic physical condition, it is quite common for depression to set in as a complication.

• What is the difference between normal grieving, as a result of accumulated losses, and clinical depression?
  
• Why are some clients in denial?
  
• High levels of anxiety can further compromise health and well-being.
  
• Tips for managing concurrent emotional and behavioural problems.

4.15pm - Close of Day One of Seminar