General Surgical and Orthopaedic Nursing

8:30am - Registration and Refreshment

9:00am - Making a Difference – Changes and Challenges

• Factors and trends that have affected the role of the “surgical nurse”. What are some of the obstacles we currently face?
• What makes a patient “high risk” for anaesthetic and procedures and what are considered “high risk” surgeries?
• A look at the sometimes ‘murky’ world of consent
• Snapshot of important factors for the day surgical patient

9:40am - When Everything Old is New Again

Surgical units are becoming faster paced, busier and more complex. So how are we meeting these challenges to keep pace with the need to provide care for increasingly complex patient requirements? In this session we will look at:

• Code Blue versus early warning systems and deteriorating patients
• Nursing care plans versus surgical pathways
• Nursing notes versus documentation by variance and implications for practice
• A look at the ‘ISBAR’ tool for communication
• Fast track surgery and ‘Enhanced Recovery After Surgery’ (ERAS) programs

10:30am - Morning Tea & Coffee

11:00am - Important Acute Surgical Considerations

In this interesting session we will link the operative and recovery room phase of patient care with the immediate post-operative assessment phase of care. This will include:

• How types of anaesthetics and anaesthetic agents affect the recovery phase and the implications this has for nursing care.
• Post anaesthetic recovery unit( PACU) ‘...the patient is all yours after leaving here - is that OK...?
• Much has been said about the ‘Golden Hour’ after trauma, but is there is also a ‘Platinum 24 hour” period after surgery, when effective post operative nursing assessment is particularly important?
• Linking the patient’s medications to need especially when PRN orders are in place, including the re-introduction that pre-surgical medicines (i.e. those medicines regularly taken by the patient prior to surgery), may have on the patient’s post-operative care.

This session will give you ample opportunity to interact with the lecturer in order to clarify key points.

12:30pm - Lunch Break

1:30pm - Infection Control – Latest Updates

What is new and what is now considered best practice? An exploration of the nurse’s role and responsibility in the prevention of infection.

• Revision of the infection - transmission model.
• The link between constant vigilance, updated knowledge and the application of infection control principles.
• Review of standard precautions, e.g. hand washing routines.
• Should you report for duty when you have a cold?
• Disposable surgical equipment - which ones and under which circumstances can these items be re-used?
• Some waste management essentials.

2:20pm - Maintaining a Clean Environment

Maintaining high levels of cleanliness is not always easy. This interesting session reviews a range of topics including staff well-being and managing outbreaks of infections. An important session that will clarify vital aspects of infection control.

• Review of staff immunisation - how do you know what childhood exposure to infection YOU have had?
• What infections would prevent you from going to work?

3:00pm - Afternoon Tea & Coffee

3:30pm - The War on Multi-resistant Organisms

The evolution of infections continues to challenge all health staff. This session will look at some of the current causes of concern in regard to infectious diseases.

• What are militant microorganisms?
• Which are the major antibiotic resistant organisms?
• How can they be reduced or extinguished?

4:15pm - Close of Day One of Seminar

9:00 - 12:45 - Acute Pain Management

9:00am - Complexity of Pain: Acute vs Chronic Pain

In this introductory session, you will consider the differences between acute and chronic pain and how they influence nursing goals and care. The focus of the remainder of the morning session will be acute pain management including:

• Principles of management
• Multi-modal analgesia
• Equipment selection
• Factoring in co-morbidities for management.

10:30am - Morning Tea & Coffee

11:00am - Review and Monitoring of Patients

This session will involve problem-based learning and will be highly interactive. It will include:

• Interactive workshop
• Critical thinking and problem solving for pain management

12:45pm - Lunch Break

1.30pm - Orthopaedic Assessment

This introductory session will review the impact of musculoskeletal disorders in Australia. Core principles of an orthopaedic assessment will be discussed that are applicable to all patients within general clinical areas.

Othopaedic Emergencies
Orthopaedic conditions and procedures have a major impact on the patient’s biomedical, functional and psychosocial health status. This session will focus on recognising orthopaedic emergencies.

• Compartment syndrome
• Fat Embolism

2:45pm - Afternoon Tea & Coffee

3:00pm - Low Trauma Fracture Management

In Australia every day, more than 40 Australians sustain a hip fracture associated with Osteoporosis. A year later, less than half of those original 40 people will be able to walk as well as they did before 6 or 7 will have died.

This session will focus on the prevention and management of low trauma fractures of the hip, shoulder and spine.

3:45pm - Surgical Interventions for the Orthopaedic patient

In 2010, 35,996 hip replacements and 44,490 knee replacements were performed In Australia.

This session will focus on the joint reconstruction and arthroplasty procedures from pre-admission through to rehabilitation systems.

3:45pm - Future Trends in Orthopaedic Patient Management

4:45pm - Close of Day Program and Evaluations