4 Corners Newsletter - Vol 2 - Central Queensland University

Nurses celebrate profession
Eye tracker
conference
International Nurses Day organising committee and presenters gather at CQUni Rockhampton.
CQUniversity hosted International
Nurses Day (IND), at its Rockhampton
Campus to celebrate local and University
talent – Jenny Anderson was announced as
Australian Nurse of the Year for rebuilding
the hospital renal service (refer article
below), and Noosa’s Nicholas Ralph was
announced the Australian Nurse of the Year
for Innovation (refer article left).
Over 70 participants attended the IND
event which included a keynote address by
Belinda Maier, State Midwifery Advisor.
Concurrent sessions on
‘Midwifery’ (chaired by Sue Nouwens from
the Mater Hospital) and ‘Nursing’ (hosted by
CQUni Associate Professor Trudy Dwyer),
featuring both health service and academic
speakers proved popular. Associate
Professor Kerry Reid-Searl chaired the
evening session in her guise as the
endearing patient ‘Stan’.
Queensland Nurses Union Legal Officer
Jamie Shepherd spoke about legal issues
for nurses.
Professor Ysanne Chapman – Dean,
School of Nursing and Midwifery; Brenda
Happell, Engaged Research Chair Professor,
and Jenny Davis. Head of the Midwifery
Program promoted the School’s ongoing
contribution to the nursing profession.
“Developments in professional nursing
have had significant impact on social and
public health services over the last decade,”
said Professor Chapman. “Beyond our
ongoing service to the community, we are
actively advancing scholarly inquiry and
research at CQUni.”
ROK
Nurse of the Year - Jenny Anderson
Nurse of the year, Jenny Anderson, has been credited with
strengthening and expanding the renal unit, including creating its
new purpose-built home, expanding home therapy services, building
a new staff team and focusing on culturally appropriate services for
Aboriginal patients.
Rockhampton Hospital Renal Service nurse Jenny Anderson was named Nurse
of the Year for her work turning around a service that was struggling under a rapidlyexpanding
workload and significant nursing workforce issues.
Today Rockhampton Hospital Renal Service has a dynamic team of mainly young
nursing staff, assisted by a select band of experienced nurses “cajoled” out of
retirement by Ms Anderson.
The unit has moved into new purpose-built premises, established a satellite unit
at Gladstone Hospital and significantly expanded home therapy services, allowing
many patients to avoid a three-hour drive for treatment.
Ms Anderson was awarded $5000 and a $5000 education grant.
ROK
Continued from previous page
“It is important that
nurses understand and apply the
meaning of diagnostic information
conveyed in visual display format.
Understanding the condition of
patients revealed by such displays
is a critical factor in determining
patient outcomes.”
A highlight of the conference
was a discussion on the
integration of eye tracking
and Electroencephaologram
(EEG) technology, that allows
researchers to measure human
emotions, providing a complete
picture of how a person responds
to an image
In the lead up to the conference,
CQUniversity Noosa hosted an eye
tracker training day as international
and Australian researchers shared
techniques and approaches to the
technology, broadening the local
knowledge and expanding the
University’s research network.
“As the eye tracking technology
is new to Noosa and very new
as a medium for research in
nursing, the conference was a
great opportunity to see how
other researchers are using
eye tracking technology in their
disciplines,” said Marc.
“Ongoing research can provide
a platform for better understanding
cognitive processing by analysing
the way that clinicians view, attend
to and process complex visual
displays such as diagrams, charts,
and representations and their
features.”
NSA
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