RSA eNews - CommuniquePlus August 2021

Congratulations to our Conference Prize recipients!

We are delighted to acknowledge the following Conference Prize recipients:

Best Abstract - Ann Bonner
20 - Health literacy assessment in patients with chronic kidney disease and comorbidities

Best Paper – Advanced - Josephine Chow
174 - Teach-pd: an interventional design

Best Paper – Novice – Sita Sharma
141 - Educational or behavioural interventions for symptoms and health-related quality of life in adults receiving haemodialysis: a systemic review

Best Paper – Research - Harith Eranga Yapa
140 - Exploring the impact of chronic kidney disease at various grades along its trajectory

Best Paper – Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Maori or Pacific Islander Renal Care - Rhanee Tsetsakos
179 - On track to transplant – a patient navigator model

Best Poster - Seema Prasad
28 - Investigating the effectiveness of fragrant and soap free emollients in patients on haemodialysis

People’s Choice Award – Oral Presentation – Rhanee Tsetsakos
179 - On track to transplant – a patient navigator model

People’s Choice Award – Poster – Jennifer Mathias Shah
144 - Assessing health literacy skills among individuals with chronic kidney disease

Over $3,000 will be shared across the various Conference Prizes. 

Did you miss these prize-winning presentations?  Access has now been extended for registered delegates until Tuesday, 31 August 2021. Click here to proceed to the virtual platform and remember you will need to be logged in view the content.   

A top idea to save the dates

2022 Conference Co-Convenors - Fiona Donnelly and Nadine Tinsley - and their fellow Committee members are already planning a memorable top-end experience at the 2022 RSA Annual Conference in Darwin, NT.  

Refer a friend and get 3-months free RSA membership*

The RSA Membership Committee is delighted with the positive response to its “Refer a Friend” initiative which was launched on 1 July 2021.  The campaign will run through until 31 October 2021 and seeks to welcome new members - or encourage lapsed members to return.  We invite current RSA members to spread the word about RSA 

How does it work?*

When completing the online membership application, your friend simply enters your name in the "Refer a friend - Referred by" field.

Having processed this membership application, the RSA Office will then extend your current membership by three months --- for free.  

PLUS you and your friend will be put in the draw for a $50 gift card.  Whilst the extension to your membership can only happen once, the entries into the gift card draw will happen every time a friend is referred.  

Not a RSA member? Join today

Nephrology-specific clinical performance indicators for nurse practitioner education in Australia: A resource for students and clinical support team members

Authors: Bonner, Ann, Douglas, Bettina, Brown, Leanne, Harvie, Barb, Lucas, Anthony, Tomlins, Melinda
Publisher:  Griffith University

Four years ago, Griffith University published the first edition of Nephrology specific clinical performance indicators for nurse practitioner education in Australia (Douglas & Bonner, 2017). The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) announced it would release updated nurse practitioner standards for practice, effective 1 March 2021 (NMBA, 2021). To ensure the nephrology nurse practitioner document remained relevant, a revised version was required. To guide the revision process, a working party of nurse practitioners was convened through an expression of interest, disseminated via the RSA Nephrology Nurse Practitioners Special Interest Group.

Over the past decade, the number of nephrology nurse practitioners in Australia has continued to grow. At the same time, the range of practice settings has expanded in line with the evolution of nephrology nursing. Nephrology nurse practitioners’ practice across the health continuum from primary to tertiary care.  Therefore, the clinical performance indicators provided here are broad suggestions rather than prescriptive, depending on context.

Click here to download your free booklet

Vale: Nancy Douglas-Irving OAM

Nancy Douglas-Irving OAM and Enzo Scipioni OAM, having together experienced almost 20 years of dialysis due to kidney failure, established Dialysis Escape Line Australia in 1998. The organisation is operated by a small team of dedicated volunteers, who are passionate about providing temporary dialysis units at resorts and on cruise ships. This allows patients the option to take a holiday from the rigours of dialysis, without the stress and difficulties commonly experienced when organising treatment away from home. Sadly, Nancy passed away on 1 August 2021 after a long illness.  Whilst Nancy - and Enzo - have passed their legacy continues to live on through Dialysis Escape Line Australia.

RSA Calendar of Events - August & September 2021

RSA Webinar: Anaemia Management in CKD  * Registration full *

Date:  Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Duration:  5.00pm - 8.00pm AEST | Click here to check your local time

This webinar is proudly sponsored by Amgen

Registration closed

In-Person Workshop:  Anaemia Management in CKD

Date:  Thursday, 26 August 2021
Duration:  6.00pm - 8.00pm AEST
Location:  Launceston, Tasmania

This workshop is proudly sponsored by Amgen

Further details and register here

RSA Webinar: SGLT2 inhibitors for the prevention of kidney and heart failure in people with CKD: 2021 and beyond

Date:  Thursday, 2 September 2021
Duration:  7.30pm - 8.30pm AEST | Click here to check your local time

This webinar is proudly sponsored by AstraZeneca

Further details and register here

RSA Webinar: Learnings from COVID positive dialysis unit: staff and patience experiences

Date:  Thursday, 23 September 2021
Duration:  4.00pm - 5.30pm AEST | Click here to check your local time

This webinar is proudly sponsored by Baxter Healthcare

Save the date ... registration opens shortly

RSA Branch Symposiums 2021-2022
Branch Committees are currently planning local in-person education events from October 2021 to March 2022.  In some instances COVID restrictions have disrupted original plans -- but we appreciate your patience and encourage you to stay-tuned for further details. 

RSA Calendar of Events - Available here

RSA Nephrology Nurse Practitioners' Special Interest Group (SIG)

RSA members of this SIG have provided some excellent feedback and suggestions to a post (20 July) on their portal discussion board in relation to the draft PBAC application for NNP ESA precscribing.  Further responses are welcome by the end of the month.

At the next SIG meeting to be held on Wednesday, 20 October, Joanne Kok will deliver a presentation on "Supporting Nurse Practitioner students: A student Nurse Practitioner's journey".  

At the July meeting, RSA member Bettina Douglas informed the group that the second edition of "Nephrology-specific clinical performance indicators for nurse practitioner education in Australia: A resource for students and clinical support  team members” is now published.  See more about this in the news item above, including a link to download this free resource.

The RSA Nurse Practitioner & Advanced Practice Nurse in-person workshop scheduled to be held in October on the Gold Coast has now been postponed until February 2022 (date pending).  Hoping there will be more immunisations and less lockdowns by then!

As always let me know if you would like to present at one of our SIG meetings - or if there is a topic that you would like to be presented.  

Veronica Oliver
Chair, NNP SIG

Find out more about the NNP SIG

RSA Renal Supportive Care Special Interest Group (SIG)

The RSA Renal Supportive Care (RSC) SIG is a dynamic group of RSA members working in or interested in renal supportive care.  As a member of this SIG, you have exclusive online access to resources, education, tools and journals of interest.  Virtual meetings held throughout the year will feature interesting presentations ... from quality improvement to research.  Also, these meetings provide a great opportunity to demonstrate what you might be doing in this area and for those seeking to learn more about renal supportive care. 

Are you an RSA member who wants to connect with an experienced group wanting to share the knowledge of supportive care in renal disease?  Click on the link below to take that next - easy - step.    

Sarah Russo
Chair, RSC SIG

Join the Supportive Care SIG

EDTNA: 49th EDTNA/ERCA International Conference

EDTNA ambassador for Australia New Zealand, Debbie Fortnum extends an invitation for you to attend this virtual conference:

When:  4-7 September 2021
Conference Theme:  Knowledge, Skills & Commitment - Core Elements to Manage Care
RSA member cost:  350 euros
Regular registration closes:  15 August 2021

Click here to register

Be part of Red Socks and win the Renal Unit Shield!

The Red Socks Appeal is back and bigger and redder than ever, and with it the battle of the renal units has begun! The prize – your chance to take home the Red Socks Renal Unit Shield. It’s going to be socktastic!

It’s easy to get involved; form a team and register online to set up your fundraising page. The aim is to raise as much money as possible to help fight kidney disease. You can fundraise however you wish, whether it’s selling socks, walking at a Red Socks Walk or organising your own Red Socks challenge. This year KHA has upped the ante with a worthy prize. The highest fundraising renal unit team will win:

• The Red Socks Renal Shield engraved with your unit's name
• A very special morning tea hosted by Kidney Health Australia for your renal unit
• 20 pairs of limited-edition Kidney Health Red Socks for your top fundraising team members.

Register your renal unit today

Register now to become a Kidney Health Nurse Ambassador 

The RSA and KHA are thrilled with the response to the new Kidney Health Nurse Ambassador Program so far, with 24 Ambassadors already signed up since the program launched on 1 August. As an Ambassador, you will assist many patients affected by kidney disease and will provide these patients and their families with access to resources and support programs to help them manage their condition.

For those who have registered, what’s to expect next?  You should have already received a Welcome email with links to an induction booklet and to register for the Induction webinar at the end of August. A Welcome Pack will be making its way to you soon (note: some slight delays with COVID lockdown in Melbourne) as well as your first monthly email filled with useful content to get you going in your role. 

Interested in becoming an Ambassador?  KHA would love to hear from you!

Once you've filled in the expression of interest form, you’ll be contacted by KHA Program Coordinator Stephen Cornish who will walk you through the role in more detail. If you’d like to learn more first, please contact Steve at stephen.cornish@kidney.org.au

Complete the EOI form  

Kidney Health New Zealand

Research activities: Currently KHNZ is engaged in three direct pieces of research,

• An enquiry into the cost of dialysis versus transplant to present to the government to lobby for investment into the Increasing Deceased Organ Donation and Transplantation: A National Strategy with funding going to the New Zealand Blood Service. This piece of work broadens into looking at how to promote live donation and Maori and Pasifika views of donation as well as what role KHNZ can have in facilitating increasing transplantation.
• An audit of renal services in conjunction with BOPDHB. This has been documented in previous reports to the NRAB 
• Rural and Remote Patients’ and Carers experiences of accessing specialist kidney care undertaken by Dr Rachael Walker, Professor Suetonia Palmer, Nicola Scholes-Robertson, Sandra Hay, Dr Curtis Walker, 

Kidney Kids: KHNZ are delighted to see that Kidney Kids have appointed a youth navigator role, recently.  KHNZ is working with closely with Kidney Kids to support this new role.

Other news: KHNZ has moved office from Bishopdale in Christchurch to Sir William Pickering Drive in Burnside in Christchurch right beside Mobile Health, KHNZ has already begun to collaborate with Mobile Health.
 

RSA Member 24-7 Online Learning with WCEA

RSA members will be able to access - via the desktop or app - the following material shortly:

• Webinar: Acute Kidney Injury and Chronic Kidney Disease presented by Prof Karen Dwyer, Clinical Director, Kidney Health Australia

As a member of the RSA you are pre-registered to access this learning platform, and will be allocated a unique login by WCEA.  Your WCEA username will start with RSAxxxxx - not your email address.  

Discover more about the WCEA online learning

I wasn't able to join a recent RSA webinar.  Can I view a recording?

Most – not all – RSA webinars are recorded.  Those recorded are then uploaded to the WCEA online learning platform for RSA members to access on-demand .... and complete the short quiz to accrue CPD points too.