It is not like us to do another post so soon after the last one, but this news cannot be delayed.

Something totally new to us is planed for 23 February - 5 March 2019 when Anne will be doing a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas from Melbourne to Sydney via New Zealand, a ten-day cruise where Anne will be presenting the seminar 'Recognition and Clinical Assessment of the Deteriorating Patient' for Nurses for Nurses Limited  who arrange regular Education at Sea events for nurses who want to enjoy a cruise holiday combined with professional development credits. Graham will be along to carry the bags.
This promises to be be an enjoyable and interesting time for all who are able to join us on this cruise, as presentations are held on sea days only so you will be able to enjoy all the ports visited on the cruise which include the sounds, Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington and Picton. 

When not attending sea day presentations there are so many other activities on board you will be spoilt for choices; you simply can't do everything.  And for those less energetic there are wonderful places to relax or enjoy the spa.  And the evening entertainment is first class. I won't even mention the food, but expect to gain weight unless you exercise some restraint, or increase your exercise greatly in the on-board gym, or walking the decks.

If you want to travel with family that is also an option some may like to consider, but lone travel with like-minded nurses will ensure this is a great experience for lone travellers also.

A really great opportunity which promises to be a memorable occasion for all participants. To find out more go to this link:  https://www.nursesfornurses.com.au/events/220/

We will not be handling the bookings for this event, which are being managed through Education at Sea (Travel Direct Australia) Please contact Helen, Jason or Elita on +61 (02) 6674 2577

Do join us - it will be a wonderful educational event and enjoyable holiday combined, with possible tax breaks.

Recently we have been involved in a restructuring of our business which will mean that we no longer are associated with OSCA Health Education with whom we have in the past worked in collaboration with to deliver several courses; the ALS, Acute Complex Care and Acute Cardiac Care.

With the conclusion of this arrangement we will in future be conducting the Acute Cardiac Care Course, and Adult Advanced Life Support courses, but not the Acute Complex Care Course.

Anne Evans-Murray will remain as our primary lecturer, with occasional assistance from several  very experienced health professionals.

We are happy to announce that we will be reviewing the prices of some courses with the hope of making them more affordable for our clients.

Our New Zealand business continues to be very active and to put increasing demands on our time which means we are absent from Australian for long periods several times each year as we complete lecture tours 'across  the ditch'.  During these periods contact can be a bit more difficult, but we do our very best to maintain the lines of communication.  The preferred method is email as we so often cannot accept phone contact while busy at seminars, or out of range. We can usually reply to emails within 24 hours.

Easter is almost here, as are the Commonwealth Games.  As we live close to the athletes village it will be almost impossible for us to operate during the games we have been advised, so we will be moving our activities to New Zealand during that period, and for several weeks afterwards to avoid the inconvenience.

For those of you who will be staying on the Gold Coast with plans to be involved in the games we hope you have an enjoyable time and are blessed with fine weather. By the time we get back to Australia autumn will be well established with much cooler weather, but we will be acclimatised after our time in NZ!

Anne and I wish you and your families all the very best for a happy and safe festive season and thank you for your patronage in the previous year.  We hope to see many of you in the coming year.

I have added another article which would seem very timely with the festive season upon us and it's associated anxiety with eating what may be considered unhealthy foods at this time of year.

The attached article will challenge your previous perceptions about what is 'bad fat' as well as clarify the causes of heart disease.  There are many such research papers which have previously been ignored as they failed to support the popular current beliefs, and it is well-worth exploring these as we re-evaluate the reasons for the generally deteriorating health of our populations.

The truth has been out there all along, but suppressed by those with a financial interest in maintaining false perceptions, with little regard for our health. 

Some few months have elapsed since we added anything here.  We have just been too busy to notice the time rushing by.  Several months have been spent looking after the New Zealand business, and upon our return we were thrown into a long list of local courses.  These will conclude mid December at which time we hope to have some down time and catch up on neglected tasks.

One of those tasks is the finishing touches to Anne's new edition of "Chest X-rays Simply" which we hope to do as an ebook for sale on the website.  More about that when it becomes available.

The controversy around the use of statins has become very interesting, and we are following this closely.  We really encourage everyone to take a serious interest in this argument and research the points being raised by many contributors to the subject. Take particular notice of which commentators have a vested interest in either point of view; in other words "follow the money".
The sales of this class of drugs exceeds a trillion dollars annually, so there is a great deal to be lost by drug manufacturers if the case goes against the continued use of statins, which would seem to be a real possibility if some commentators are able to ratify their claims.  Follow this controversy for your own sake and that of your family only; you can do nothing personally about the official stand on the matter in your clinical practice, which will be very slow to change either way as we all know from medical history.

We hope to add some material to assist in your decision making during the coming months when we have more time to devote to the task.

We have reached that time of year when the shopping centres are all playing the latest versions of the old traditional Christmas carols, some of them will please, other will not. 

We take this opportunity to wish you and your families happiness and good health during the festive season.  

This article is taken from July 17th Medscape edition.  It is placed here in the interest of truth.

While we as nurses must comply with official guidelines in our clinical practice we have a right to know if these guidelines are correct or not, and to make personal judgements based on the facts.  

Only then are we able to apply this knowledge to the management of our own lives and that of our families.

The issue of saturated fat consumption has recently become of great interest in many quarters, and I hope this document will shine some valuable light on the issue.  

Regards,

​Graham Murray

Within the next few weeks there will be some major changes to the way you place orders or register for events. This has been made necessary by the pending withdrawal of the SuperSecure gateway we have been using for many years.  This service will be closed from end of July 2017, giving us little time to formulate a new strategy for registrations and orders.  The great advantage of that service other than the great security was the fact that credit card payments were not real-time or mandatory as is the case with shopping carts, and that allowed great flexibility

We are currently are working hard at implementing a new registration and orders method which we hope to have running well before the cut-off date.

Registrations and orders will be done by shopping cart with real-time payments by credit card and mandatory payment of the invoice in full at the time of registering or placing an order.  While this is suitable and acceptable to the vast majority of our clients, it does not work with all.  But we think we can solve that issue.

We will also have a secondary registration method for those customers who require that we first send an invoice - either to you personally or to your nominated sponsor.  This will allow you to pay either by credit card via a link on your tax invoice, or by bank transfer to the account shown on the tax invoice.

As with any major change there may be teething problems no matter how much testing we do before go live but we hope these will be minimal and minor, and rapidly rectified.  We will certainly welcome feedback about any problems you experience with the process. 

Anne and Graham would like to thank all our loyal clients for theur support during 2016 and hope we see many of you again in the new year.

We wish you all a very enjoyable Christmas with family and friends, and a Happy New Year 2017.

Back from a long stint in New Zealand for a couple of weeks to do some courses and a Cardiac Arrhythmias seminar in Brisbane, then back to New Zealand for a week for a couple of events in Gisborne.

Upon our return we will have the last three of the six-day courses for 2016, one in Caboolture and two on the Gold Coast, and finish with the last of the Advanced Life Support courses for the year.

We hope to get a few relaxing days at Binna Burra before Christmas, and hopefully a very slow and relaxing January to catch up on those tasks put on the 'back-burner' during the busy periods.

Our annual holidays will be taken in March when things are a bit slower, and have booked to cruise to the Orient on Queen Mary 2 from early March to just before Easter.  After that 2017 starts getting much busier for us, and most of May will be spent working in New Zealand again.

Anne and Graham have taken a short holiday after the busy time with courses, and cruised to New Caledonia and Fiji on Carnival Spirit.

The weather has been mostly fine and warm, but has turned cool and raining as we make our way back to Australia.

Heather James has gone touring in Australia for her holiday.

We have remained in contact by email for most of the time, though there have been some days when internet reception has been patchy, causing some delays replying.

There is nothing worse than looking at other peoples holiday snaps, so I will spare you this, but do encourage you to try cruising if you have not done so already.  Carnival is for family groups with lots of kids on board, so this may not be your best choice.  We think Cunard first, then Holland America, followed by Royal Caribbean and Princes equal third place. 

End of financial year has arrived, and for those who will be submitting taxation returns you may need your tax invoices to verify your deductions.  If you have lost any invoices from us let me know and I can re-send them by email as PDF files.  Make sure you provide enough details to give me a fighting chance of locating the transaction on our system please. The items you may be able to claim are course fees, seminar attendances and book purchases from us, or anyone else.

We are mid-way through our winter semester courses for which university credits are awarded. These six days courses are accepted by several universities as electives for nursing degree students, under graduate or post graduates.  Registered nurses doing the courses for professional development earn CPD points.  They require a heavy workload for both Anne and Graham, and leave no time for other events during this period, what with preparation, presentation and follow up exam marking and assignment evaluations.  It is wonderful to interact with the enthusiastic students, and gives us great hope for the future of nursing care.

​

The ACUTE COMPLEX CARE COURSE to be held on the Gold Coast 27th June to 2nd July is now full and we are taking registrations for the waiting list only in case we get late cancellations.

Full fees will be charged to your credit card if and when we can confirm your inclusion in the class. A minimum non-refundable deposit of $100 must accompany your registration.  This will be returned if we are unable to include you in the class. If you are included the deposit will go towards your course fees.

There are still places in the ACUTE CARDIAC CARE COURSE  to be held on the Gold Coast the following week 4th to 9th July 2016.

​Both courses will be repeated in November/December 2016.

hat a neglected feature!  I must apologise for not keeping this up-to-date.  The original idea was to put a new post each month, but it is now almost six months since the last post in November 2015.

We have been busy.  Since the last post we have been back and forth from New Zealand four times,
and that is where we are at present.  Our plan is to be back in Australia within the next few days.

In March/April we had a holiday cruise on Queen Mary 2 from Brisbane to Hong Kong via Malaysia and China (Shanghai).  What an eye-opener China is, modernising at a rapid rate while retaining much of what is of value from their past.  And so many happy people everywhere you go, even though restricted by an authoritarian government.  Makes one think.

Unfortunately rapid modernisation has come at a high cost - the air pollution is a great worry, and looks like persisting for some time to come.  But it is not an ignored issue, much effort is going into limiting and reducing the problem, as it must impact adversely on public health if it is not corrected. Makes one really appreciate our clean air, and hope that we never allow it to deteriorate in our search for ever higher production.  We have enough public health problems without adding air pollution to the mix.

We will try to keep up with new posts in the future - but can't promise.  Social media is not my strong point I'm afraid.

November has gone by without us having time to add anything of interest, but now we are well into December we at last have some spare time to attend to those things that have been neglected.

The summer semester break courses are finished, even some of the exams completed, and the marking to do.  There are always some unable to sit their exam on the nominated day who will be sitting on the deferred date.  

Anne and I are officially now on holiday until 18th January 2016, so may be out of touch until then due to travel and time out.  Of course I will still process registrations as and when they are submitted, but with a possible delay when working away from the office.

We will spend Christmas in Australia, and then go to New Zealand for New Year for a holiday at Lake Rotoiti with family.

We wish all our customers and friends the very best for Christmas and New Year and pray for your happiness and safety.

​Anne and Graham

Home again, and the month has gone. The Cardiac Arrhythmia seminar in Brisbane 30th & 31st completed the month for us on a positive note, with a wonderful group of dedicated and enthusiastic nurses attending.

Our overseas trip was both enjoyable and productive, and we now look forward to the November/December six-day courses held during the summer semester university break which will take us through to the end of the year. 

Meantime we are working on the schedule for 2016, which is a daunting task. As soon as the arrangements with venues are completed we will post the events to the website so you can plan your year.

The Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) will be publishing their recommendations for Advance Life Support (ALS) for the next six years, which is based on research and observations gathered by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation and universally adopted by relevant organisations throughout the world, though usually with some variations in local adoption.  As soon as we can obtain these recommendations from ARC we will incorporate these into out ALS courses and resume these. Naturally we have had to miss the previous few months, as the content may change and it makes no sense to present content which is soon to be outdated.