Drug and Alcohol Nurses Australasia

Survey: specialist ATOD nursing standards

webmaster — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:25:05 +0000

Currently, there are no Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) specialist nursing standards identified internationally. Nursing standards indicate what should be expected of ATOD specialist nursing by the wider nursing profession, employers and also the community. Having ATOD specialist nursing standards will bring us into line with other speciality nursing areas such as Critical Care and Mental Health.

DANA is working towards developing National ATOD nursing standards. We are using the Drug and Alcohol Services of South Australia (DASSA) standards as a benchmark to work from. As part of that we’re conducting a survey on the viability of that approach and would be very grateful if you could take part:

Click here to complete the survey
The survey will close on 1st November 2010, so please participate and contribute to this project with your feedback as soon as possible.

APSAD one day skills based training workshop – Sydney – 23rd September 2010 (Free to DANA members)

webmaster — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:55:46 +0000

This is looking like a very informative day. All the details can be found by clicking here (it will open a PDF advert for the day)

Working with traumatised clients in AOD services: How does this affect you?

webmaster — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:03:58 +0000

Over recent years there has been growing recognition of the high frequency of trauma exposure and post traumatic stress disorder among clients of alcohol and other drug (AOD) services. Less is known however, about how this impacts those who work with these clients.

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), in collaboration with the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), is looking for AOD workers (i.e., all those who work in AOD settings such as nurses, medical practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and other AOD workers) from across Australia to participate in a study which aims to examine the impact of working with traumatised clients.

Participation would involve completion of an anonymous online survey that would take approximately 15 minutes to complete. If you are interested in completing the survey and would like further information please click on the hyperlink below or copy and paste it into a new browser window.]

http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/NDARCWeb.nsf/resources/participation/$file/AOD+Work+Survey.pdf

NSW Senior Nurses Drug and Alcohol Meeting

webmaster — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:20:28 +0000

For those in NSW wanting to attend this meeting in August, click here for all the details, including the registration form.

2009/2010 Matua Raki (National Addiction Workforce Development Centre) Project

webmaster — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:00:51 +0000

The below link is to a a paper providing the background and context for the 2009/2010 Matua Raki
(National Addiction Workforce Development Centre) Project on developing nursing standards and
Competencies, including advanced specialist competencies, for alcohol and other drug
(AOD) nursing; in Aotearoa New Zealand.

http://www.matuaraki.org.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=29&Itemid=56

Guidelines on the management of co-occurring alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions in alcohol and other drug treatment settings

webmaster — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:45:28 +0000

It is with great pleasure that the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre would like to announce the release of a new resource for those working in the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) field:

“Guidelines on the management of co-occurring alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions in alcohol and other drug treatment settings.”
Written by: Katherine L Mills, Mark Deady, Heather Proudfoot, Claudia Sannibale, Maree Teesson, Richard Mattick, Lucy Burns

The Guidelines were developed by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in collaboration with clinicians, researchers, consumers and carers from across Australia, with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
The purpose of the Guidelines is to provide AOD workers with up-to-date, evidence-based information on the management of comorbid mental health conditions in AOD treatment settings.

Specifically, the Guidelines aim to:

· Increase AOD workers’ knowledge and awareness of mental health conditions.

· Improve the confidence and skills of AOD workers working with clients with comorbid mental health conditions.

· Provide guiding principles for working with clients with comorbid mental health conditions.

· Improve AOD workers’ ability to identify mental health conditions.

· Provide practical information on the management of comorbid mental health conditions.

· Provide information regarding the treatment of comorbid mental health conditions.

· Provide information regarding referral processes.

· Provide resources that may be used to facilitate all of the above.

A limited number of hardcopies are currently being disseminated to all alcohol and other drug treatment services across Australia. Additional copies and resources may be downloaded from:

http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/comorbidity

DANA Conference 2010

webmaster — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:56:27 +0000

All the details here

New Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder resources

webmaster — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:09:48 +0000

The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has released some FASD resources for health professionals:

1. Resource Booklet for Health Professionals (PDF)

2. Fact Sheet for Health Professionals (PDF)

3. Wallet card for women (PDF)

National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre

webmaster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:58:11 +0000

For those unaware of NCPIC, it may be worth checking out their website or reading their latest information update, which is released monthly.

IHRA’s 21st Conference: call for abstracts

webmaster — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:37:42 +0000

Harm Reduction 2010 is the title of the Internation Harm Reduction Association’s 21st Conference, to be held in Liverpool UK on the 25th-29th April next year.

The call for abstracts has been released and contains some comprehensive information about the conference.