QLD NURSES STOP WHINGING!

Queensland and Australian nurses have been whining for a number of years that their population is 'ageing'. So what! The whole country is 'ageing'. However, nurses take this one step further and have complained or commented (not much difference really) that the average age of a nurse is 47 years - so what! We now live in an era where everyone can expect to work to at least 65 years, if not 70 years - (a) because they want to (b) because financially they have to. In a time when we are trying to stop age discrimination constantly listening to nurses drone on about the 'maturing' of their workforce and complaining that people are over 47 years old demeans the efforts of the nurses who want to continue to work, lowers the value of 'older workers' in the eyes of many employers - age discrimination does not need much encouragement.
Nursing is a vocation which requires the study of nursing; not medicine. Nurses are nurses; not doctors. Nurses carry out nursing duties; despite what the PR push of the last 15 years has been do not carry out medicial practice.  People who accept the advice of nursing practitioners put their life and that of their loved ones in great danger. It takes a doctor many years of study and supervised training in the art of diagnosis to be allowed to work as nurse practitioners now do. We know that people have died from errors made by 'nurse practitioners' all over the world.  If you hold an undergraduate degree in any area of study you may enter the advanced nursing degree programme (offered in Australia, QLD) and become qualified with a nursing degree in two (2) years.  If you want to be a doctor the process is about 12 years.  Over a number of years I have spoken with 'nurses' who went through their training while I was studying for degrees. Most do not like the atmosphere that nurses create. There is an unrealistic push in training nurses that they are 'professionals' above making  a cup of tea for a patient (yet research shows that such acts can reduce pain and distress more so than drugs).  What happens is that pepole who were unsuited to the vocation of nursing and more suited to higher level professions such as medicine, podiatry, physio, scientist take on a degree that cannot possible give them what they are seeking.  Registered nursing studies need to be returned to TAFE colleges; with large components of actual ward work. This gives the students the chance to see what it is really like and gives the practitcal experience that is missing in nursing 'graduates'.  The other problem nurses self report is the nasty environments that graduate nurses enter. Every single person I have spoken to who studied nursing and went on to graduate roles in public or private hospitals state that graduates are treated dreadfully - getting on the ward BEFORE graduation helps negate this problem. Nursing education is based in theory and learning such things as the history of nursing - what is needed is correct procedures, practitical skill and patient empathy.

Queensland POLICE ALLOWED TO PUNCH PEOPLE IN HEAD

If you are thinking of travelling to Queensland; please do not; for your own safety!  In the unlikely event that you are arrested by Police the State Minister for Police and the Police Commissioner believe that Queensland Police have carte blanch to punch people in the head. These two men are charged with the task of maintaining professionalism in the Police force. You should know that Queensland Police already have (a) guns on their hips (b) pepper spray on their tool belts (c) and most a stun gun on their hips.  Additionally, they are suppose to be trained in the skills required to calm people down and ensure situations do not turn violent.  The Police, the Queensland Police Commissioner and the Queensland Police Minister of State are employees of the Government which is currently running a campaign that says 'one punch kills'. However, if that punch is from a Police offer and you are killed or brain damaged; well, chances are the powers that bill will determine it to be necessary and tough luck to you.  Recently; see You Tube, a young man on the Gold Coast was arrested and handcuffed for drunk and disorderly. He was taken to the Police station in the back of a Police van. CCTV shows that young man been punched repeatedly by the Police - since he was incapacitated at the time and very drunk questions must be asked as to why this happened. The response of the Queensland Police Commissioner as alleged in the Courier Mail and on 4BC was to want to know who and how the footage was released. Both the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Police then said that it can be justified to punch people in the head - please look up the video and decide for yourself if this was justified. Interestingly, the Queensland Police Public Relations/Media Unit do an excellent job; this was proven when after appearing on TV responding to the punching in the head of the young man the next night the Police Commissioner appeared on TV was a Police dog - an attempt to soften the image. It did not work; people are not that stupid!  Queensland is about to have an election and neither the current unpopular Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, or the person nominated to be the leader of the Liberal Party have made any form of leadership statement on this issue. People have to raise a collective voice to tell Queensland Police that this is not acceptable behaviour.