Vol 1 no.2 | Dec 2013
Education in Health Day celebrates innovation The Faculty’s Teaching and Learning Committee hosted an ‘Education in Health’ day on Thursday 21 November that culminated with the University-wide “Vice-Chancellor’s Celebration of Excellence and Innovation in Teaching 2013,” (held on Tuesday 26 November). Our ‘Education in Health’ lunchtime event was strongly attended with more than 50 participants learning about the brilliant teaching and learning innovation that occurs in our Faculty. It was very exciting to see so many attendees which demonstrates the interest in this area. The event was an informal affair with good food and excellent presenters, who showcased specific areas of innovation in the School of Medicine (SOM) and the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONM). The event commenced by congratulating the two winners of the Executive Dean’s Excellence in Teaching awards, Dr Chris Brebner
from Speech Pathology and Audiology and Dr Karen Lower from Haematology. Both recipients were worthy winners of the award and anyone who is thinking of applying for this award in the future is strongly encouraged to do so. The audience was fascinated by the five presentations. Katie Tucker (from the SONM) presented on ‘Case World’. This is an excellent innovation in nursing to assist with clinical teaching and simulation. Cyle Sprick then informed us about the use of simulation in the SOM. It was a highly entertaining presentation that showed how medical students are being prepared for the ‘real world.’ Helen Wozniak then presented from Darwin which in itself was innovative! The audience interacted with Helen’s presentation by using mobile devices to take part in phone polling. Sharon Lawn and Elena Rudnick (SOM) then presented on the importance of interfaculty collaboration in relation to Interprofessional education. The last presentation by Jan Thompson (SONM)
revealed how the innovative new three week intensively taught topic NURS1001 is being run as part of the new Bachelor of Nursing curriculum. All of the presentations were informative and exciting and I am very hopeful that educational innovation will continue to go from strength to strength in our Faculty. Thank you to everyone who participated in the ‘Education in Health’ day and contributed to its success in 2013. claire.drummond@flinders.edu.au
Claire Drummond and Chris Brebner
L-R: Cyle Sprick, Katie Tucker, Sharon Lawn, Elena Rudnick and Jan Thompson
Claire Drummond and Karen Lower
Education in Focus
From the Executive Dean
2013 has been a busy year for our Faculty precipitated in part by the decision of the University to establish a third School, the School of Health Sciences, which will come into being on 1 January 2014. A faculty-wide restructure has been necessary to ensure that our three Schools will have the capacity to develop and innovate while maximising effectiveness and streamlining administrative structures and processes. This year many of our Faculty staff have been recognised for their outstanding and innovative contributions to teaching and learning. Details of these achievements are contained in this issue. And we farewell Associate Professor Glover who is retiring from our School of Nursing and Midwifery after 27 years of service to our University. Pauline’s dedication to midwifery practice, research and education, and her many contributions to Flinders University have been outstanding and I am sure you join with me in wishing Pauline all the best for her retirement. I wish you and your family a safe and relaxing holiday break and look forward to our work together in 2014. Professor Michael Kidd AM Executive Dean Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
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AQF update The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the national policy that provides specifications for educational qualifications within a coherent framework. It contains policies for issuing those qualifications, for student pathways and for recording the qualifications and the organisations that issue them on national registers. The University is required to have an AQF compliance plan that provides for all courses to be compliant by 1 January 2015. The Qualification Standards require education providers to specify conditions and processes for the recognition of prior learning, credit transfer and articulation. Evidence from a provider that allocations of credit are academically defensible and that they preserve the integrity of qualification outcomes and discipline requirements may be requested by the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) through a review. There is some flexibility in the formulations used in parts of the AQF that are applied on
a case-by-case basis in line with the overall principles of the AQF. For example, in assessing whether courses meet volume of learning requirements, the University needs to demonstrate whether students are able to achieve the learning outcomes in a given course duration. Course Coordinators have engaged with the process of checking and confirming compliance for their courses. The Faculty has managed the process of review with oversight from the Schools to ensure that the transition to compliance action plans are in keeping with Schools’ strategy. The majority of courses have been reviewed and compliance forms were submitted to the DVC(A) in mid-October. Consequently a report of issues to be addressed to ensure AQF compliance has been compiled for action once comments from the DVC(A) have been received. jacqui.troath@flinders.edu.au
2013 Academic Promotion Round The Faculty congratulates the following School of Medicine staff who were promoted as a result of the Academic Promotion Round for 2013:
Clinical School) Associate Professor Anna Vnuk (Health Professional Education) Associate Professor Anna Ziersch (Southgate Institute)
Professor (Level E) Professor Paul Ward (Public Health)
Senior Lecturer (Level C) Dr Christopher Barton (Social Health Sciences) Dr Mark Slee (Human Physiology)
Professor (Level D Plus) Professor Tim Carey (Centre for Remote Health) Professor Eileen Willis (Social Health Sciences) Associate Professor (Level D) Associate Professor David Rosenthal (Flinders University Rural
Promoted to Lecturer (Level B) Dr Rebecca Perry (Nutrition and Dietetics) Ms Alison Yaxley (Nutrition and Dietetics)
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Faculty staff win national awards The Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) offers annual national awards which recognise and celebrate quality and excellence in university teaching and learning. OLT Citations recognise and reward the diverse contributions that individuals and teams make to the quality of student learning. Each Citation award comes with a $10,000 prize. Citations are awarded to people who
have made a significant contribution to student learning in a specific area of responsibility, over a sustained period;
are widely recognised for their achievements within the nominating institution and
have received strong institutional endorsement. Six Flinders staff members were awarded Citations in 2013 with two of the recipients from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. Associate Professor Sue McAllister from Speech Pathology and Audiology in the School of Medicine received her citation for
“Facilitating the development and implementation of curriculum and assessment of students' professional practice in the workplace that supports student learning”. This award reflects her cross-disciplinary teaching and research interests regarding the nature of health professional competency and how educators can facilitate its development through university and workplace based learning and assessment. Sue began work as a speech pathologist and clinical educator in 1982 working in the areas of early childhood and severe and multiple disability and then moving on to manage projects in speech pathology and child mental health. She gained her PhD and developed COMPASS®, a competency-based assessment tool designed to assess speech pathology students in their placements which is used by all speech pathology programs in Australia and New Zealand and several programs in South-East Asia. Sue has held a number of teaching and leadership roles since her appointment in 2009 including coordination of the Speech Pathology Honours program, teaching evidence based practice and fostering research developments and collaborations in speech pathology. She has also been actively involved in the Interprofessional Education group in the School of Medicine.
nurse at Adelaide Women’s Community Health Centre. She has coordinated the postgraduate mental health nursing program and has been the coordinator of the undergraduate Nursing program, the largest program in the Faculty, since 2007. Jan has been a member of numerous Faculty and University committees. She was the Faculty of Health Sciences Scholar in 2009 and has previously been the recipient of a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, a national Carrick Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning and a Faculty Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant. Jan is the Director of First Year Studies for the School of Nursing and Midwifery and is the topic coordinator of the innovative new topic NURS1001 Introduction to the Nursing Profession and Independent Learning. Jan has a particular interest in the transition of first year students to Nursing and the University and scaffolding the first year experience for commencing students. Her other teaching and research interests include mental health and HIV/ AIDS. The Faculty congratulates Sue and Jan on their outstanding achievement.
Ms Jan Thompson from the School of Nursing and Midwifery received a citation for “Sustained visionary leadership through innovative program implementation in supporting nursing students in their journey to become successful university students and professional registered nurses”.
Sue McAllister
Jan commenced work as a lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in 1990 following her work as a community mental health nurse and women’s health
Jan Thompson
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Education in Focus
Dragonfly, Mother, Midwife — Where it all began Associate Professor Pauline Glover will retire from Flinders in December 2013 after 26 years of service to the School of Nursing and Midwifery and more than 40 years as a passionate midwifery practitioner, educator and researcher. This is her story. In 1986 my first article, ‘Midwifery Care in Remote Areas’ was published in the Australian Nurses’ Journal. I was invited to present a paper, ‘Dragonfly, mother, midwife: Aboriginal Health and Pregnancy’ at the International Confederation of Midwives 3rd Asia Pacific Regional Conference in 1992 and following the presentation of this paper I was invited to submit it to the Australian Society For Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynaecology to be considered for a prize. To my astonishment and amazement I was awarded the Roger Wurm Medal for the best paper at a conference, the first time recognition had gone to a non-medical practitioner. I treasure that award, firstly as a midwife whose work was recognised and secondly, Dr Roger Wurm was influential in my training as a nurse at Wakefield Hospital. That is where my story began in 1965. Now my story is taking an intermission as I contemplate my impending retirement after 26 years of service to the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Flinders University.
The dragonfly has become significant for me as it was there at the beginning (my article) and on a recent voluntary teaching exercise in Cambodia I was greeted at our accommodation by a mass of dragonflies. Just a week later at the dinner of the Australian College of Midwives Conference a balloon artist made me a dragonfly. He did not know my story, just told me he didn’t do flowers or dogs! I said to him ‘just make me what you want’. How did he know that the dragonfly was part of me? The midwife in me happened straight after I completed my nursing training and I am proud to say that for the past 44 years I have lived, breathed and championed midwifery practice, education and research. These are all areas in which I have worked in Singapore, the Northern Territory and South Australia. I have seen change over that time in practice and education. Midwifery has moved from a vocational training program in a hospital to a University program. Once upon a time (all good stories need this) you had to be a nurse to be a midwife and now you don’t. Once a midwife could never prescribe, supply and administer drugs and order pathology but now you can. I have been privileged and honoured to be part of the team that developed these innovative programs. Flinders University was the first in Australia
to lead the way with these courses. The mother in me also happened along the way. Two beautiful children and four beautiful grandchildren. It is now time for me to be their dragonfly and focus on living in the moment and opening their eyes to what could be just like the dragonfly. I thank you for my opportunities. Thank you for allowing me to be a passionate advocate for midwifery, for recognising my contribution to Flinders with a Distinguished Alumni Award (inaugural) and a couple of Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence (one an inaugural). Has education changed in 26 years? That is the question!
Pauline Glover
Education in Focus is an initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University Comments and suggestions for future articles are welcome Also available online: www.flinders.edu.au/health-sciences/current/publications.cfm Editorial Team: Mrs Karen Siegmann, Dr Claire Drummond, Ms Kelly Meier, Dr Barbara Sanderson, Dr Wendy Abigail & Dr Yvonne Parry Contact: karen.siegmann@flinders.edu.au
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