Happy Community and Primary Health Care Nurses Week!

This week, 17th-23rd September is Community and Primary Health Care Nurses Week, a great opportunity to celebrate the work the Refugee Health Nurses do across Australia. You can share your thoughts and explore those of others on social media via the hashtag #nurseswhereyouneedthem. Kitty Hutchison, ACN Community and Primary Health Care Nurses CoI Chair has sent the following message: This week, we are celebrating us, the Community and Primary Health Care Nurses. Though we work in a diverse range of roles and settings , we all utilise the principles of primary health care in our approach. This approach incorporates the social, economic and environmental influences on the patient’s health. These considerations or social determinants of health, are overlapping factors that influence health and wellbeing and shift the focus from simply addressing a person’s health problems to a person-centred approach. Our person-centred approach to care not only considers the perspectives of the individual and their family, but also actively educates and empowers them to participate and make decisions in their own care planning. The Australian College of Nurses considers the roles of C&PHC nurses to be an essential link in our care for all people across their whole lifespan.  I am proud to be a member of ACN and the C&PHCN Community of Interest (CoI). Our CoI enables my voice to join with hundreds of other C&PHC Nurses to share our vision for a future of healthcare in our country that truly meets the health needs of the community we serve. To all my Community and Primary Health Care Nursing colleagues; Happy Community and Primary Health Care Nurses Week! The Community and Primary Healthcare CoI leadership team invites you to take part in our celebrations wherever you are contributing in the healthcare journey for our nation. I urge you to join us and share your thoughts and celebrations on Twitter, FaceBook and on our NEO discussion forum. #Nurseswhereyouneedthem. Take photos at your places of work (with the what C&PHN means to me doc in the packs) and comment videos and keep sending and sharing them as much as you can.  Be Seen, Be Heard… Belong. Yours in Nursing,  Kitty Hutchison ACN Community and Primary Health Care Nurses CoI Chair