Australian Nurse Practitioner (A.N.P)

Dr Isabella Wright completed her nursing degree 35 years ago in Sydney, Australia, and has worked in the aged care sector in many roles in Australia and New Zealand. Roles such as Clinical Educator, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Director of Nursing, Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, as well as a Quality Auditor.Endorsed as a Nurse Practitioner in 2012, with an area of practice in adult and older adult care, Isabella is an independent contractor. She runs NP-led clinics in large residential aged care homes in Auckland, with a particular interest and experience in dementia care. She mentors NP interns every year in clinical practice during their Prescribing Practicum. Isabella is employed part time as an expert advisor to the Aged Care Health & Disability Commissioner, advising about aged care sector complaints relating to breaches of Health & Disability Consumer Rights. She is also contracted by the New Zealand Nursing Council as an expert panel member for Nurse Practitioner endorsement assessments. Her passion for academic excellence has inspired her to commence a Doctor of Health Science degree in 2017 at Auckland University of Technology, which she completed in February 2024. The Doctoral thesis was titled “Optimising the role of Nurse Practitioners in New Zealand”, exploring NP’s psychosocial work environment.Link to research:https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/items/6a0f07c9-bf17-4ef9-8f19-1ea33fc25338

Adjunct Professor Ward currently serves as CEO of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and CEO of the Australian College of Nursing Foundation. She has led a program of transformation including raising awareness of the profession and building a legacy of nursing leadership, policy, advocacy and social impact, as well as creating hundreds of leadership and representation positions for nurses Australia wide. As such, ACN is now Australia’s beacon for Nurse Leadership.Adjunct Professor Ward is inspired to ensure nurses from all backgrounds have access to world-class education at all stages of their career. She believes ongoing education is key to nurses working to their full scope of practice, contributing to the design of health systems and providing consumers with optimal care, every time.  She holds honorary professorships with 7 leading Australian universities, and has been awarded several fellowships, including a Wharton Fellow, USA.

Amanda is a Nurse Practitioner, Credentialed Mental Health Nurse, Psychotherapist, ADHD Certified Provider and the Director of NPathy. Amanda currently works in private practice and primary mental health care. Amanda has over 10 years’ experience working in several mental health settings including inpatient, community, primary, residential, immigration detention, and non-clinical settings such as a federal government department and university. Amanda is a passionate advocate for Nurse Practitioners in Australia.https://npathy.com.au/

Sarah Webb is an ICU Nurse Practitioner and was the driving force behind the creation of an ICU NP model of care at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. Sarah has over 18 years experience in Intensive Care where she has worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, ICU Clinical Coordinator, ICU Clinical Educator and Resuscitation CNC. She has also worked as a midwife and in aeromedical retrieval. Since 2014, Sarah has been working as an NP in ICU, building the core practice areas of an intensive care NP and promoting the nurse practitioner role. Sarah has completed a Master of Nursing (Intensive Care), a Graduate Diploma of Midwifery and a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner). Sarah has a particular interest empowering nursing to build advanced clinical practice in intensive care. Link to QR Code and contact details:https://nswhealth.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/RNSHICUNPService-NSLHD/EfP0l1xbFHZJgAXJI5zOfzIBxkCnSEkIdAsufDcoTSvaTw

Professor (Practice) Alison McMillan PSM was appointed as our Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer in November 2019.Alison is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Business Administration.In June 2021 Alison was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to driving the Government’s national health response priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to infection prevention measures. 

Chris is a Registered Nurse and Endorsed Nurse Practitioner (NP) working in private general practice. He received his formal training as an Adult and Geriatric (Aged Care) NP from the University of Wisconsin, based in the United States. He has worked in diverse healthcare settings, ranging from rural primary healthcare to subspecialty practice in a quaternary referral centre. He immigrated to Australia in 2007 and has since served on several national and international committees vested in the advancement of the Australian 

Jason is a Nurse Practitioner trained in emergency and critical care. He is currently moving into the private sector as a co-founder of HEAL Urgent Care. He hopes to help revolutionise the way emergency care is delivered in Australia.

Hannah steele is a Nurse practitioner in Veteran Health. She is the director of Veteran Medical, a nationwide practice supporting veterans and their DVA journey.  Hannah was endorsed in 2022, after finishing her Masters degree at the University of Newcastle. She was inspired to become a Nurse Practitioner when she met Amy Bowen (NP), and saw the potential the Nurse Practitioner role has in supporting the current veteran health crisis.

Leanne is the president of the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners. She is a nurse practitioner with a background in critical care and paediatrics and remote nursing. She currently practices across three GP clinics in Melbourne. She has also built, owned and operated her own GP practice and is now a director of the Prime Medical Property Group, developing and building properties in the health sector. Leanne also does business planning and is the author of 'Medical Business Management', aimed at assisting health professionals to start their own businesses.  She works as a casual academic. Her qualifications include a master of nursing (nurse practitioner) and a master of health science (education).

Today we interview Dina Farag, with Amy Bowen (NP). Dina is a clinical pharmacist with Meditrax and expert in her field. The Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) is a clinical review of medications that are prescribed to older people living in aged care facilities. Listen along and enjoy a few case studies where we break down some medication charts, and try to improve the quality of life of RACF residents.The intent of the RMMR Program is to support the quality use of medicines and assist minimising adverse medicine events for people living in approved Australian Government-funded Aged Care Facilities through medication reviews conducted by Accredited Pharmacists in the aged care facility.

ANP interviews Michelle Lew, who is an American NP in Primary Practice. The differences between the Australian and US health models are profound. You can follow Michelle on instagram at the.np.mom 

Tim Wand is Associate Professor at the Sydney Nursing School and a nurse practitioner in mental health liaison in the Emergency Department at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Tim has extensive experience in education and training at a clinical, undergraduate and postgraduate level and is involved in clinical research mainly around the developing specialty of mental health liaison nursing and the role of the nurse practitioner. He has published numerous of papers in his specialty area and also on the topics of risk assessment, aggression and violence, mental health legislation and solution-focused therapy and mental health promotion.

With the recent decision by SCOTUS to overturn Roe v Wade, there has never been a more important time to discuss the accessibility of abortion care. ANP had the pleasure of interviewing two experts in the area of abortion care, issues of gender-based violence, reproductive rights and the current legalities surrounding abortion care in Australia.Linda Kirby is a Nurse Practitioner working at TRUE in Central Queensland, with specialist knowledge in emergency, sexual and reproductive health with a particular focus on women’s health. Linda’s nursing background is working rural and remotely In the Kimberly’s to Morning Island working collaboratively with Australian immigration services and offender health. Any of Linda’s clients and friends can attest to her passion and advocacy for women’s health and intersectional feminism. Linda has recently completed her graduate certificate in sexology through Curtin University. Her intention is to provide an inclusive and sex positive space for her clients, utilizing and applying the fundamentals of sexology in her clinical practice.Lydia Mainey is a lecturer at CQUniversity in Cairns, Australia. She is a Registered Nurse and has specialized in abortion care. Lydia’s research area focuses on improving pregnant people's access to comprehensive, trauma-informed abortions. Lydia's research strength is qualitative design projects that explore gender-based violence, nursing and midwifery resistance and decolonizing teaching strategies. She positions herself as an intersectional feminist and views research as advocacy work.SHOW NOTES:https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240039483https://www.mariestopes.org.au/https://www.true.org.auhttps://www.childrenbychoice.org.au/

Todays guest is Amy Bowen, a Nurse Practitioner who has worked privately for eight years in residential aged care facilities around the Sydney. She holds Graduate Certificates in cardiac, acute, and critical care nursing as well as holding her Nurse Practitioner Masters degree. Amy is co-chair of the clinical council at Northern Sydney PHN, and has mentored countless nurses, TNPs and NPs.  Amy is the proud recipient of the 2016 APNA Nurse of the Year Award for Quality and Innovation in primary health care. 

Elliot is an intensive care nurse practitioner, working at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney NSW. Elliot has worked in ICU for 10 years, and has post-graduate qualifications in critical care, and a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) from the University of Sydney. Elliot has sub-specialty interests in vascular access and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (EMCO). He is a member of the ACI NSW ECMO Advisory Group, runs the ECMO course at RNSH, and is the nursing lead for ECMO in the ICU at RNSH.Elliot has been involved in post-graduate teaching for many years, initially as a Clinical Fellow for the Faculty of Health at University of Technology, Sydney, and now for Sydney Nursing School, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney as a Casual Academic. In this role, Elliot teaches on the Nurse Practitioner Master Program, and has helped with subject redesign.Elliot is also a member of the Clinical Practice Committee for NSW Ambulance Service, where he provides expert advice relating to nursing practice and his relevant areas of specialization. He is also assisting NSW Ambulance with a research project currently, and is a key advisor on nursing matters in general for the organization.Elliot has an interest in research, having been involved in numerous local studies, site co-investigator for a large multinational registry study, and has authored a number of papers related to vascular access and the ICU Nurse Practitioner model of care.

Tom Buckley is an Associate Professor Sydney Nursing School and Research Education Academic Director in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Tom is a registered nurse and has been in senior nursing positions in the UK, USA and Australia in specialties such as nephrology, intensive care and acute cardiology. In addition to his academic work, Tom is Director of the Research and Human Performance Laboratory at StriveStronger, a corporate health, wellbeing and human perfomance consultancy. Tom has a long history of promoting nurse practitioner education, policy and research in Australia. He is past Chair of the ANMAC Nurse Practitioner Accreditation Committee (up to 2019) and co-led the revision of the Australian Nurse Practitioner Standards of Practice (2014). He was also a chief investigator in research to revise the current Registered Nurse Standards of Practice (released in 2016), served on the PBS Nurse Practitioner Technical Advisory Group in 2010 and more recently led the Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Reference Group (2019) as part of the Australian Government review of Nurse Practitioner MBS services. Tom’s primary clinical research activity is in the study of psychological and physical stress responses and their impact on cardiovascular health. Additionally, he is an active researcher in many aspects of nurse practitioner scope of practice.