Timetable (January - June 2013)

This course focusses on how to respond to the tensions experienced at work by nurses and midwives, between professional practice accountabilities and workplace instructions.

The day is filled with discussions, examples and practice scenarios based on how to apply the Nursing and Midwifery decision making framework in real nursing situations.

We then create a plan with regard to managing workloads and responsibilities regarding scope of practice, delegation and supervision. Being safe keeps everyone safe! Come along to share and build strategies with colleagues.

Being a QNU Contact is the first step to getting more involved in the QNU. This course looks at the role of the QNU Contact, the structure of the Union, how the QNU functions and how QNU members make democratic decisions. This is our foundation course and therefore should be completed before you enrol on our longer activist courses.

We will cover:

• Who is the QNU?
• What does the QNU do?
• How does the QNU work?
• QNU decision making.
• QNU communication networks.
• What is happening in my workplace?

• Clearly articulate the role of the Activist in dealing with issues.
• Define various processes available to members.
• Identify ways to collectively advance issues.
• Give Activists the environment to check, challenge and test our ideas about the handling of issues in the workplace.

This course is all about how to achieve positive bargaining outcomes by working strategically together.

Areas covered in the course include:

• Member support for a claim.
• Developing communication networks.
• Knowing our current entitlements.
• What’s happening in other workplaces?
• Advancing our negotiations.

Be Informed - Be Involved - Be Active

A powerful negotiating team needs you, start by coming to this course!

• What are my entitlements right now in 2013?
  
• How do I find my entitlements and answers to my questions?
  
• Am I in the State or Federal Industrial Relations system?
  
• How does the Fair Work Act affect me?
  

This course is a must for all nurses. It’s about knowing how to determine your entitlements and how to find that information quickly. Don’t rely on the tearoom! Come along and learn where to find the correct documents, how to read them and how to calculate your entitlements.

This course is aimed at helping develop strategies to encourage a vital, energetic Local Branch based on member activism in the workplace. It is preferable that members have completed the Being a QNU Contact in the Workplace course before they enrol on this course.

Content includes:

• What is an organising Union?
• Techniques for maintaining a healthy Branch.
• Effective meetings.
• Problem solving in the workplace.
• Strategic planning.
• The role of the Branch in State policy direction.
• Preparing an Annual Conference agenda item.
• Speaking confidently at Annual Conference.

From the conclusion of our EB5 Campaign the BPF has been part of our agreement with QH. This however hasn’t automatically translated to reasonable and safe workloads for QH nurses and midwives.

• Do you know what the nurse:patient ratio is for your area on this shift?
• Is the nurse:patient ratio for this shift displayed in your work area?

Having the answers to these questions is a good beginning but not the end of the matter, when we are dealing with workload issues.

Knowing how to deal with a workload issue at the start of the shift or whenever it occurs during a shift is vital.

Exercising your professional nursing/midwifery judgement regarding safe staffing levels and appropriate skill mix and then taking action is what keeps you and your patients’ safe and it is a requirement.

On this course we take a step by step approach to understanding your obligations and entitlements and how to enforce them, using lots of practice and everyday scenarios. No matter where you work in QH or in what setting, this course is essential for you!

These forums are about the full implementation of the Nurses and Midwives EB8. The course will cover how we can make this happen, how to get more involved and what we can do when the committee isn’t working properly.

Knowing how to get issues addressed and responded to is the key to seeing real improvement for nurses and midwives locally.

We will explore:

• The terms of reference for the various nursing and midwifery consultative forums.
• Progressing the implementation and oversight of the Nurses and Midwives EB8 at a local level.
• Understanding how to make the most of the committee’s/forums through, tabling issues on the agenda, meeting with members prior to the forums and reporting back.
• Resolving issues when there is no local agreement.

If you have been to consultative forum training previously, it’s now time for an update! If you are not on a consultative forum but you are interested, now is the time to come to training.

This course focuses on nurses and midwives working in an aged care or private sector setting.

We will work through:

• How agreements are made.
• The difference between the award and an agreement.
• Identifying where you can find your entitlements.

During the day we spend time becoming familiar with the documents and finding the answers to your questions.

This is an essential day for private sector nurses and midwives. Everyone needs to know what their entitlements are, how to find them, and who you can ask about them.

Nursing unions throughout Australia have made significant inroads into improving the health and safety of their members through campaigns such as the Zero Tolerance to Violence and No Lift policies etc.

This course aims to provide nurses with practical advice and tools to create a safe workplace culture by:

• Explaining the role of the H&S Representative.
• Providing an overview of your employer’s obligations under the new work health and safety regime.
• Creating knowledge of the risk assessment process.
• Consideration of the major WH&S concerns facing nurses today.
• Developing a plan to organise around a WH&S issue.

This course aims to assist Activists and potential Activists to develop the skills required to organise their workplace. Members should have completed the Being a QNU Contact in the Workplace course before they enrol on Workplace Representatives 1.

In this course we:

• Analyse your workplace.
• Look at how to grow the Union.
• Understand the grievance procedure and apply it.
• Problem solve collective issues.
• Prepare and present a negotiation based on the resolution of your issues.
• Devise plans for organising your workplace.

This course is designed to assist nurses and midwives who face some difficulty in having the BPF (Nurses and Midwives workload tool) signed off and funded.

We will look at:

• The Nurses and Midwives EB8 and Award requirements in regard to the BPF.
• The practical implications of how to manage workload issues at a unit level.
• How to progress the resolution of workload issues and how we can help you to do this.

Nurses and midwives working together at the unit level is the key to ensuring that the BPF is properly implemented to manage workloads.
Come along to discuss the best way forward.