The disappearance of CME for nurse’s

I have watched neonatal care change greatly throughout my years as a neonatal nurse, as evidence evolved practices have too. That’s why it is crucial to attend education opportunities and be at the forefront of evidence, be at conferences to see where the focus is for your specialty. In the last two years I have attended three neonatal conferences. I wish I could have attended more but because, for nurses, these are all at our own expense it becomes really financially tricky to pay to attend conferences while juggling all the financial demands of life. There isn’t a nursing funding structure which assist nurses to attend education even though there is an expectation that nurses participate in conferences and education.

It is important that the differences in funding available between medical and nursing streams is highlighted.  Continual Medical Education (CME) for medical staff has been operating since 2006.  Before then attendance at conferences and educational events was largely funded through Private Practice arrangements between doctors and the hospitals.  At that time money that doctors earned from treating private patients went into a Private Practice Fund for each department.  The department head then allocated the money for research, education etc.  In those days nursing staff were often funded to attend conferences from the Private Practice Funds and also paid for conducting research. Most of this has disappeared because the Australia Medical Association (AMA) negotiated with the hospitals to fund ongoing CME as part of their EBA. The hospitals were happy to do this because they receive a big bed fee when the doctors treat private patients in public hospital beds.

It was the doctors professional organisation (the AMA) that was successful in introducing the CME system and making sure that all medical staff had access to this money.  Perhaps it’s time that the nursing equivalent professional organisation started to use its industrial might to develop a nursing based CME.

The Australian Nursing Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is one of the largest unions in AUSTRALIA with 300,000+ members. Comparatively, there are 33,000 AMA members across the whole of Australia. But with the ANMF fighting hard just for fair pay! it is difficult to see any significant changes coming soon. N.E.O are here for the fight.