Volume 26 Number 3

As we near the end of the year, welcome to our final JARNA edition for 2024. JARNA would not be possible without our wonderful and talented authors and reviewers, and I am sure you will join me in thanking them all so we can finish this year with this bumper JARNA December edition. I hope you find the varied content interesting and to that end we have included articles reporting literature reviews, research, quality improvement activities and professional reflections.

Firstly, you will be aware that our very successful annual conference was held recently on Queensland’s Gold Coast, and I was again in awe of the professionalism, skill, creativity and enthusiasm shown by all.  The theme this year Rehabilitation nurses: Evolving with the community was both a nod to ARNA’s rich history and also an opportunity to capture this and ARNA member stories before they are lost forever.  We were especially grateful that Dr Julie Pryor agreed to deliver the Keynote address What is rehabilitation? and for those who have seen Julie present or read her scholarly work – you will understand that this was a funny, insightful and thought-provoking presentation. You will see in this edition that the authors of the article Nurses providing supportive-educative care when working with rehabilitation inpatients: a literature review provide some wonderful connections to this and practical assistance to explore rehabilitation and rehabilitation nursing practice.

Sadly, not everyone can attend the annual conference, so JARNA becomes an even more important opportunity to highlight and share rehabilitation nurses’ knowledge, skills and experience. Given this important role for JARNA and in response to member requests we have returned to publishing the conference abstracts in this edition, and hope you find these interesting and informative. To expand on this, you will see that we have included a Guest Editorial from the JARNA Editorial Team, in which they share some individual conference reflections with you the readers.

While all our authors explore different subjects, they have a common aim to share their work with rehabilitation nurse colleagues in support of growing the body of rehabilitation nursing literature and raising the profile of rehabilitation nurses across Australasia. In conjunction with the content already highlighted, this edition also showcases work exploring topical issues, including nursing documentation in rehabilitation and the use of specific and individualised bowel care regimes after spinal cord disorder.   

You will recall that in previous editions I asked members to consider writing for JARNA as a means of highlighting the important and essential contribution rehabilitation nurses make in the lives of individuals and communities everywhere. To assist with this, we had a trade table at the conference this year – huge thanks to Greg (from Cambridge Media) Mark, Mark and Sarah for all their hard work. We are thrilled that this was a huge success with many members ‘signing up’ to write for JARNA.  In future editions we will be showcasing the work of our conference presenters as another opportunity for them to share their excellent work as widely as possible.

Of note, we have some novice JARNA authors (Kahlon and Kim) who in collaboration with experienced mentors have published their first article in this edition. Congratulations on being published, thank you for supporting JARNA and we look forward to reading more of your work in the future. These authors are positive proof that you do not need to be an experienced author to write for JARNA and that support is available, if needed. So I encourage all members to follow this fine example and consider writing for JARNA too.

In closing, my thanks to you all for your support of ARNA and JARNA during another busy year and on behalf of the JARNA Editorial Board and Editorial Team. My best wishes for you and yours during the holiday season.

Author(s)

Alison M New RN, BHSc (Nursing), MClin Rehab, MHSc (Clinical Education)
ARNA President
Email president@arna.com.au