Nurse specialists - Do Oz have them

[HALT]

Hi

Moved to Adelaide this month and although not working at the moment will be looking for work soon. I was a clinical nurse specialist in the UK. Do they have nurse specialists here. My research leads me to believe they are few and far between.
Do nurses do extended roles or advanced practice here.

Any info would be great.

[ozzieclare2be]

I think they do but maybe no as abundant as the uk where they have clinical nurse specialists in most things. What sort are you? I am sure i have seen some jobs in the paper but not many!

[lynne]

I am a diabetic specialist Nurse in the Uk and will be moving to Adelaide next year.

I have not seen any posts advertised but does any one if they have this type of nursing in Adelaide

Many thanks

Lyn

[Aussie pat]

When I left Adelaide in 1995 I was a nurse manager and looked after a small team of specialist diabetes nurses at Flinder Medical Centre. They did not work to protocols (re insulin doses etc.) and PGD's weren't used, so they were limited in what they could do. To the best of my knowledge even today they are not as common as in the UK and are more limited in their practice than here. Most appear to be attached to tertiary rather than primary care. I know of 2 such nurses who married GP's and have set up private sessions in their husband's practices. They claim payments from medicare but are self employed with all the responsibility that goes with it. Nurse prescribing hasn't started yet in SA to the best of my knowledge as I've looked into it for myself as a specialist nurse in another field. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woodville (Western suburbs) is the lead endocrinology hospital in Adelaide. Hope this is of help.

[HALT]

Thanks everyone who has replied the information is really useful. I worked a a breast care nurse specialist. I saw patients independently in my own nurse led clinics as well as consultant led clinics. Wrote all the protocols for my team. We initiated things like micropigmentation (nipple tatooing). We also wrote the individualised patient information folder for patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer which is now used nationally.
Would love to be able to do the same sort of thing in Adelaide.:)

[ozzieclare2be]

you might be better concentrating on the hospitals that obviously specialise in this area. being new myself im not sure. Im sure there would be a brestcare service in SA how about starting there? Sorry cant be much more help at the moment. Its amazing seeing those nipple tattoos, i used to work at christies cancer hosp in manchester and they were amazing with the reconstructive stuff. Keep us posted how u get on x