The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association will be holding its tenth annual conference in Brisbane, 10-12 May, with the theme Nurseforce for the Future.

With keynote addresses from an array of high-achieving and passionate presenters, the conference is sure to provide professional and personal motivation as well as practical skills through CPD workshops and presentations.

Major Matina Jewell (retired) will be speaking on resilience through adversity and achieving fulfilment across the many facets of a busy life.

Social media personality ‘Nurse Robbie’ Robbie Bedbrook is passionate about health promotion and social justice; using online video content to promote health literacy in sexual health, mental health and chronic illness management.

2015 Nurse Practitioner of the Year Lesley Salem is a descendant of the Gringai-Wonnarua Nation in NSW, splitting her time between community clinics and mentoring roles. She is dedicated to improving the health of those with chronic disease and ‘continuously agitating the government over nurses and patient rights’.

The conference organisers have put together some tips on how to convince your boss to send you along to the event, such as this email template demonstrating how the professional development event will benefit you, your workplace, and greater health outcomes.

Other ideas include going through the program to highlight specific areas relevant to the development plans for your role or unit. Key development areas include:

• A half-day wound workshop for primary care settings.
• The latest in immunisation and travel diseases.
• Healthy ageing, advance care planning and palliative care.
• Setting up your nurse-led clinic: supporting patients through complex conditions.
• Practice management, MBS demystification, and effective care plans.

To gain the all-important funding to attend the event, APNA have offered two tips: contacting pharmaceutical companies for sponsorship, and individual support through PHNs – contact your local representative here. Other options include crowdfunding through Pozible or GoFundMe, or good old-fashioned donations with cash or digital currency with PayPal.

The conference will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre 10-12 May. See the registration page for information on attendance options including workshops, breakfast or cocktail events and full conference packages. Earlybird registration closes Monday 9 April 2018.