Nurse Leaders Conference 2015 "Illuminating the Path" Professional Enlightenment for the Nurse Leader.
Last week was a big week for Infectious Medical Scrubs as we were the silver sponsors of the Association of Queensland Nurse Leaders Conference, which was held over three days at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The first day featured a leadership Master Class and a hospital tour of the Lady Cilento Hospital. As silver sponsors, we were invited to the afternoon tea to meet the delegates, and later that night, we also attended the welcome and networking reception, which was held at the Ship Inn at Stanley St, South Brisbane. Both Sally and I enjoyed meeting the nurses and nurse leaders from all over Queensland, and we quickly found our locals from the Sunshine Coast who were working at the Nambour Hospital in various leadership roles. That night, we were introduced to Nicola Young, the president of the AQNL and the Director of Nursing & Facility Manager at Whitsunday Health Service based in Proserpine.
To give you an idea of how big Queensland is and how many different health districts were represented at the AQNL2015 conference here is a list; Darling Downs, Mackay Base Hospital, Royal Flying Doctors, Wesley Private Hospital, St. Vincents Toowoomba, Roma Hospital, Kingaroy Hospital, Lady Cilento Hospital Brisbane, Princess Alexandra Hospital and Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital, Sunshine Coast Hospital, Nambour General Hospital, Kawana Private Hospital, Gayndah Hospital, Children's Health Network, Mater Health Service, Dalby Hospital, Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service, Proserpine Hospital, QE2 Jubilee Hospital, Moranbah Health Service, Northern Nursing, Child and Youth Community Health Services, Esk Hospital, Queensland Health, Collinsville Hospital, Murgon Hospital, Boonah Hospital, Toowoomba Hospital, Gin Gin Hospital, Gympie Hospital, Ellen Barron Family Centre, Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service, Whitsunday Health Service, Townsville Hospital and Health Service, Health Care Australia, Ayr Health Service. Phew, that is quite a list.
The delegates' designations included Nurse Unit Managers, Directors of Nursing, Hospital Nurse Managers, Nurse Educators, Business Managers, Executive Directors, NUM, CNC, and Directors of Education.
Day 2
Bump in! We had to be at the Brisbane Convention Centre in the morning to set up our booth before the conference registration began. We got busy putting up our printed promotional panels and display racks showing our solid scrub tops, printed scrub tops, scrubs pants, lab coats, scrub hats, nurses' shoes, nurses' clogs, antimicrobial socks and new antimicrobial tote bags from Code Happy. Our suppliers Dickies and WonderWink came through for us in supplying top quality promotional items, such as pens, LED lights, back packs as well as catalogs, pricelists, colour swatches. But our homemade chocolate fudge was a real winner with the nurses.
Keynote Speaker
The AQNL were privileged to have Rosie Batty as the keynote speaker this year. An Australian who has shown incredible strength and leadership in the past year.
Rosie Batty - 2015 Australian of the Year / Family Violence Campaigner. Rosie is a leader in the crusade against domestic violence and has turned her tragedy into a fight to help others.
Graham Wilkinson is the District Director of Nursing Services for Sunshine Coast and Cooloola Health Service. Graham is on the executive committee and gave a great speech on the state of Nursing in Queensland and Australia, and his thoughts on where nursing is heading as a profession.
The AQNL Awards Dinner was on Thursday night, and what a night it was. The theme for the night was 80s prom night, featuring great 80s music and fashion. Sally and I enjoyed spending time with the delegates in a fun and social environment. There were a few awards on the night, and we are very pleased to announce that the AQNL executive board voted Shelley Nowlan to be the nurse leader of the year for 2015 for her leadership role in establishing the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane. But with the awards out of the way, everyone got into the festivities and danced the night away.
Day 3
Shelley Nowlan, Executive Director of Nursing Services of Children's Health Queensland, HHS
Callan Battley, Director of Nursing at the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane. Callan has a background in nursing education, nurse management, business and implementing change. Callan Battley was a classmate of Pete Doran, the Director of Infectious Nurses Scrubs. Callan and Pete went to nursing school in Townsville at James Cook University, and Pete was thrilled that he could say a quick hi to Callan after his entertaining and enlightening speech.
Keynote Speaker Duncan Armstrong, raised in the central Queensland Town of Rockhampton, rose to international fame at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 when he broke the world record to win the Gold medal in the 200m freestyle.
On day 3 of the conference, Infectious had another staff member, Bianca Bloomfield, attend. Bianca has been working for Infectious Scrubs for two years and is currently the Queensland Group Order Specialist for Infectious Medical Scrubs. It was great for Bianca to attend and to meet the nurse leaders and share her product knowledge of Dickies Medical, WonderWink and Code Happy scrubs and products.
Winner of our Code Happy Antimicrobial tote bag was Andrea Densley, a NUM from 13health
Adele Rogers, a retired nurse leader who still attends the conference, won a $250 voucher at Infectious Nurses Scrubs.
Congratulations to these two ladies on winning the lucky dip prizes.
Here are some more shots of our excellently presented conference booth. We were set up next to Q-Super, last year's platinum sponsor. 
Friday afternoon, we packed up our scrub tops, scrub pants, printed scrub tops, lab coats, nurses' clogs, antimicrobial socks, and bags and headed back to the Sunshine Coast.
So, from everyone at Infectious Medical and Nursing Scrubs, we say a big thank you to all the nurses out there who are working tirelessly every day in the community. We love nurses and love supporting their leaders' conference. We will see you all again next year. Now you know where to go if you are looking for nursing uniforms or scrubs in Queensland. Shop online from a scrubs supplier that supports nurses and nurse leaders. Infectious Medical has Australia's most extensive range of premium quality scrubs from leading scrubs brands like Dickies Medical, WonderWink, Code Happy and we now stock scrubs and medical products featuring Certainty Antimicrobial Protection. Buy top-quality scrubs online from Australia's number 1 supplier, www.infectious.com.au.
