Program

Program Updates

Please note the program, speaker and session details are subject to change. Please check this page regularly.

Program Time Zone

The session are shown in Australian Western Standard Time (AWST) UTC +8.

Use a time zone converter to check your time: timeanddate.com

Monday, May 11 2026

12:00 – 20:00

Conference Registration
Level 2, Northern Foyer

14:00 – 18:00

Expo Day – Open to the public
River View Room 4 & 5Learn about pathways & helpful resources.

Chat with experienced remote area nurses & midwives. Meet with remote healthcare employers. Try your hand at the CRANAplus clinical skill stations.

Wellbeing Lounge: Brief 5-10 minute Mindfulness session . 2:00pm | 3:00pm | 4:00pm | 5:00pm

18:00 – 20:00

Welcome Function
River View Room 4 & 5

Welcome to the 2026 CRANAplus Remote Nursing & Midwifery Conference

Tuesday, May 12 2026

8:00 – 8:30	Conference Registration Level 2, Northern Foyer Wellbeing Lounge Open daily from 8:00 am Join us for a 20-minute Brief Mindfulness Practice to Kick-Start Your Conference Day The Lounge will be open throughout the day. Everyone is welcome to drop in, relax, and recharge. Drop by for a massage, enjoy our therapy dogs, or engage in mindfulness activities, relaxation options, and connect with wellbeing professionals while learning about supports like the Bush Support Line.
	Opening Session
Room	Meeting Room 1-3
8:30 – 8:40	Conference Opening Karen Cook, MC
8:40 – 8:50	Conference Welcome Dr Ann Aitken PhD Board Chair, CRANAplus
8:50 – 9:00	Official Opening
9:00 – 10:00	Cultural Safety in Nursing Chair: Dallas McKeown Happy Birthday Florence Dr Odette Best Questioning Colonisation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Dr Kim O’Donnell
10:00 – 10:15	Q&A
10:15 – 10:50	Morning Tea
	Session 2
Room	Meeting Room 1 – 3
Chair	Karen Cook
10:50 – 11:20	Distance, Dedication, Difference: Leading Nursing & Midwifery Innovation Across WA’s Remote Landscape Alison Weatherstone, Contemporary Dual Qualified Midwife
11:20 – 11:30	Movement between rooms
Room	Meeting Room 1 – 3	Meeting Room 7	Meeting Room 8
Chair	Danielle Causer	Emma Barritt	Heather Keighley
11:30 – 12:30	Workshop 1 Redefining care delivery through designated RN prescribing Ms Sarah Monaghan, Nursing And Midwifery Board	Workshop 2 Shaping the future of registered nurse education by informing accreditation standards. Dr Jane Douglas, Australian Nursing And Midwifery Accreditation Council	Workshop 3 Distance, Dedication, Difference: Strengthening Nurse-Led Syphilis Care in Remote Australia Ms Cherie Bennett, ASHM
12:30 – 13:30	Lunch
12:30 – 13:30	Workforce – Roundtable discussion \| Meeting Room 8
	Session 3
Room	Meeting Room 1 – 3	Meeting Room 7	Meeting Room 8
Theme	Clinical	Workforce	Maternal, Child & Family Health (MCFH)
Chair	Naomi Zaro	Katrina Seng	Ann Aitken
13:30 – 13:50	Nurse-Led, Culturally Informed Management of Leprosy in Remote Northern Australia Mrs Amanda Bywaters, Torres And Cape Health Service, CAIRNS	Outback survival: What’s really needed to sustain new registered nurses to thrive beyond the bitumen Mrs Danielle Rogers, Central Queensland University	Midwifery Obstetric Emergency Telehealth Services: Keeping woman on country and families together Ms Elissa Spackman, WA Country Health Service (WACHS)
13:50 – 14:10	Connecting regional and rural Australians with quality allergy care Mrs Heather Roberts, National Allergy Council & Mr John Wangari, Ngaanyatjarra Health Service	Transition to Remote Practice (TRP) Program: A Structured, culturally grounded learning pathway for new-to-remote clinicians Mrs Sarah Worth & Ms Kylie Fischer, Torres And Cape Hospital And Health Service	Strengthening Pregnancy Loss Support Through Collaboration: A Co-Designed, Culturally Safe National Approach Ms Amrit Dillon & Amanda Forti
14:10 – 14:30	600 Nurses Project: A growing network of regional primary care nurses to detect skin cancer Dr Kim Gibson, Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre, Adelaide University	Beyond Emergency Care: Innovations in Culturally Responsive After-Hours Care for Remote Aboriginal Population Mrs Lorraine Harry, Malala Health Service Aboriginal Corporation	Results of paediatric implementation of nasal high flow therapy within Thursday Island and Cape York Mrs Sally West, James Cook University Centre for Rural and Remote Health
14:30 – 14:50	Supporting Rural and Remote Health Professionals to Deliver High-Quality Palliative Care Using National Standards Ms Kate Ritchie, Palliative Care Australia	Practice-Ready for Remote Nursing: Postgraduate Education in Primary Health Care Mrs Sarah Mills, Charles Darwin University	Bridging the Gap: Co-designing Solutions for Acute Paediatric Burn Care in Rural and Remote Queensland Ms Kylie Fischer, Torres And Cape Hospital And Health Service
14:50 – 14:55	From recognition to action: organisational and cultural factors influencing nurse-initiated care in suspected sepsis- an interview study Ms Alison Lemoh, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre \| National Centre for Infections in Cancer (PhD) University Of Melbourne	The Rural Workforce Tipping Point: A Retention Analysis of Rural Nurse and Midwife Tenure. Lee O’Malley, Griffith University	Every child should have access to paediatric healthcare, regardless of location Mrs Nichole Callan, Little Wings
14:55 – 15:00		Finding a Community, Finding a Home: Retention in Remote Area Nursing Phillipa (Pip) Bird, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services
15:00 – 15:05
15:05 – 15:10
15:10 – 15:40	Afternoon Tea Poster Presentation Q&A Join the conversation in the Northern Foyer! Our presenters will be on hand to walk you through their work and share further insights.
	Session 4 – Workshop Sessions
Room	Meeting Room 1 – 3	Meeting Room 7	Meeting Room 8
Chair	Josh Stafford	Kate Welleman	Emma Barritt
15:40 – 16:35	Workshop 4 (Limited Availability) Contraceptive Choices in Primary Health: Building knowledge and confidence in clinical practice Mrs Laura Berry, TRUE Reproductive Health	Workshop 5 We are all ears: Practical ear health skills for rural nurses Dr Traci Flynn, Hearing Australia	Workshop 6 Co-Designing Practical Bereavement Support for Rural and Remote Practice (Red Nose) Amrit Dhillon, National Project, Innovation and Evaluation Manager
16:35 – 17:30	Workshop 7 (Allocation Exhausted) Recognising and Managing Pelvic Pain in Remote Communities: PID, Sexual Health and CST Update Mrs Laura Berry, TRUE Reproductive Health	Workshop 8 The Revised Remote Area Nurse Model of Consultation Prof. Sue Lenthall, Charles Darwin University	Workshop 9 The Future of Remote Health: Everything Depends on Everyone Feeling Safe and Being Safe Mr Francisco de Paula, The Calmer Approach

Wednesday, May 13 2026

8:00 – 8:30	Conference Registration Level 2, Northern Foyer Wellbeing Lounge Open daily from 8:00 am Join us for a 20-minute Brief Mindfulness Practice to Kick-Start Your Conference Day. The Lounge will be open throughout the day. Everyone is welcome to drop in, relax, and recharge. Drop by for a massage, enjoy our therapy dogs, or engage in mindfulness activities, relaxation options, and connect with wellbeing professionals while learning about supports like the Bush Support Line.
	Session 5
Room	Meeting Room 1-3
8:25 – 8:30	Welcome Day 2 Karen Cook, MC
Chair	Nicole Jeffery-Dawes
8:30 – 9:00	Coping with Fallibility Professor Jill Klein, Medical Education, Melbourne Medical School
9:00 – 9:30	Why Control Matters to Health, Wellbeing, Empowerment, and Everything Else Professor Tim Carey, Director, Centre > Health Equity in Regional and Remote Communities at CQUniversity
9:30 – 10:00	Back-on-Track: Randomised controlled feasibility trial of behavioural activation in Australian farmers with mood problems Professor Martin Jones, Rural Health Academic and Clinical Research Leader
10:00 – 10:15	Q&A
10:15 – 10:45	Morning Tea
Chair	Karen Cook
10:45 – 11:15	An update from the Commonwealth Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Adjunct Professor (Practice) Alison McMillian PSM. Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
11:15 – 11:30	BRANCHES – a clinical supervision model developed by RANs for RANs Fiona Hildebrand, Nurse Education and Research Consultant in Remote Health
11:30 – 11:40	Movement between rooms
	Session 6
Room	Meeting Room 1 – 3	Meeting Room 7	Meeting Room 8
Theme	Workforce	Workforce	Technology
Chair	Katherine Neil	Ann Aitken	Josh Stafford
11:40 – 12:00	Crisis to Capability: How Manageability Healthcare Solutions Is Revolutionising Remote Health by Fast-Tracking ED Nurses. Mr Rob Manning, Manageabilty Healthcare Solutuions	Strengthening the Northern Territory remote area nursing workforce, co-designing new graduate nurse program. Prof. Sue Lenthall, Charles Darwin University	Who Codes Care? Mapping the AI Landscape: Bias, Blind Spots, and Rural and Remote Health. Associate Professor Yangama Jokwiro
12:00 – 12:20	Social connection of nursing students to improve rural attraction and retention: Mixed-methods preliminary findings Mrs Jessica Elliott, University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) – School of Nursing and Midwifery	Manager Development Academy – Supporting rural managers to be their best Mrs Dalya Holowinski, Murrumbidgee Local Health District	Artificial Intelligence – What Get’s Easier Mr Samuel Wyndham, Biz365
12:20 – 12:40	Distance. Dedication. Difference. Our 507,896 sq km Pilbara Beginning in the middle of a Cyclone. Mrs Sonja De Smid, WACHS Pilbara	A Metro / Rural Nursing Exchange for Early Career Nurses: Evaluation, Outcomes and Future Direction Ms Jessie Anderson, Flinders University	Distance. Dedication. Difference. And the Digital Drift: When AI Pulls Us Away From Reality A/Prof. Danielle Causer, Board Deputy Chair – CRANAplus
12:40 – 13:00	Culturally led, collaborative workforce education strengthening care across Torres Strait Islands & Northern Peninsula Area Miss Rachel Bakker, Zeleke Fisher, Breanna ApplebyTorres and Cape Hospital and Health Service	Innovating Clinical Education: Combining Remote Facilitation with Onsite Support in MM5 Regions Ms Ariane Aldus, University Department Of Rural Health South West	Nursing beyond the WiFi Towers: Insights into how AI-biases impact Rural and Remote Nursing Ms Alexandra Shine, Flinders University
13:00 – 14:00	Lunch
	Session 7
Room	Meeting Room 1 – 3	Meeting Room 7	Meeting Room 8
Theme	Clinical Models of Care	Remote Reflections	Mental Health and Wellbeing
Chair	Danielle Causer	Kate Welleman	Katrina Seng
14:00 – 14:20	Distance, Dedication, Difference: Scaling a Nurse-Led Model to Transform Rural and Remote Primary Health Care Mrs Haley Hodgson, Avenüplus	From remote NT to remote Solomon Islands: my adventures with the Australian Volunteer Program Dr Rosalie Schultz, Australian Volunteer Program, Honiara, Solomon Islands	Peer-to-peer counselling and general health support for nurses, midwives and students of the professions Lori-Anne Sharp, Nurse Midwife Health Program Australia
14:20 – 14:40	Striving to deliver health equity in rural South Australia, an alternative model of care Allyson Chapple, Nurse Practitioner Locum Solutions, Limestone Coast Local Health Network	Strengthening the Remote Nursing Workforce: Student Placements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Ms Renee Flynn, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association	Thriving in Rural & Remote Nursing: What Workforce Support Really Looks Like on the Ground Liam Felloni
14:40 – 14:45	WA’s First Specialist CKD Nurse Practitioner Service: A New Model of Care for Remote Communities Mrs Sonia Mupotaringa	Breast Screening for Remote Communities: A NT–SA Partnership for the APY Lands Ms Cassie Rudd, BreastScreen Ms Rhiannon Binks, BreastScreen	From Pilot to Practice: Strengthening Wellbeing and Mentorship for Nursing & Midwifery Graduates Mrs Esther Bacon, Nurse And Midwife Support
14:45 – 14:50
14:50 – 14:55		Kurrunpa Kana- Keeping our Spirit Alive Ms Sarah Brown, Purple House, Alice Springs
14:55 – 15:00
15:00 – 15:30	Afternoon Tea
15:30 – 15:50	Closing Session
15:50 – 16:00	Conference Close
19:30 – 23:30	Gala Dinner Meeting Room 1 – 3 2026 Remote Nursing & Midwifery Conference, the Gala Dinner will provide delegates with a final opportunity to connect and celebrate in style. Theme: Keep it bloomin’ simple – interpret the theme your way and let WA’s natural beauty and wildflowers inspire your gala look.

Poster Presentations

#	Title	Presenter
1	Building Healthy Ageing in Rural & Remote Australia: Asset-Based and Place-Based Local Activation through LiveUp	Chelsea Direen
2	Bridging the Gap in Trauma Nursing Care: Advancing Education Outreach Between Metropolitan & Rural LHNs	Emma Collins
3	Building Workforce Confidence in Managing Intrusive Thoughts in Perinatal Care	Frances Bilbao
4	Keeping Locals Local: Charleville’s Place-Based Answer to the Nursing Workforce Crisis.	Jessica Elliott
5	Applying the i-PARIHS Framework to Evaluate a Metro Rural Nursing Exchange Program in South Australia	Jessie Anderson
6	Teaching and Learning Modalities for Remote Health	John Wright
7	THE REGIONAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS NETWORKS: Retaining an effective and engaged rural health workforce in WA	Leesa Thomas
8	Transition experience of new starter registered nurses in regional and rural Australia: a mixed-methods study	Libin Jose
9	Wati Pirniku Men’s Hub Model of Care.	Michael Whitehead
10	How do socio-political and organisational factors influence nurses’ professional accountability in rural/remote contexts?	Sarah Mills

Program

Program Updates

Program Time Zone

Monday, May 11 2026

Tuesday, May 12 2026

Wednesday, May 13 2026

Poster Presentations

ABOUT CRANAplus

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