Cancer Council Victoria offers a free Nurse Ambassador Program for practice nurses looking to broaden their scope of practice to include cancer screening and prevention activities across their whole organisation, with a focus on under-screened communities.
Program overview
The Nurse Ambassador Program (NAP) will provide practice nurses with the latest clinical knowledge about the three national cancer screening programs (bowel, breast and cervical) and viral hepatitis, so they can effectively discuss and endorse cancer screening participation and drive cancer screening uptake in their practice. The program will also focus on how to engage and support under-screened communities in cancer screening and achieve health equity for all Australians.
Nurses will be recognised as a ‘Nurse Cancer Screening Ambassador’ after completing a series of four online webinars and submitting a reflective practice activity.
The program is delivered over four weeks with one weekly webinar running for 2 hours.
Each webinar will cover:
- Webinar 1
- An overview of who under-screened communities are, plus the barriers and enablers to cancer screening
- The use of plain language in cancer screening
- Webinar 2
- Breast screening
- The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program
- Webinar 3
- Hepatitis prevention and immunisation
- An overview of the Cancer Screening Resources Hub, plus potential future case studies
- Webinar 4
- Cervical screening, self-collection and HPV
- An overview of the reflective practice activity and the next steps after NAP
Why you should attend this program
The role and contributions of primary care in the effective delivery of cancer screening programs is seen as increasingly vital for cancer prevention in Australia. Whilst screening is highly effective in reducing the prevalence of bowel, breast, cervical and liver cancer in Australia, the highest incidence and mortality in these cancers are in under-screened populations.
Program learning outcomes
- Apply the latest cancer screening program information to effectively discuss and encourage eligible patients to participate in bowel, breast, cervical, and viral hepatitis screening and HPV vaccination.
- Evaluate the importance of cultural safety for under-screened populations and the barriers and enablers to cancer screening participation.
- Apply plain language when discussing cancer screening during consultation with patients.
- Implement routine recording of patients’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) status on all pathology request forms.
- Identify evidence-based resources to support your patient with cancer screening.
Upon completion of the program
Upon completion nurses will receive a certificate including 8 CPD points and a Nurse Cancer Screening Ambassador poster and badge. Nurses will be further supported with ongoing cancer screening updates, information and professional development opportunities via access to Cancer Council Victoria’s Speculum newsletter.
Please note, attendance at all webinars plus the completion of a reflective practice activity is required in order to become a Nurse Cancer Screening Ambassador.
Next program
The next program will be running over August 2024. Registration details will be published closer to the date.
If you’d like any further information, please contact us on 1800 111 255 or via certification@cancervic.org.au