CONFERENCE SYNOPSIS:

Racism in healthcare is often framed as an issue of fairness or culture. This conference takes a different, evidence-based position: racism, incivility and professional boundary failures are patient safety risks that contribute directly to workforce harm, delayed care, missed escalation and preventable death.

Designed for nurses and midwives working across acute, community, maternity and aged care settings, this conference examines how racism is enacted and sustained through everyday behaviours, workplace hierarchies, selective enforcement of “professionalism,” and organisational silence. Drawing on Australian and international evidence, participants will explore how incivility and boundary breaches disproportionately affect racially minoritised staff, how bystander inaction becomes normalised, and how these dynamics compromise both staff wellbeing and clinical outcomes.

This is not an awareness-raising event. It is a clinically focused, system-aware examination of how harm persists even in organisations with policies, values statements and zero-tolerance language. The conference challenges nurses and midwives to recognise these patterns, understand their professional and ethical implications, and identify what can realistically be influenced.

Why This Conference Matters for Nurses and Midwives:

Nurses and midwives work at the point where health policy, organisational culture and patient care collide. When racism, incivility and professional boundary failures exist within that system, they do not stay in the realm of “workplace culture” — they shape clinical decisions, communication, escalation, and ultimately patient outcomes.

Evidence shows that racism in healthcare contributes to delayed treatment, under-assessment of pain and risk, poorer maternal outcomes, reduced access to services, and preventable harm. At the same time, racially minoritised nurses and midwives experience higher levels of incivility, exclusion and punitive boundary enforcement, which affects psychological safety, retention and team functioning. These workforce impacts directly affect patient safety through reduced speaking up, breakdowns in communication and moral distress.

Nurses and midwives are also frequently placed in the role of bystanders, witnessing unprofessional behaviour, discriminatory remarks or unsafe decision-making, while operating in hierarchical systems where speaking up carries professional risk. Without clear understanding of how power, policy and culture influence behaviour, individuals are left carrying responsibility for problems that are structurally produced.

This conference is important because it reframes racism and incivility as clinical and professional risks, not personal disagreements or isolated incidents. It equips nurses and midwives with the language, evidence and ethical framework to recognise how harm is sustained, how professional boundaries can be misused, and how silence becomes part of the problem. Importantly, it focuses on what can realistically be influenced within clinical, educational and leadership roles, rather than relying on awareness-raising or individual goodwill.

For nurses and midwives, this is about protecting patients, protecting colleagues, and protecting their own professional integrity in systems that too often expect harm to be tolerated quietly. This conference supports safer practice, stronger professional accountability and more sustainable careers — not by asking clinicians to be braver, but by helping them understand the systems they are working within and how to navigate them ethically and safely.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At this Conference, participants will:

• Analyse how racism, incivility and professional boundary failures function as interconnected risks within healthcare systems, impacting staff safety, clinical decision-making and patient outcomes.
• Critically examine the role of workplace hierarchy, power and organisational culture in enabling unprofessional behaviours, selective accountability and bystander silence.
• Identify the consequences of incivility, racism and boundary breaches on workforce wellbeing and patient safety, including moral distress, disengagement, communication breakdown and escalation failure.
• Apply evidence-informed strategies to their professional context to recognise unsafe behaviours, respond ethically as bystanders, and contribute to safer, more accountable workplace practices within their scope of influence.

CPD HOURS: 24

OUR PRESENTER:

WENDY MCINTOSH
RGN, RMHN, Grad. Dip MH, MN, Cert IV Workplace Assessment & Training, Group Leadership Cert, MRCNA, MANZCMHN, AANZPA

Establishing her own company Davaar Consultancy Training & Development in 2005, Wendy has over 30 years as a health professional (clinical, education and research), twenty-five of those years in mental health. Areas of specific interest and passion for Wendy include: professional supervision, professional boundaries, professional identity, links between childhood trauma and mental illness and workplace bullying.

Wendy has over 20 years as a psychodrama trainee – a life long learning. She is committed to using experiential learning in the work she does with individuals and groups.

Regularly presenting workshops at national & International conferences, Wendy consistently receives feedback on her passion, knowledge and creativity as a presenter & facilitator. Wendy is continually integrating learning and insights she gains from the work she does in professional boundaries.

Wendy has developed internet training tools and education packages for individuals/organisations and delivers webinars for a variety of organisations nationally and internationally. With the assistance of six podcast episodes titled ‘Professional Boundaries’, Wendy is exploring and guiding listeners on their own personal and reflective journey through boundaries.
This series of professional boundaries podcasts has been picked up by the School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University to be used in their curriculum. Further podcasts are currently in production.

Wendy was Charter President of the Global Nurses & Midwives Rotary Club. An innovative, diverse and inclusive Rotary Club whose members come from around the world.

SUE WALKER
RN, BN, BN (ADMIN), MPHC, MACN

Sue is the Director and Co-Founder of Nurses for Nurses Network (NFNN), delivering national and international conferences, study tours and professional development programs for nurses and midwives. She is also a key contributor to Nursing CPD, an online education platform supporting nurses to meet NMBA Continuing Professional Development requirements through accessible, evidence-based learning that is firmly grounded in real-world practice.

Sue holds degrees in Nursing and Health Administration, a Master of Primary Health, and postgraduate qualifications in areas including psychiatry of ageing, gerontology, chemotherapy administration and training and assessment. Her career has included frontline clinical roles, senior management and education leadership, giving her a practical, end-to-end understanding of how healthcare policy, workforce pressures and clinical realities collide at the point of care, in the community and across the system.

A sought-after presenter in Australia and internationally, Sue focuses on the issues nurses actually face at work — not just what looks good in policy documents. Her areas of interest include leadership without titles, public and population health, professional boundaries, workplace culture and incivility, bullying and moral distress, emergency management, aged care, mental health, advanced life support education, and the long-term psychological impact of caring work. She is particularly passionate about strengthening clinical judgement, professional confidence and practical strategies that protect both patient safety and workforce sustainability.

Sue is known for education that is evidence-based, unapologetically practical and grounded in the lived experience of nursing. Her programs move beyond surface-level wellbeing conversations to explore how organisational design, risk management and workforce policy shape daily practice and long-term career outcomes.

At the heart of her work is a simple belief: nurses and midwives are not just the backbone of healthcare — they are critical decision-makers whose knowledge, judgement and advocacy directly influence patient outcomes and system safety. Sue’s goal is to ensure nurses and midwives are supported and professionally empowered to meet the growing complexity of modern healthcare while sustaining long, fulfilling careers.

The Cruise Ship: Carnival Splendor

It’s hard to tell which onboard space best represents Carnival Splendor — they all seem to hint at the amazing time you’re going to have. El Morocco Lounge hosts comedy shows, musical performances, karaoke and more… and wears its 1930s namesake clearly on its nameplate. The words “Royal Flush Casino” incite visions of winning, while our onboard jazz club — The Cool — simply says it all without saying a word. And Fahrenheit 555^™ can be found not only at the height of elegant dining, but at the actual apex of the ship.

If you like your fun to flow, there are options aplenty. If you list “splishing” and “splashing” among your favorite things to do, there’s Carnival WaterWorks^™. Those into sitting and sliding are invited to try the all-new Green Lightning thrill-slide. How about floating or swimming around? Carnival Splendor has pools all over the place, including the midship pool featuring a retractable roof that makes any day a pool day. So whether you splish or splash, you’ll find hydro-excitement galore.

If relaxation is your thing, Serenity Adult-Only Retreat^™ is more your place. Or if you’re looking to take relaxation to the extreme, direct your attention to the Cloud 9 Spa^™, featuring more (and better) ways to kick back than just about anywhere else, on land or at sea. You haven’t lived until you’ve relaxed in a Thalassotherapy pool, or chilled — so to speak — in a dry heat chamber.

The Program:

The program content is provided by expert Educators with extensive clinical and education experience. The education content provided in this program meets the same exacting standards as anything offered in an Australian land-based program.

No matter what conference you attend you always need accommodation a cruise ship provides a great all-inclusive* accommodation option to enhance your Conference experience.

Education at Sea and The Nurses for Nurses Network combine great education with fabulous travel adventures. We have taken a holistic approach to Nursing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to ensure you get the most out of your education-travel experience.

The Online Library:

The Library has been created so that you have access to some of the Conference content prior to our sail date. The documents, including self-directed activities and webinars, from our Conference Presenter, are provided so that you can create your own conference experience and access information and sessions of interest prior to the commencement of the Conference program.

Disclaimer: Sessions are correct at time of publication. Sessions are subject to change without notice due to circumstances beyond the control of the organisers. NFNN and EAS reserves the right to alter charges, cancel, postpone, change or withdraw the product or service at any time.