2025

Another great two days, starting with a patient retelling their experience with AVM surgery. Followed by insights from the surgeon who conducted the 30-hr surgery – Mr Woon. Participants then heard from Mr Bhatt who gave his insights into TBI from a neurosurgical perspective. Anna Griffiths spoke about supporting people with loss and change and took us through a practical mindfulness exercise. Day two commenced with a workshop from Pride Pledge, who expanded our understanding of rainbow communities. The day ended with a session about the nurses’ role in sexuality, how/when to commence this conversation with our patients. We also had a brain tumor research insights from Freya Weth and education of attention and communication from Maegan VanSolkema.

Throughout the two days, it was great to hear from each other – we had six nurse presenters and six round-the-regions presentations.

We are very grateful to Integra who once again sponsored our 2-days of learning.

Our 2025 prize winners were:

Best case study: Parmeet Mutti, Best topic of concern: Frances Bay, Best first-time speaker: Jitha Baby and Scarlett Jung, People’s choice: Day 1: Di Hanson and Day 2: Dyan Lariosa.

2024

Our biggest virtual event yet, with over 100 nurses from Whangarei to Dunedin attending. It was a very successful two days of networking and knowledge sharing. Our invited speakers presented topics ranging from Ischaemic stroke, Keto diet for neuro patients, Understanding confabulation, The world of adaptive virtual reality, Long Covid, Middle meningeal artery embolisation and Neurosurgery decision making.

We also had a fabulous range of free presentations from our nursing community. Our round the regions topics were: How restraint is managed – what does ‘restraint free’ mean in a neuro context; and Prevention of medication errors and what interventions different areas have tried when errors were made. These all promoted much discussion.

Our prize winners were: Best case study: Dyan Lariosa-Di Mattina; Best Quality Project: Diana Kleijberg; Best topic of concern: Yash Sharma & Jake Watson; Best first-time speaker: Maryanne Johnson; People’s choice: Day 1: Diana Kleijberg and Day 2: Marie Tucay & Kiya Shortland.

2023

A virtual event with 75 neuroscience nurses attending from across Aotearoa.  We had powerful presentations from our support groups and their clients – Brain Tumour Support, Brain Injury New Zealand and Camp Unity – providing us with an understanding of their experiences and needs.  We have some exciting keynotes which included Jonathan Armstrong ‘recognising and supporting people with cognitive deficits’; David Abernathy ‘secondary and post traumatic headache’; Imogen Milner ‘seizures and epilepsy’; Letitia Burridge ‘compassion literacy: is this a core nursing tool in your kit and are you using it?’; and Dr Helen Rook ‘Focus on research and the Empathy project’.

Fantastically, we also had a number of nurses speaking about their experiences and projects. Our round the regions topics included ‘how do we support staff and encourage well-being?’ and ‘debriefing after a significant event’.

Our prize winners included People’s choice awards: Day 1:  Yu Zhang (Jassie), Pei-Chih Yang, & Julie Beck (Counties Manukau); Day 2: Jayne Sheridan (Auckland City Hospital).
Best case study: Colin Woodhouse (Christchurch Hospital). Best quality project: Dyan Lariosa (Wellington Hospital). First time nurse presenter:  Yu Zhang (Jassie), Pei-Chih Yang, & Julie Beck (Counties Manukau).

2022

A sensational virtual event where virtual communication felt very familiar! Our two day symposium was very well attended across the motu and was packed with interesting and engaging presenters including: Alice Falemaka (CNE), Fiona Martin (NE), Jennifer Ballard (EN), Mr Kelvin Woon (Neurosurgeon), Dr Matt Page (Radiology Registrar, Maegan VanSolkema (SLT, ABI), Mary Griffiths (CNS), Mary MacDonald (ACNM), Michele Richardson (CNE), Dr Sam Cutfield (Neurosurgical Registrar), Sarah Robertson (NS), Shayal Chand (Dietician, ADHB), Te Rina Ruru-Pelasio (Māori Development Manager), and Varsha Asrani (Dietician).

2021

In 2020 we unfortunately had to cancel our event due to covid restrictions. this led to a change in presentation style, and in 2021 we hosted our first virtual event! There were many benefits including ability to broaden guest presenters to outside of the event location. We strengthened our ‘round the regions’ sections where nurses presented topics of interest – which was a very popular component in the symposium. Our guest presenters included: Professor Alan Barber (Neurologist), Ali New (ARNA), Catherine Tanumihardja (CNS), Dr Claire O’Donovan (Lecturer in Psychology and Neuroscience), Jane Sutton (Nurse Practitioner), Julie Beck (Clinical Nurse Director), Dr Julie Pryor (Nursing Research & Development Unit Royal Rehab, Sydney), Mr Kelvin Woon (Neurosurgeon), Kevin Henshall (Trauma Nurse Specialist), Kiri Pook (RN), Lai-Kin Wong (CNS), Louise Kelly (Nurse Manager), Dr Nicola Kayes (Co-Director of Person Centred Research Institute), Rebecca Lissiman (CNE), and Dr SoYoung Kim (Rehab Consultant).

2019

We altered our symposium format to two days in 2019, and continued to have enthusiastic support of the event. Presenters included: Mr Agadha Wickremesekera (Neurosurgeon), Professor Anna Ranta (Neurologist), and Rosie Feliuai (Stroke Nurse), Dr Carl Hanger (Stroke Physician), Dr David Bourke (Neurologist), Karen Marshall (CNS Spinal), Dr Maas Mollenhauer (Neurologist), and Dr Matthew Page (Radiology Registrar).

2018

Our inaugural meeting was a huge success with 100+ nurses attending in person each day. We were fortunate to have presentations from: Dr Julie Pryor (Nursing Research & Development Unit Royal Rehab, Sydney), Mr Andy Parker (Neurosurgeon), Dr Kate Barnard (Rehab Physician), Kathryn Berkett (Educational Psychologist), Mr Kelvin Woon (Neurosurgeon), and Dr Robin Sekerak (Rehab Consultant).

Senior nurses attended a third day with a focus on leadership as well as nursing participants presenting papers.