Surgical nurses gather in Invercargill.

The Surgical Nurses' Conference entitled Southland Surgical Spirit was hew in Invercargill in November and attended by 140 delegates. Sixty second-year bachelor of nursing students from the Southern Institute of Technology also attended.

Keynote speaker John McCall, a hepatobiliary and transplant surgeon at Auckland Hospital provided a wealth of information on topics such as liver resection for primary and metastatic liver cancer and liver transplantation in New Zealand. He co-presented patient case studies with consultant oncologist at Otago District Health Board (DHB) Blair McLaren. McLaren discussed genetic risks for bowel breast and ovarian cancer, and advances in adjuvant treatments for cancer including chemotherapy.

Auckland Hospital general surgical registrar Paul Samson presented findings from his research study on outcomes of colon surgery in Southland. MidCentral DHB nurse practitioner in wound care, Jenny Phillips, gave a presentation on pressure sores in surgical patients. NZNO professional nursing adviser Margaret Cain addressed such issues as accountability, the role of the Health and Disability Commissioner, documentation and complaints.

We had a wide range of other high calibre presentations ranging from "The naked truth about male student nurses", presented by third-year BN students to "Perioperative fasting: fallacies and dilemmas of the nit-by-mouth order" by Kathryn Fraser from MidCentral DHB.

It was pleasing to see nearly two years of organising, meetings and preparation evolve into a smoothly run and enjoyable conference. We look forward to the next conference in two years' time.