The CRANAplus Remote Nurs­ing & Mid­wifery Con­fer­ence is Australia’s sig­na­ture annu­al event for the remote health work­force. Its rich his­to­ry spans back to 1983, the date of the very first CRANAplus Con­fer­ence. Now with a new name, but very much the event you know and love, this year’s con­fer­ence will be held in Naarm, on the tra­di­tion­al lands of the Kulin Nation, at Crown Mel­bourne, Vic­to­ria from 23 – 25 Octo­ber 2024.

We’re a diverse bunch, but whether you work in an Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ty or a min­ing town, the Red Cen­tre or an out­ly­ing island ter­ri­to­ry, as a nurse, mid­wife, doc­tor, Abo­rig­i­nal or Tor­res Strait Islander health prac­ti­tion­er or in anoth­er field – we’re all striv­ing towards the same goal of improv­ing remote health.

This is our chance to have a yarn about what’s work­ing well, find inspi­ra­tion, and enjoy each other’s com­pa­ny!
Whether you’re expe­ri­enced or new on the scene, a con­fer­ence reg­u­lar or look­ing to con­nect with peers you nev­er knew you had, come along to the big smoke with us in 2024 for an action-packed three days.

The event this year is built around the theme ​‘Clin­i­cians, change­mak­ers – cel­e­brat­ing inspir­ing peo­ple & prac­tice’ and the pro­gram will be loaded with nar­ra­tives, projects, and research, as told by the remote health pro­fes­sion­als out there with dirt on their boots who make a dif­fer­ence every day.

Con­fer­ence program

See our con­fer­ence web­site for the most up-to-date ver­sion of the pro­gram, which includes the fol­low­ing speakers.

‘Feath­ers, Fedo­ras and Fas­ci­na­tors’ Gala Dinner

For­mal­ly con­clud­ing the CRANAplus 2024 Remote Nurs­ing & Mid­wifery Con­fer­ence, this year’s gala din­ner is being held in the lux­u­ri­ous Crown Pal­la­di­um, Naarm/​Melbourne on Fri­day 25 Octo­ber. The gala din­ner pro­vides a final oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect and enjoy togeth­er with inter­state col­leagues and friends, old and new.

This year’s gala din­ner will be crowned by a fan­cy head­wear theme. Pop on a fedo­ra or a fas­ci­na­tor as we ​‘doff our caps’ to everyone’s hard work in the year gone by. Top­ping off three days of fun, this for­mal farewell will com­mence at 6.30pm and will include a spe­cial per­for­mance by the RMH Scrub Choir, Award win­ner announce­ments, a three-course din­ner and drinks, a pho­to booth, and live music from Sax­o­phon­ist and DJ Henry.

Remote Nurs­ing & Mid­wifery Expo

Can’t make it to the full con­fer­ence? Reg­is­ter for the free CRANAplus 2024 Remote Nurs­ing & Mid­wifery Expo.

The Expo pre­cedes the CRANAplus 2024 Remote Nurs­ing & Mid­wifery Con­fer­ence at Crown Mel­bourne on Wednes­day, 23 Octo­ber between 2 – 6pm. At this free event, atten­dees can:

• Learn about path­ways and help­ful resources
• Chat with expe­ri­enced remote area nurs­es and midwives
• Meet with remote health­care employers.

There’s a whole new world of nurs­ing and mid­wifery to be dis­cov­ered. If you know a nurse, mid­wife or stu­dent who is inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about the remote health sec­tor, invite them along.

The Expo can be attend­ed by any­one, includ­ing cur­rent health pro­fes­sion­als, adults inter­est­ed in chang­ing careers, uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents, or school stu­dents. It is nec­es­sary to reg­is­ter for the event in advance.

All con­fer­ence del­e­gates can add the Expo to their paid con­fer­ence reg­is­tra­tion for free.

Schol­ar­ship oppor­tu­ni­ty for students

CRANAplus Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dent Mem­bers can also apply for an Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dent Vol­un­teer Con­fer­ence Schol­ar­ship to access 40% off their con­fer­ence reg­is­tra­tion. Appli­ca­tions are open until 6 Sep­tem­ber 2024 and can be made here.

“I was so for­tu­nate as a nurs­ing stu­dent to receive finan­cial assis­tance to attend a CRANAplus con­fer­ence in Dar­win. At the con­fer­ence, I was inspired by the sto­ries and pre­sen­ta­tions from RANs and those in the remote health sec­tor. I remem­ber see­ing how pas­sion­ate peo­ple were about their work, despite the chal­lenges evi­dent in their sto­ries and feel­ing that one day I too want­ed to be a RAN. It was some 20 years ago but that oppor­tu­ni­ty showed me the paths I could fol­low if I want­ed to pur­sue nurs­ing in remote Aus­tralia.” — Katie Pen­ning­ton, Remote Area Nurse and recip­i­ent of the 2023 Auro­ra Award for the Remote and Iso­lat­ed Health Pro­fes­sion­al of the Year.