Before the launch of Florence, APNA Board Members contemplate what it means for nurses and our health system

Empowering Nurses Starts with Clarity: Why Florence Matters

Denise Lyons
Generalist Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. Board Director, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
April 17, 2025
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Over my 30+ years in nursing — across continents, clinical settings, and care models — one thing has remained constant: nurses are always learning. We read, we adapt, we teach, we question. We grow through every patient interaction. But too often, that learning is invisible — even to ourselves.

When I transitioned from emergency and paediatric care in the US to general practice nursing in Australia, I brought with me a deep commitment to prevention and health literacy. I believed, and still believe, that informed individuals and connected systems are at the heart of better health outcomes. That’s why I pursued a Master’s in Health Promotion. And it’s why I became a Nurse Practitioner in 2012. I’ve always been driven by the desire to make care more accessible, more personal, and more proactive.

So when the opportunity arose for APNA to develop of a tool that makes nurses’ learning visible, trackable, and empowering, I was excited to support it.

That tool is Florence by APNA.

Florence is a free professional development and career growth app created to support nurses at every stage of their career. It’s not just a digital notebook or another CPD logger. It’s a reimagining of what it means to take ownership of your learning — and your future.

Florence helps nurses:

• Get tailored CPD recommendations based on their clinical setting and scope
• Capture learning from everyday sources — podcasts, webinars, mentorship, workshops
• Set goals and track their professional progress
• Understand how their skills compare with peers across the country
• Be matched with opportunities — from research to employment to leadership pathways

At its core, Florence is about helping nurses recognise their own potential — and giving them the tools to pursue it with purpose.

Too often in our health system, nurses are undervalued or overlooked. We’re seen as vital — but not visible. We’re asked to lead complex care, coordinate across teams, and support population health… but rarely given the structure or support to grow into those evolving roles.

Florence changes that. It’s built around the APNA Career and Education Frameworks, developed through rigorous consultation and supported by the Commonwealth Government. But more importantly, it’s built around us — around the realities of what it means to be a nurse today, and the hopes we have for our profession tomorrow.

I know from personal experience how powerful it is when you can clearly articulate your scope, your learning, and your value. It opens doors. It boosts confidence. It changes how others see you — and how you see yourself.

Florence gives every nurse that opportunity. It says: “What you’re learning matters. Let’s make it count.”

As a Board Director at APNA, I’ve had the privilege of supporting this coming to reality. But more importantly, as a nurse, I’ve had the privilege of seeing what happens when we invest in our own potential.

Whether you’re new to nursing or decades into your career like I am — Florence is for you. It’s a fresh, evidence-based, empowering tool designed by people who understand our world.

Florence will help the sector retain great nurses. It will help future leaders emerge. And it will make the quiet, consistent brilliance of everyday nursing more visible than ever before.

Let’s stop underselling our profession. Let’s give nurses the power to step up, speak up, and shine.

Florence is launching soon. I hope every nurse in Australia gives it a try.

📲 www.florence.today Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)

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Nurses Shaping the Future, One Student at a Time — Why Florence Matters for School Nurses

Lisa Chalmers
Barker College Director of Health & Wellbeing and Board Director, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
April 17, 2025
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As a nurse with more than 30 years’ experience across primary health care, I’ve seen the full scope of what it means to support a person’s health — from prevention and education through to long-term care.

But perhaps no setting highlights the importance of early intervention and lifelong wellbeing quite like schools.

School nurses are often the first line of support for students navigating both physical and mental health. We are educators, advocates, mentors and responders — all at once. And while our role continues to grow in complexity and importance, recognition and support structures for school nurses have been historically limited.

That’s why I supported APNA’s amalgamation with School Nurses Australia. It’s provided visibility, connection and has brought school nurses into the wider national conversation about the future of primary health care. Florence by APNA will increase this even further.

Florence is a free professional development and career growth app. It’s built to help nurses across all health care settings — including schools — capture their learning, receive personalised CPD recommendations, and be matched with professional opportunities.

As school nurses, we’re constantly learning. That learning should count. It should build toward something.

Florence makes sure it does.

With Florence, school nurses can:

• Track all types of professional learning — not just formal CPD but informal, day-to-day knowledge building
• Receive tailored education suggestions based on practice setting and interests
• Set meaningful goals and visualise progress over time
• Connect with new opportunities and professional networks

Too often, professional growth in school settings is invisible — even to us. Florence gives us a simple, intuitive way to take ownership of our development, and to clearly demonstrate our expertise and impact.

This matters, not just for individual recognition, but for the future of our health system.

We know the foundations of lifelong health are laid in childhood. As a public health nurse and educator, I’ve always believed that health promotion and preventative care must start early — and be integrated into the places where young people live, learn and grow.

School nurses are key to that vision. But we can’t play our full part if we’re left disconnected from the broader profession. APNA and Florence helps change that.

By centering the APNA Career and Education Framework and focusing on transparency, capability and empowerment, Florence offers something we’ve never had before: a national tool that supports every nurse, in every setting, equally.

For school nurses, this is an opportunity to step forward. To bring visibility to the vital work we do every day — and to access the same level of professional support as our peers in other health settings.

I’m excited for what this means for the next generation of nurses — and the next generation of Australians.

We often tell our students: take charge of your learning. Now, we can do the same.

📲 www.florence.today

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Practice to Policy: Why Nurses Need Florence Now

Sharon James
Research Fellow and Project Manager at SPHERE CRE, Monash University, Board Director, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
April 21, 2025
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Florence by APNA is a free professional development app for nurses. It enables nurses to capture their learning, receive personalised education recommendations, and be matched with opportunities — all in one platform. But beyond that, it’s a vehicle for visibility.

As a researcher, I know how powerful it is to have structured, evidence-based frameworks to work from. Florence integrates the APNA Career and Education Frameworks into the hands of nurses across Australia. It transforms professional development from an individual burden into a supported, strategic journey.

Florence helps nurses:

• Track learning from both formal and informal sources
• Receive tailored CPD suggestions relevant to their practice and goals
• Benchmark their expertise and explore areas for growth
• Set goals and visualise their progression
• Access opportunities — research, employment, leadership, and more

And importantly, it helps the sector gather insights about what nurses are learning, what they need, and how to better support them.

Florence provides a structure for nurses to reflect, grow, and advocate for their capabilities. It helps us make the case for expanded roles, advanced scope of practice, and greater involvement in clinical leadership and health reform.

For nurses working in rural and remote settings, like many of my peers, Florence is especially valuable. It removes the barriers of geography and connects nurses to national standards, peer benchmarks, and professional communities.

This is critical if we are serious about equity in healthcare and in workforce support.

Florence is also timely. With national conversations around scope of practice, workforce redesign, and primary care reform gaining momentum, we need solutions that are ready to support nurses now. Florence gives us real-time, real-world data that can help inform better policy and planning.

I’m proud to support Florence, and proud to work alongside the team at APNA to continue building tools, structures and knowledge that strengthen nursing as a profession.

www.florence.today

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Investing in Nurses is Investing in the Health of Our Communities

Allyson Warrington BBus FAMI CPM FAICD
Chief Executive Officer; Chairman; Non Executive Director; Company Secretary, Board Director, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
April 22, 2025
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As someone who has worked across primary care, aged care, disability services, and governance roles spanning three decades, I’ve come to believe one thing with certainty: when we support nurses, we strengthen the entire healthcare system.

That’s why I’m proud to serve as a Director at APNA and support one of its most forward-thinking initiatives — Florence by APNA

Florence is a free, professional development app created by APNA to empower nurses across all healthcare settings. It’s not simply about tracking Continuing Professional Development (CPD) — it’s about making career growth easier, more visible, and more meaningful for Australia’s 96,000 primary health care nurses.

This matters deeply.

In my roles as CEO, non-executive director, and former regulator, I’ve seen firsthand how frontline workers often carry the weight of system transformation without being given the tools to navigate their own development. Florence shifts that dynamic. It allows nurses to:

• Receive tailored education recommendations that reflect their setting, needs, and ambitions
• Seamlessly capture and organise their CPD in line with Ahpra requirements
• Benchmark their learning, set career goals, and track their progress
• Access new opportunities, from research and leadership to employment and mentoring

Florence is more than an app — it’s a platform for professional empowerment, sector-wide visibility, and system improvement.

It draws on the robust APNA Career and Education Frameworks, developed with support from the Australian Government and refined through wide consultation. But what makes Florence so impactful is how it translates that strategic intent into a practical, intuitive tool that meets nurses where they are.

From a governance perspective, Florence checks all the right boxes. It improves workforce capability, supports retention, strengthens accountability, and equips both individuals and organisations with real-time insight into learning trends and development needs.

From a policy and planning lens, it helps ensure that nurses — who are central to care coordination, prevention, and chronic disease management — are also central to health reform. You can’t build better systems without investing in the people who sustain them.

And from a leadership and service delivery perspective, Florence represents a modern, nurse-centric solution. It’s the kind of practical innovation we need to engage and uplift the nursing profession — especially as we face increasing complexity in care delivery and escalating workforce shortages.

I’ve long been passionate about the value of membership organisations, and APNA is leading by example. Florence is a clear signal to nurses: we see your potential, and we’re backing you.

As someone who is not a nurse, but who has had the privilege of working closely with the nursing profession across regulation, training, and service sectors, I see Florence as a model of what thoughtful, strategic support looks like in action.

It empowers nurses as individuals. It strengthens organisations. And it improves the systems we all rely on.

Florence is launching soon. I encourage every nurse — and every healthcare leader — to check it out and get behind it.

📲 www.florence.today

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Empowering nurses through real innovation. The career tool for #nurses of the #digital age!

Karen Booth
President, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association and Chief Clinical Advisor (Nursing) for the Australian Digital Health Agency
April 27, 2025
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Since 1998, I’ve worked as a primary health care nurse and manager in general practice. I’ve seen firsthand the strengths, limitations and complexities of Australia’s health system — and the incredible, often unrecognised, contributions nurses make every day.

Our healthcare system is undergoing rapid change. We face an ageing population, a rise in chronic conditions, increasing mental health concerns, workforce shortages, and the pressing need for prevention. Primary health care is expected to do more — and nurses are expected to do a lot of that heavy lifting.

But while the expectations of nurses grow, the tools and systems we use to support their growth haven’t kept pace. For too long, professional development has been piecemeal, disconnected, and overly reliant on the individual nurse to navigate alone. It’s been a blind spot in an otherwise evolving sector.

At APNA, we’ve long recognised the importance of providing structure and support to the professional development journey of nurses. Between 2015 and 2018, with funding from the Australian Government, we developed the Career and Education Frameworks for registered and enrolled nurses. This foundational work remains one of the most important initiatives we’ve led to strengthen the nursing workforce.

But frameworks alone are not enough. The real challenges have always been: how do we operationalise them? How do we embed them into everyday practice? How do we make professional growth not just possible, but easy, practical, and intuitive for every nurse?

That’s why I’m proud that APNA is developing Florence by APNA — a bold, modern response to a longstanding problem.

Florence is a free app for nurses. It brings together the Career and Education Frameworks, real-time data, and intuitive technology to empower nurses to take control of their professional development. It helps them:

• Get tailored learning suggestions based on their role, goals and practice setting
• Capture their learning in a way that’s seamless and Ahpra-compliant
• Understand their skillset and how it compares with peers
• Set meaningful goals and track progress
• Be matched with opportunities — from mentoring to research and employment

This isn’t just about tracking CPD. It’s about recognising value. It’s about bringing visibility to the learning and leadership nurses demonstrate every day. It’s about supporting retention, enabling better workforce planning, and building a more confident, capable, and connected profession.

Nurses are the backbone of primary health care. But for too long, we’ve been expected to operate in the dark — figuring out the next step in our careers with limited support. Florence will soon shine a light on opportunity, guiding nurses everywhere, and every day.

It’s also our chance to shift the narrative. As someone who has contributed to national health reform and sat on countless advisory groups, I believe Florence is an example of what smart, sector-led innovation looks like. It’s not just a digital tool — it’s a workforce enabler.

In a health system where nurses are increasingly being called upon to lead chronic disease management, coordinate care, support digital health adoption, and drive prevention efforts, we must also give them the means to grow, thrive, and see their future.

I’m proud of APNA’s leadership in this space. And I’m deeply proud of the APNA team that developed the frameworks and now those bringing Florence to life. This project reflects our values — Better Together, Pursue Excellence, Positive Disruptor — and our unwavering belief in the potential of every nurse.

We named the app Florence after the mother of modern nursing. But it’s not about looking back. It’s about lighting the way forward.

Florence is launching soon. I hope you’ll join us.

📲 www.florence.today

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Driving Disruption, Empowering Nurses: Why Florence is the Change We Need

Angela How
Manager of Evidence Translation and Innovation at Brisbane South PHN and Board Director, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA)
April 30, 2025
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I’ve spent my career working across hospitals, primary care and health system reform — in both Australia and the UK — and one thing has always been clear: nurses are key to making healthcare work better.

Whether we’re improving continuity of care, designing integrated models, or driving evidence-based change, nurses are the glue holding primary care together. But for all our contribution, we haven’t had the tools or systems that truly support us to grow, evolve and lead. Until now.

Florence by APNA changes that.

Florence is a free app, designed to help nurses take control of their professional development and career growth. It’s intuitive, evidence-based, and built with the real needs of nurses in mind — across general practice, schools, aged care, correctional health and beyond.

Florence allows nurses to:

• Receive personalised CPD recommendations relevant to their clinical context
• Capture and organise their learning in real-time
• Benchmark their skills and identify growth opportunities
• Set goals and visualise progress
• Be matched with research, leadership and employment opportunities

As the Manager of Evidence Translation and Innovation at a Primary Health Network, I see daily how critical it is that our workforce is equipped to adapt to change. Health reform is constant. Policy evolves. Models shift. The only way we meet that change is by empowering the people delivering care — nurses — to stay one step ahead.

Florence does more than meet CPD requirements. It’s a career companion. It creates structure where there’s often none. It brings recognition to the learning nurses do every day. And most importantly, it opens up new possibilities — for career mobility, leadership pathways, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

I’m especially excited by Florence’s potential as a data-informed tool. It’s nurse-centred, but it also offers insight to the broader system. It shows what nurses are learning, what they are doing, where gaps exist, and what kinds of opportunities help them thrive. That’s gold for strategic planning.

As a proud nurse and a passionate advocate for the profession, I believe we need to think big and act boldly. Florence is one of the most forward-thinking tools we’ve seen in relation to professional development — and it couldn’t come at a more important time.

We are in the midst of major reform. Team-based care, value-based care, digital health transformation — nurses must be central to all of it. But we can’t assume they’ll just ‘fit in’. We have to actively support their growth, development, and recognition.

That’s why Florence matters.

It’s not a platform built around systems — it’s built around people. Around the knowledge nurses hold, the potential they carry, and the future they’re ready to lead.

Florence is a positive disruptor — exactly the kind we need to take nursing to the next level.

If you’re a nurse looking to step forward in your career, or a leader seeking to support your team more meaningfully — Florence is your starting point.

www.florence.today