Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand articles from April 2005

Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand archives from April 2005

Linking patient safety and nurse safety.(EDITORIAL)(Editorial)
April 1, 2005... Nurses have always been for patient safety and they always will be. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is wise in its selection of the theme "Nurses for patient safety" as the overarching theme for five consecutive celebrations of...

NZNO team thanked for winning fair pay.(TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... It is 34 years ago since I graduated as a registered nurse and more recently as a midwife. Over those years, negotiations for salary increases have always been stressful, with the end result a paltry increase in salary, sometimes at the expense...

Portfolio portability questioned.(TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Although there have been numerous letters published in Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand about professional development portfolios, I want to discuss another aspect to the issue. What I have experienced and noticed over the last year is the lack of...

Resisting pressure to abort.(TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Writer Ann Simmons, in her article "Taking the judgement out of abortion", published in the February 2005 issue of Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand (p26-27), defines abortion as being either "therapeutic" or "criminal". What's with this...

Developing the 'sports nurse' role.(TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... I am writing to enquire whether there are other nurses out there who are interested in the concept of "sports nursing". Having completed both the Auckland University and Otago University sports medicine courses, I have become more interested in...

Lost poetry books being sought.(TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Around three to four years ago, I spent several months at Rotorua's Whare Aroha Home and Hospital over three different admissions. During one of my admissions, I lent three books of my personal poetry to a nursing student, at the request of the...

Pacific nurses learn union skills.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Learning skills to make their nursing organisations more effective was the aim of a two-week visit by six Pacific Island nurses to New Zealand last month. The visit was organised under the International Council of Nurses' (ICN) Union...

Raising awareness of fake medicines.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
April 1, 2005... While there has been an explosion in the amount of counterfeit medications around the world over the last five years, awareness of the problem in New Zealand is limited, according to Eli Lilly's pharmaceutical counterfeit expert for the...

Christchurch-based postgraduate nursing centre expands into new premises.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Otago University's Centre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies' expanded premises in central Christchurch were officially opened by former Associate Health Minister Ruth Dyson in February. Ninety people including Canterbury District Health...

Unions affirm sexual and gender diversity.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Out@Work )
April 1, 2005... Fifty delegates from a wide range of unions attended the second biennial Out@Work Kamp on the Kapiti coast last month. Unions represented included the Public Service Association, the Post Primary Teachers Association, the Association of...

Second-level nurse title discussed.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... NZNO and the Nursing Council have agreed to discuss the second-level nurse title. A meeting between NZNO's president Jane O'Malley, chief executive Geoff Annals, Nursing Council chair Annette Huntington and chief executive Marion Clark late...

Regional conventions.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... "Delegates as leaders" is the theme of NZNO's regional conventions, beginning next month. Activities planned so far include discussions on the board of directors' strategic planning for the next five years; sharing effective campaign strategies...

Celebrating the national pay deal and a well-run campaign.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
April 1, 2005... "The completion of a national pay deal for nurses, midwives and caregivers working in the public sector corrects generations of injustice against women workers," said NZNO chief executive Geoff Annals at a celebration in Wellington last month...

Nurses' presence on district health boards.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Nurse representation on district health boards (DHB) around the country is patchy, with a number of boards having no nurse members and Bay of Plenty DHB having three. Many of the nurses on DHBs are retired or no longer working as nurses. The...

Poll in favour of bargaining fee.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
April 1, 2005... NZNO members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of non-members paying for the benefits of the national nurses' and midwives' multi-employer collective agreement (MECA). In an historic deal NZNO negotiated an agreement with district health...

Maternity forum wants better birth data.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The second multi-disciplinary maternity intervention rates forum, chaired by College of Midwives' national director Karen Guilliland and hosted by the college, was held in Christchurch recently. Obstetricians, midwives, anaethetists and...

Poster developed.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(new zealand nurses organizations)
April 1, 2005... NZNO has developed a poster illustrating the links in the patient safety chain, as a way of marking International Nurses' Day (IND) on May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday. NZNO has amended the official IND theme, which focuses on the...

Notice to members.(NEWS AND EVENTS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... NZNO's legal adviser Nicola Bush has confirmed nurses who have applied but not yet received their annual practising certificate (APC) can legally practise within their appropriate scope of practice until the APC arrives. Normally it is an...

New Zealand nurses to present at ICN congress.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
April 1, 2005... A number of New Zealand nurses, including former Ministry of Health chief nursing adviser Frances Hughes, will be among the more than 1000 nurses giving presentations at the International Council of Nurses' (ICN) 23rd quadrennial congress in...

Aged-care providers join forces.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
April 1, 2005... A new organisation representing aged-care providers was launched last month. HealthCare Providers (NZ) repesents 650 providers, covering more than 20,000 residents in rest-homes and private geriatric hospitals. Chief executive Martin...

New centennial scholarship.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
April 1, 2005... A new Nursing Education and Research Foundation (NERF) scholarship has been established to mark NZNO's centenary in 2009 and the establishment of regional trained nurses' associations. The Flora Cameron Award for Excellence in Practice, named...

Counterfeit medicines kill: drawing the public's attention to the dramatic and dangerous increase in counterfeit drugs on the global market is the aim of this year's International Nurses' Day theme.(NEWS FOCUS)
April 1, 2005... Countering the worldwide threat of counterfeit medicines is the International Council of Nurses' (ICN) focus for this year's International Nurses Day, May 12. Counterfeit medicines, says ICN, have killed and injured thousands of people around...

Midwifery matters: May 5 is International Day of the Midwife and the theme this year is Midwives and women--a partnership for health.(NEWS FOCUS)
April 1, 2005... The theme for this year's International Day of the Midwife (IDM), celebrated on May 5, is "Midwives and women--a partnership for health". The International Confederation of Midwives, in its announcement of the theme for this year's IDM, said...

Correction.(NEWS FOCUS)(Correction Notice)
April 1, 2005... Correction: The story "What the Deal Delivers" in the February issue of Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand (p12) stated that by July 1, 2006 all DHB-employed midwives would be on $72,236. That is incorrect. That figure relates to the rate for lead...

Fiji nurses prepare for their own fair pay campaign: improving nurses' pay and conditions is the key to stopping the migration of nurses from Fiji to countries abroad. NZNO is willing to do what it can to help.(NEWS FOCUS)
April 1, 2005... Low pay and poor working conditions are driving Fiji's experienced nurses out of the country for better career prospects in Australia, New Zealand and further afield. Unless their appallingly low pay levels are addressed, nurses will continue...

Getting the central relationship right: how do the many aspects of nurses' work link together to ensure patients are safe? A nursing leader explains how she works towards ensuring the central relationship in nursing--between nurse and patient--is safe.(PROFILE)
April 1, 2005... Director of nursing (DON) at MidCentral District Health Board (DHB), Sue Wood, is a West Coaster. This gives her a strong sense of identity, a pioneering spirit and a pragmatic, Let's-get-on-with-it approach--valuable assets for any nursing...

The benefits of nurse-led pre-assessment: a nurse-led pre-assessment clinic in the cardiology day unit at Christchurch Hospital has proved to be an efficient use of resources, a satisfying experience for patients and a way for experienced nurses to extend their practice.(PRACTICE)
April 1, 2005... How can nurses extend their practice while retaining their essential nursing role? Nurse-led pre-assessment clinics are one such example. These clinics provide nurses with the opportunity to apply and integrate advanced health assessment skills...

Extending nursing practice.(PRACTICE)
April 1, 2005... For long-time cardiac nurse Murray Hart, working in the pre-assessment clinic at Christchurch Hospital's cardiac day unit (CDU) has offered a number of professional rewards. He has worked in cardiology at the hospital for the East seven years...

Are nurse anaesthetists needed? Should the Nursing Council endorse nurse practitioners in anaesthesia? One leading anaesthesia specialist argues against nurse practitioners as providers of anaesthesia services.(VIEWPOINT)
April 1, 2005... Readers of Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand are well aware of the debates about the development of the nurse practitioner (NP) role, its scope of practice and of the profession's right to develop a career path for nurses. The New Zealand Society...

Blood glucose monitoring: is blood glucose monitoring for many of those people with type 2 diabetes really necessary in the management of the condition?(PRACTICE)
April 1, 2005... Type 2 diabetes is a condition of impaired glucose metabolism, due to either inslin insufficiency and/or insulin resistance. First line therapy is non-pharmacological, focusing on changes that can be made to the person's lifestyle, particularly...

Defining type 2 diabetes.(PRACTICE)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined diabetes mellitus as a metabolic disorder of multiple aetiology; characterised by chronic hyperglycaemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism; and resulting from defects...

Work arising from the MECA continues: the work arising from the national public sector multi-employer collective agreement did not stop once the deal was ratified. A number of working parties are being established to deal with a range of issues that arose during negotiations.(INDUSTRIAL FOCUS)(multi-employer collective agreement)
April 1, 2005... Not surprisingly, the work related to the national nurses' and midwives' multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) was not completed with the final ratification by members in late February. A lot more work is required to ensure all the...

Of lamps and lanterns: throwing light on Florence Nightingale: Florence Nightingale has long been known as the "lady with the lamp," but a more detailed study of history shows that it was a simple Arab lantern that she would have carried when tending the sick in Scutari, not a ceremonial lamp.(HISTORY)
April 1, 2005... Visitors to London's Florence Nightingale Museum often ask to see the lamp. It seems a reasonable request: the museum of "the lady with the lamp" should contain the lamp, yet history is rather more complicated than most people believe. If...

Is technology taking the 'care' out of nursing? As nurses continue to use increasingly complex technology to care for their patients, there is a danger that the art and science of patient-focused, humanist care may lose its significance.(VIEWPOINT)
April 1, 2005... Technology is changing the face of nursing, to an extent I never realised when I began my nursing degree in 2002. I came into nursing later in Life, after an earlier career as a sales representative. I had the "people skills" but a slight...

Advocating for patient safety: patient safety is ensured when nurses have the competence, the resources and the autonomy to evaluate their patients' needs and changing conditions.(PROFESSIONAL FOCUS)
April 1, 2005... Nurses play a vital role in advocating for patient safety. They are responsible for the needs of the patients in their care and are closely Linked to the issues facing patients. Through careful monitoring, assessment and evaluating patients,...

Forum looks at respiratory health across the age span.(COLLEGE/SECTION NEWS)
April 1, 2005... More than 70 respiratory nurses attended the South Island Respiratory Educators' Forum in Christchurch in February. Despite its title, respiratory nurses working in the community, in primary practice and in tertiary care travelled from all over...

Clinical nurse managers to form a section.(COLLEGE/SECTION NEWS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Following last year's duty managers' conference in Christchurch, attended by more than 70 delegates, the process of forming a clinical nurse managers' section is underway. Delegates at Last year's conference, the third for duty managers, agreed...

Caregivers send their payslips to parliament during Caregivers' Week.(SECTOR REPORTS)
April 1, 2005... Continued activity by members and delegates around NZNO's Fair Share for Aged Care Campaign marked Caregivers' Week last month. Caregivers across the country posted their payslips to newly appointed Associate Minister of Health Pete Hodgson to...

Continuing the fair share for aged-care campaign.(SECTOR REPORTS)
April 1, 2005... "Taking it to the streets" will be the focus of the Fair Share for Aged Care Campaign in April/ May. This was one of the decisions made at Cast month's NZNO aged-care sector group meeting, attended by a number of NZNO staff members. Activities...

Building relationships between DHB management and unions.(SECTOR REPORTS)(district health boards)
April 1, 2005... Bipartite processes are being established in all district health boards (DHBs) in an attempt to develop relationships and build successful processes between management and unions within the DHBs. This is one way of building healthy workplaces...

Practice nurses' MECA finally settled.(SECTOR REPORTS)(multi-employer collective agreement)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Last month, some ten months after it was initiated, the practice nurse multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) was finally signed. The MECA covers 281 original GP parties. The settlement means that practice nurses are closer to achieving...

Private sector report.(SECTOR REPORTS)
April 1, 2005... Negotiations are underway for 200 NZNO members at Christchurch's St George's Hospital. This private surgical hospital has a maternity unit with a contract with the Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) allowing women to transfer within 12...

Structural review options considered.(BOARD OF DIRECTORS)
April 1, 2005... The structural review committee, originally charged with developing a coherent set of structural changes for NZNO decision-making, has been discharged. The committee's last act was to present a structural review paper to the board, which was...

NZNO opposes change for nurses' group.(BOARD OF DIRECTORS)(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... NZNO is opposed to the national nursing organisations' (NNO) group becoming a pan-nursing representative and decision-making body. The NNO is a group of representatives of a range of nursing groups including NZNO, College of Nurses Aotearoa,...

Support for tsunami countries approved.(BOARD OF DIRECTORS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... NZNO is to donate $4000 to each of the national nursing associations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, countries affected by the Boxing Day tsunami. And NZNO president Jane O'Malley is to write a Letter of support to each of the...

Celebrating nursing.(BOARD OF DIRECTORS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Celebrating nursing will be reflected in the theme of this year's NZNO conference on September 21-22. This would reflect the substantial progress made on fair pay and safe staffing and the plan for a "positive about nursing" campaign. ...