Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand articles from August 2004

Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand archives from August 2004

Getting to grips with an epidemic.(editorial)
August 1, 2004... NEW ZEALAND is now in the 14th year of a meningococcal epidemic. Until now there has been no vaccine available for New Zealand's unique and epidemic strain of group B meningococcal disease. Since 1995, 80 to 90 percent of meningococcal disease...

Advertisements encourage nurses to go overseas.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I JUST want to say I totally agree with Angela Joblin's letter regarding advertising in your magazine (Kai Tiaki advertising suggested double standard, Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand, July 2004, p5). I have thought for a long time that the...

PAUA project a difficult concept to grasp.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I AM greatly relieved that NZNO's board of directors and some members have had some difficulty in understanding the concept of the PAUA--Progressively acting with unity and aroha--project. [See Board approves $61,220 for PAUA, Kai Tiaki Nursing...

Registered nurse voices support for enrolled nurses.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I READ with great interest Claire Vekoney's letter on the altered intravenous policy for enrolled nurses (ENs) (Amended IV policy dismays enrolled nurse, Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand, July 2004, p4). For some time at our hospital there has...

Trust formed for those with Guillain-Barre syndrome.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... DO YOU know anyone who has had Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy or Miller Fisher syndrome? Or are you like 99.9 percent of people who have never heard of these illnesses? Guillain-Barre syndrome...

Caring Caller service helps the lonely and isolated.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... THIRTY-TWO older people in the United Kingdom (UK) die alone and unnoticed in their homes every day--the equivalent of 12,000 a year. A survey by an organisation in the UK that helps the lonely and isolated in England, Scotland and Wales...

Sending the message--in New Zealand and overseas.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... FOR THE past year or more I have been putting NZNO's sticker "Nurses and Midwives Fair Pay Because We're Worth It" on all my envelopes, when I've been corresponding both within New Zealand and overseas. I thought, "What better way to spread the...

Notice to members.(Accountability in primary health care nursing)
August 1, 2004... IN THE professional focus in last month's Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand (Accountability in primary health care nursing, p20), author Angela Dawbin raised the issue of nurses transferring medicines from a blister pack to another container and...

Report on MECA progress due.(multi-employer collective agreement)
August 1, 2004... REPORT-BACK meetings for members on progress so far in the national multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) negotiations were due at the end of this month, after a total of seven-and-a-half days of negotiations. As Kai Tiaki Nursing New...

New professional nursing adviser appointed.(Suzanne Rolls and Theona Wright appointed)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... EMERGENCY NURSING expert Suzanne Rolls has been appointed as NZNO's professional nursing adviser (PNA) to replace Faith Roberts. She is based in NZNO's national office and began this month. Rolls joins NZNO from Wellington Hospital's...

Pocket personal computers for district nurses win award.(Sharing Excellence in Health and Disability Information Award)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... POCKET PERSONAL computers for district nurses in Northland have won the Northland District Health Board a health information management award. The computers enable the district nurses to record patient information electronically while they are...

New law to improve patient safety.(Medical Misadventure Bill)
August 1, 2004... PROPOSED CHANGES to the medical misadventure provisions in the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001--introduced to Parliament earlier this month--are intended to make them simpler and fairer, and to improve patient...

Hughes takes up professorship.(Frances Hughes appointed at University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... MINISTRY OF Health chief nursing adviser Frances Hughes has been appointed to the University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences as its first professor of nursing. This is a joint appointment with the ministry and aims to...

PlunketLine set to merge with Healthline.(telephone advisory services on a new venture)
August 1, 2004... THE NEW partnership between PlunketLine and the telephone advisory service Healthline promises to provide a more comprehensive service for parents and caregivers, says Plunket Society chief executive Paul Baigent. It will also ensure the...

Council finalises four scopes of practice.(news and events)(Nursing Councils)
August 1, 2004... THE NURSING Council has finalised four scopes of practice under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (HPCA): nurse practitioner (NP; registered nurse (RN), which includes registered obstetric nurses; enrolled nurse (EN); and nurse...

NZNO assists Niuean nurses.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... NZNO MEMBERS' support of nurses and nursing in Niue continued last month with the presentation of raincoats to the island nation's Minister of Health Fisa Iglisi Pihigia. Presenting the raincoats, which the Niuean nurses had requested,...

New Zealand takes public health leadership role.(news and events)(Public Health Association conference)
August 1, 2004... THREE HUNDRED people gathered in Christchurch recently for the annual Public Health Association (PHA) conference. The theme "Growing our Own" was intended as both a celebration and a challenge, expressing New Zealand's move to a public health...

ICN workforce forum meets in Wellington next month.(International Council of Nurses')(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... AROUND 30 people are expected at next month's International Council of Nurses' (ICN) annual Workforce Forum in Wellington. Held over three days from September 20-22, it will be the first time the 11-member forum has met in New Zealand. ...

The country's biggest-ever public health nursing campaign gets underway.(news and events)
August 1, 2004... THE COUNTRY'S biggest-ever public health nursing campaign swung into action last month when the meningoccocal immunisation in schools programme began in the Counties Manukan District Health Board (CMDHB). Between this month and the end of the...

Submissions pour in on staffing effectiveness standard.(Standards New Zealand)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... STANDARDS NEW Zealand has received around 250 submissions on its public consultation document Staffing Effectiveness Indicators for Residential Aged and Dementia Care. Standards New Zealand developed the document, which proposes minimum...

Costs of nursing turnover to be researched.(Health Research Council and the Ministry of Health )
August 1, 2004... A MAJOR study on the direct and indirect costs of nursing turnover in New Zealand is underway. Funded jointly by the Health Research Council and the Ministry of Health, the study is being led by associate professor at the Auckland University's...

Pay claim forms backdrop to conference.(news and events)(New Zealand Nurses Organisation )
August 1, 2004... A CELEBRATION or a call to action--whatever the state of play in the national multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) negotiations--NZNO's annual conference in Rotorua next month will be a significant one. NZNO's chief executive Geoff...

Singing our way to fair pay, the Paua Fritters way.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation adds music to its campaigning for pay)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... TOWARDS THE end of this month, NZNO will be adding music to the Fair Pay Campaign. The CD of the campaign song "Because We're Worth It", by the Auckland band Paua Fritters, will be available for sale from NZNO national office next month for...

NZNO welcomes Coroner's report recommendations.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)
August 1, 2004... STAFFING ISSUES in Wellington Hospital's emergency department (ED) are largely unchanged since June last year when staff failed to recognise symptoms of meningococcal disease in patient Nileema Sharan. This was the response of NZNO chief...

New chair for key primary health taskforce.(Canterbury Public Health)(Primary Health Care and Strategy and Primary Health Organisation)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... CANTERBURY PUBLIC health physician Winston McKean has been appointed chairman of the Primary Health Care (PHC) Strategy and Primary Health Organisation (PHO) Development Taskforce. The taskforce was established earlier this year, with...

Nurse appointed as senior manager.(news and events)(Margaret Dotchin appointed at Auckland City Hospital)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... NURSE LEADER for Medical Services at Auckland City Hospital, Margaret Dotchin, was appointed acting general manager of Adult Services last month. She replaces Meng Cheong who has resigned to take up the position of chief operating officer for...

Glutaraldehyde fact sheet available.(news and events)(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... NZNO HAS produced a fact sheet on the use and control of hazardous substances in the health sector, with a particular focus on glutaraldehyde. Used as a cold, high level disinfectant for hospital equipment, glutaraldehyde has been shown to...

Measuring the competence of agency nurses.(Health Practitioners' Competence Assurance Act 2003)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2004... NEXT MONTH--September 18--the Health Practitioners' Competence Assurance Act (HPCA) 2003 comes into effect. This Act replaces the Nurses Act 1977 and the Nurses Regulations 1986 and will change the way nurses in New Zealand apply and receive...

Agency nurse reconsiders her future.(Pat Fraser)
August 1, 2004... REGISTERED NURSE (RN) Pat Fraser of Wellington has been working with nursing agency Geneva Health International for over a year, taking on between four and seven shifts per week. A former Hutt Valley District Health Board district nurse,...

Kiwi wins top Australian Nursing award: a New Zealand nurse who has spent many years in the Australian Outback has won a prestigious national award.(overseas nursing)(Andrew Cameron wins National Care Award)
August 1, 2004... NEW ZEALAND nurse Andrew Cameron has always been a bit different; a bit of an outsider. Perhaps that's why rural and remote nursing in outback Australia has played such an important part in his nursing career. It has also meant that this year...

Understanding residuals in Guillain-Barre Syndrome: peripheral nerve damage, rather than strained muscles, can cause fatigue and breathlessness for those suffering the long-term effects of GBS.(practice)
August 1, 2004... GUILLAIN-BARRE SYNDROME (GBS) is a fascinating neurological disease, if such there can be, for it is rare, occurs with sudden onset, and creates acute effects, particularly on the peripheral nervous system. Essentially, the peripheral...

'Living the dream'.(New Zealand Created Skincare)(Skin Deep Body Products Ltd)
August 1, 2004... Many of us have dreams and visions in our lives--but most fail to take action to make them a reality. Judy Miller lives her dream on a daily basis. Working firstly in marketing and then in the beauty therapy industry in the South Island,...

Comvita Medical Woundcare[TM] 18+ and ApiNate[R] dressing.(health care industry)
August 1, 2004... As a newly formed division of Comvita NZ Ltd., Comvita Medical is set to revolutionise the global medical wound care arena. Utilising the healing attributes of honey that have been recognized for thousands of years across many cultures, we are...

Immunisation programme puts stress on nurses: as the country's largest-ever immunisation campaign gets underway in the Auckland region with massive publicity, nurses need to ensure they are able to cope with the multiple pressures such a campaign brings.(professional focus)
August 1, 2004... RECENT REPORTING in the media about the licensing of the Meningococcal B vaccine (MeNZB[TM]) and the subsequent launch of the vaccination programme has highlighted a number of issues for nurses. The MeNZB[TM] has been specifically developed for...

Back to basics in union organising.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation )
August 1, 2004... NZNO, like many other unions, has been working on its effectiveness by going back to the basics--what is our role in our members' professions and workplaces and how can we most effectively use our shared resources to make a difference? This...

Does obstetric experience count for naught? Several decades of obstetric experience will be lost once changes to the way postnatal care is delivered in one small rural maternity unit are implemented.(registered obstetric nurse)
August 1, 2004... I TRAINED as an obstetric nurse in Wanganui in the 1960s, motivated by my love of babies. I had thought of becoming a Karitane nurse, but that training was being phased out at the time I was choosing a career. I loved my obstetric training and...

Profiling new NSU chair and vice-chair.(national students unit)(Niki Swabey)
August 1, 2004... I AM Niki Swabey, the recently elected interim chairperson of the NZNO's National Student Unit (NSU). I am the first female chair to be elected since 1999. Born in England, I trained as an enrolled nurse (EN) in New Zealand, beginning...

NSU clarifies its priorities.(national student unit)
August 1, 2004... THE LATEST National Student Unit (NSU) meeting, held earlier last month, was positive and productive, with a strong focus on our strategic directions' document Footsteps. Over the previous months, delegates have been working on portfolios...

NZNO to work on hospice collective.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... SOUTH AUCKLAND Hospice members voted in favour of the terms of settlement for their collective agreement (CA). A base rate increase of four percent on all positions was negotiated. This takes their experienced registered nurse hourly rate to...

Options for MercyAscot agreement.(employment agreement finalises)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... THREE DAYS of negotiations for the renewal of the collective employment agreement at Auckland's MercyAscot integrated Hospital ended last month. This covers around 350 members of different occupational groups, the biggest of which is the...

Settlement for Care and Independence.(national Care and Independence Charitable Trust Hospitals')(Service and Food Workers' Union)(New Zealand Nurses Organisation )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... THE RATIFICATION meetings for the national Care and Independence Charitable Trust Hospitals' and Rest-homes' Collective Agreement ended late last month, with both NZNO and the Service and Food Workers' Union members voting to accept the...

Agreement reached at Eldercare sites.(Service and Food Workers' Union)(New Zealand Nurses Organisation )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... AFTER TWO days of negotiations, a settlement has been reached for NZNO and Service and Food Workers' Union members at all Eldercare sites throughout the country. Despite the employer seeking a number of significant claw backs, the joint...

Presbyterian support goes to mediation.(Service and Food Workers' Union)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... THE UNIONS representing workers in 11 South Island aged-care hospitals and rest-homes owned by Presbyterian Support agreed to mediation last month, in an attempt to settle pay negotiations. Talks broke down in mid-July. A sticking point for...

Boosting pay rates in the primary sector.(sector reports)(nurses' compensation)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... THE FAIR Pay campaign in the district health board (DHB) sector has generated a growing real/sat/on among employers in primary health care (PHC) that pay for practice nurses and other non-DHB nurses is set to become a real issue. This is one...

Enrolled nurses in Gisborne seek recognition.(Gisborne Hospital nurses celebrate National Enrolled Nurses')(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A group of enrolled nurses at Gisborne Hospital celebrate the inaugural National Enrolled Nurses' day on June 30. They used the day to draw attention to the fact that thay are being squeezed out of their jobs, to be...

NZNO South Island professional forum series.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(education sessions)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
August 1, 2004... NZNO PROFESSIONAL nursing adviser Susanne Trim will be running education sessions on the Health Practitioners' Competence Assurance Act and competence-based practising certificates around the South Island from now until early December. All...

Te Ara Whakamua--finding a way forward.(Te Runanga o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(National Council of Maori Nurses')
August 1, 2004... IN PREPARATION for this year's South Pacfic Nurses' Forum in Rarotonga in November, members of Te Runanga o Aotearoa NZNO executive committee met last month with National Council of Maori Nurses' president Mere Belzer and council member Tio...

Gerontology section plans its conference.(college/section news)(national gerontology section committee)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... THE NATIONAL gerontology section committee met in Wellington last month, with the main agenda item being final planning for the section's fourth national conference in Wellington at the end of this month. Members present were (from left)...

Section forms international alliances.(college/section news)(national enrolled nurse committee)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... NURSING COUNCIL options for nursing scopes of practice dominated last month's meeting of the national enrolled nurse (EN) committee in Wellington. Since this meeting, final decisions on these have been announced (see news and events, p7)....