Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand articles from July 2005

Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand archives from July 2005

Pondering the place of women in an election year.(EDITORIAL)
July 1, 2005... Events of the last month or so have concentrated the mind on the continuing cause of women's rights. And it is fitting that we, as a union and professional organisation whose membership is overwhelmingly female, should, in a general election...

Filipino nurses frightened to speak out.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... I was surprised, happy and proud to read the article about the exploitation of Filipino nurses in your May issue (p12-14). I admire the bravery of Wellington nurse Rosita Ofalia who was interviewed for this article. It is true that lots of us...

Student disillusioned with degree course.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... As a current student at the Western Institute of Technology (WITT) in New Plymouth, I would like to congratulate and give my support to Padraig O'Luanaigh for his interview "Something is rotten in the state of education" published in last...

EN faces belittling attitudes.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... Is it any wonder experienced nurses are leaving the profession? A second-year staff nurse was asked by a senior manager how she worked with the enrolled nurses (ENs) on her ward. When she replied that the ENs were more experienced than she was,...

Nursing leaders need to walk their talk.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... I am responding to the article published in last month's magazine (p7) entitled "Many nurses still want to leave jobs, survey reveals". I am one of the 5399 nurses who responded to research leader Mary Finlayson's 2004 New Zealand Hospital...

Aged-care workers struggle to pay fees.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... I would like to congratulate NZNO for recent public sector achievements. Public sector members can now comfortably afford a healthy union fee, which helps build an even stronger union. However, there is one weak link in the financial chain,...

Nurses' appearance unprofessional.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... I recently watched a news item which showed a practice nurse about to do a dressing on an elderly gentleman. Her hair was hanging over her face. She was dressed very smartly but in her own clothes, not clothing she would wear for direct patient...

Other wartime nurses remembered.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... As secretary of the New Zealand Nurses' Memorial Fund, I am responding to the article published in the May issue of Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand (p8) "Remembering Nurses on Anzac Day". I would like to point out that the Christchurch Hospital...

On the hunt for a 1950s' poem.(LETTERS: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2005... I am trying to track down a copy of a poem which was published in a nurses' magazine at Palmerston North Hospital in 1953/1954. I am not sure if the magazine was monthly or annual or whether it was even Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand. At...

The president comments ...
July 1, 2005... At the latest round of regional conventions two frequently debated aims of the draft five-year strategic directions were "that NZNO oppose all forms of inequality and injustice" and "that NZNO take the lead in advocating for working women"....

US visitors stimulate interest in nurse-managed health centres.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Nurse-managed health centres (NMHC), run by nurse practitioners (NPs), provide high quality, cost-effective and culturally appropriate services to their communities, according to two representatives from the International N P Consortium on...

Make poverty history campaign launched in New Zealand.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... MakePovertyHistory Aotearoa New Zealand was officially launched at the beginning of this month through a series of national events. Supporters were encouraged to wear white bands and to become better informed about the causes of global poverty....

English primary health care expert appointed chief adviser at Ministry.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... The new chief nursing adviser at the Ministry of Health is an English primary health care expert, Mark Jones. Announcing the appointment late Last month, Deputy Director-General, Clinical Services Directorate Colin Feek, said Jones' part in...

Nurse practitioners gather in Palmerston North.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Eight of New Zealand's 14 nurse practitioners (NP) met in Palmerston North last month for a full day of networking and discussing pertinent issues, particularly independent NP prescribing and progress implementing NP roles. Highlights and...

Primary health workers honoured.(Nan Kinross lifetime achievement award)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Massey University's founding professor of nursing Nan Kinross won the inaugural lifetime achievement award at MidCentral District Health Board's (DHB) first primary health awards last month. MidCentrai is the second DHB in the country to honour...

Recognition for diabetes nurses.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Two diabetes specialist nurses have been recognised in the first Lilly Partnership in Diabetes awards to be held in New Zealand. The awards have been run globally for the last three years and acknowledge outstanding people who contribute to...

Award for healthy housing project.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... A scheme to reduce housing-related diseases among families in Housing New Zealand Corporation properties won the supreme award in the New Zealand Health Innovation Awards last month. The Healthy Housing Programme was set up in response to...

Stop press--Harre resigns.(Laila Harre service manager of New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... NZNO's organiser services manager Laila Harre has resigned. Announcing her resignation early this month, NZNO's chief executive Geoff Annals said Harre had decided to resign to remove the uncertainty for NZNO created by her decision to stand...

Strong spirit of collectivism at regional conventions.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... More than 500 delegates attended the 11 regional delegate conventions held around the country in May and June. Two extra conventions, one on the West Coast and one in Hawke's Bay, were added to the programme when sufficient numbers of delegates...

Life of pioneering trade unionist Sonja Davies honoured.
July 1, 2005... A number of NZNO staff and members were among the 1100 people who attended the funeral of nurse, pioneering trade unionist, child care campaigner, peace activist and Labour MP Sonja Davies (right) held at the Wellington Town Hall on June 19....

Women's issues must be core union business.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Unions needed to put issues affecting women workers at the top of their agendas and make them core business, Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) secretary Carol Beaumont said at the opening of the CTU's biennial women's conference in Wellington last...

NZNO staff changes.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation appointments and resignation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Law graduate Jeff Sissons has been appointed to NZNO's industrial team in the Central region. He will be based in Wellington and have primary responsibility for individual case work. The caseworker position was piloted in the Central region....

Primary health organization plan to expland role of nurses.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Many primary health organisations (PHO) are planning to expand the role of nurses, particularly in improving services for those with chronic illness, according to researcher Jacke Cumming. She is the Lead investigator in the evaluation of the...

NZNO objects to ACC's treatment payments.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Accident Compensation Corporation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... NZNO has objected to proposed changes to the Accident Compensation Corporation's (ACC) cost of treatment regulations. These regulations set out the contribution ACC makes towards treatment costs for claimants. The changes propose a 2.5...

Enrolled Nurses celebrate special day.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Enrolled nurses around the country marked Enrolled Nurse (EN) Day on June 30 in a variety of ways. Chair of the ENs' national committee Robyn Hewlett said many groups of ENs went out for dinner together; in Dunedin ENs hosted a wine and cheese...

Workplace health and safety strategy launched.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... A workplace health and safety strategy up to 2015 was Launched by Associate Labour Minister Ruth Dyson Late Last month. It aims to reduce workplace deaths, injuries and disease. The strategy and action plan is based on the existing health and...

NZNO celebrates Matariki.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Matariki--the Maori New Year--was celebrated at NZNO national office on June 15, organised by policy analyst Maori Sharon Clair. Matariki is named after a constellation of stars commonly know as the Pleiades and is seen as the time to...

Research shows Hubba campaign a success.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Nearly 50 percent of respondents to a recent independent evaluation of the No Rubba, No Hubba Hubba campaign said that it had "definitely" or "probably" increased their Likelihood of using condoms in the future. The Ministry of Health...

Nurses assist workplace smoking cessation.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... Occupational health nurses can play a major role in workplace smoking cessation, according to Quit Group Board chairperson and registered nurse Annette Milligan. Milligan was responding to the increasing numbers of calls to the Quit Group from...

ICN innovation database.(NEWS AND EVENTS)
July 1, 2005... The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has Launched a new web-based resource designed to facilitate the dissemination of nursing innovations globally. "The need for innovative nursing solutions has never been greater as health care...

How to regulate nursing? Professional self regulation is being challenged by many factors within and outside nursing. At an international conference on regulation, held before the recent International Council of Nurses' Congress in Taiwan, NZNO's chief executive put the case for a new model of professional regulation, which draws on nursing's innate strengths and, in turn, strengthens the profession.
July 1, 2005... Professional self-regulation is commonly understood to be an essential element of professionalism. As nurses in New Zealand, we generally accept without quesiton the notion that this element if provided for by the establishment and activity of...

Filipino nurses glad their stories are now public: since Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand revealed the exploitation of Filipino nurses here by some immigration agents and employers, the Philippine Nurses' Society has heard of many similar stories. Television New Zealand carried a story on the subject. But coming to New Zealand is not always a negative experience.(NEWS FOCUS)
July 1, 2005... The Filipino community in New Zealand is pleased the exploitation and abuse of Filipino nurses by some immigration agents and employers is now out in the open. "They have suffered in silence for too long," outgoing president of the Philippine...

Getting the health system we deserve: nurses and other health workers have an ethical responsibility to vote in the upcoming general election. They are in a unique position to ascertain the impact of different political parties' health policies on those they care for and that's why they must participate in the election.(POLITICAL FOCUS)
July 1, 2005... It is not necessary to took far beyond our shores to see countries where the universal right to vote is under threat or nonexistent. Nurses in other countries often work in very difficult circumstances, where breaches of human rights regularly...

National's seven deadly promises: nurses and other health workers face a stark choice this election--a coalition government with an industrial agenda generally supportive of workers, or a coalition government which will strip away all protections for workers, leaving the vulnerable most at risk.
July 1, 2005... NZNO members face a stark choice this election. Members cannot risk Nation al's industrial relations policy. Why? Fact: National is promising to re-introduce the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) restrictions on multi-employer collective...

Making an informed voting choice: as the general election approaches, NZNO has ten key policy objectives for the health workforce and to improve the health of all New Zealanders. And one of its priorities is to ensure members have the information needed to make an informed voting choice.(POLITICAL FOCUS)
July 1, 2005... The general election 2005 looms. In this section of Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand n analysis of the eight political party's responses to key NZNO policy objectives is presented. NZNO has two major objectives for election 2005: 1) To...

Political parties respond to NZNO's policy objectives: The following are selected excerpts from each party's responses to NZNO's ten policy objectives. We believe they best represent the comments received. Some have been slightly reworded to clarify meaning.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)
July 1, 2005... 1) Fair Industrial Relations Legislation: National: * Would introduce the Employment Agreements Act. This would give employers and employees the same rights in employment contracts; remove union monopoly bargaining rights over...

How the parties' policies stack up: NZNO policy staff have analysed and evaluated how political parties' policies compare with NZNO's key policy objectives for this election and the policy objectives NZNO set for the in-coming government in 2002.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)
July 1, 2005... 1) Fair Industrial Relations Legislation: The Employment Relations Act re-established the opportunity to pursue a national pay agreement for nurses and health sector workers in the public sector. Repeal of this Legislation under a...

Extending the role of practice nurse: extending the role of practice nurses to manage patients with chronic conditions, and providing an opportunity to develop nurse practitioners within the community are two aims of a pilot project getting underway in Auckland.(NEWS FOCUS)
July 1, 2005... A pilot project aimed at enhancing practice nurses' skills to enable them to manage the care of patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease and diabetes is underway in Auckland. A partnership between Auckland University's School of Population...

Three New Zealand nurses become a small part of healing in Banda Aceh: running children's clinics, teaching basic hygiene and organising training programmes for teachers were just some of the activities three volunteer New Zealand nurses undertook in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the tsunami.(NURSING OVERSEAS)
July 1, 2005... Following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, three New Zealand nurses were quick to accept the challenge that voluntary relief work offers. Two nurses from Dunedin Hospital--Angel Mathis from the emergency department and...

Creating a real future for primary health care nursing: although the Government's primary health care strategy has created a more positive environment for nursing, many challenges still remain to establishing effective, appropriately resourced primary health care nursing services.(PROFESSIONAL FOCUS)
July 1, 2005... The release of the Ministry of Health's Primary Health Care (PHC) Strategy signalled a change in focus for the delivery of health services in the primary health sector. (1) It was heralded as an opportunity for nursing to come to the forefront...

MECA working parties make progress: the work of three of the working parties, set up after the public sector multi-employer collective agreement, is coming to an end.
July 1, 2005... The work of the senior nurses'/midwives'job scoping working party remains intense. It has met for up to two days at a time over recent weeks. Despite every best endeavour, it was not be possible for all the work to be completed by the July 1...

Connecting with Maori nurses: last month's PAUA hui helped form bonds between Maori nurses working in Canterbury DHB and the community, and raised the profile of NZNO.(NEWS FOCUS)
July 1, 2005... Memories of Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) Maori diabetes educator Ariki Hamilton suffused NZNO's second attempt to hold a hui with Ngai Tahu in support of its Positive Action in Unity and Aroha (PAUA) project. The first hui with...

Profiling Te Runanga chair and vice chair nominations.
July 1, 2005... Elections for the positions of Te Runanga o Aotearoa chair and vice chair will be held at the Annual General Hui at Putiki Marae in Wanganui at the end of next month. Nominations closed on July 8. BRENDA CLOSE Tena koutou i nga tini...

Perioperative Nurses promise to scale new heights at annual conference.(COLLEGE/SECTION NEWS)
July 1, 2005... Members of the Perioperative Nurses' College of NZNO are nurses who care for surgical patients, before, during and after surgery. We have regular regional meetings, receive the quarterly national magazine The Dissector, and have an annual...

Section reports growing interest in mental health nurses' issues.(COLLEGE/SECTION NEWS)
July 1, 2005... How best to communicate with its growing membership to ensure it truly represents their views and issues was one of the many items on the agenda at the Mental Health Nurses' Section committee meeting in Christchurch last month. The section now...

Strategic plan endorsed.(COLLEGE/SECTION NEWS)
July 1, 2005... The national committee of the New Zealand College of Practice Nurses NZNO (NZCPN) is pleased to announce that members at their recent conference in Hamilton ratified the college's five-year strategic plan. The plan recognises the NZNO strategy...

Unsafe staffing major concern for DHB members.(district health board )
July 1, 2005... Unsafe staffing is the issue district health board (DHB) members most frequently raise with NZNO staff. This emerged at the last meeting of NZNO's DHB Sector Group. While the Safe Staffing and Healthy Workplaces Committee of Inquiry has just...

Boosting numbers in aged care.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... Continued under funding of residential aged care must strengthen our resolve to win fair pay in the sector by building membership numbers and thus members' capacity to deliver a significant industrial campaign over the next three years. Our...

Ballot for MECA underway.(multi-employer collective agreement )
July 1, 2005... Voting on whether to negotiate a primary health care (PHC) multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) gets underway this month. Claims were being developed as Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand went to press. The ballot papers, asking PHC members if...

Profiling NZNO's election 2005 candidates.(New Zealand Nurses Organisation)
July 1, 2005... The following four pages contain profiles of the four presidential candidates, three college/section candidates for two places on the board of directors, and 12 candidates for the eight-member Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Committee. The...

Standing as national college/section representatives on the Board of Directors.
July 1, 2005... MARION GUY, NOMINATED BY THE NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF PRACTICE NURSES (NZNO) Statement of nomination Marion has made a superb contribution to primary health care (PHC) nursing and is an excellent advocate for NZNO's colleges and...

Nominations for the nursing and midwifery advisory committee.
July 1, 2005... MAUREEN AGER, NOMINATED BY SUE LEEVES Statement of nomination I am thrilled to nominate Maureen Ager for a position on the Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Committee. Her wealth of experience and knowledge in nursing will provide...