Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand articles from March 2004

Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand archives from March 2004

Children's needs must be met now.(editorial)
March 1, 2004... THE CHILDREN of New Zealand deserve our attention at a time when so many are suffering neglect and poor health outcomes. Nationally, we spend six times the money per person on the 65 plus age group, than we do on children and young people...

The president comments ...
March 1, 2004... A RECENT conversation with International Council of Nurses executive director Judith Oulton stimulated me to think about nursing leadership and NZNO's safe staffing and pay equity campaigns. Oulton mentioned that she hoped New Zealand...

Eight-week challenge for NZHO members.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... ALL NZNO members are being exhorted to collect eight signatures to a petition launched on March 8, International Women's Day. NZNO has launched the nationwide petition to all MPs calling for more money for district health boards (DHBs) so...

Trainee organisers begin work with NZNO.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... TWO TRAINEE organisers are among four recent staff appointments at NZNO. The organisers, Irene Rudolph, who will work in Wellington, and Huia Welton, who will work in Dunedin, have been employed under the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU)...

New MECA deal for lower North Island sought.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... A REVISED multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) settlement for NZNO members in the seven lower North Island district health boards (DHBs) was being sought as Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand went to press. Members decisively rejected a...

Acknowledging caregivers' value.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... CAREGIVER' WEEK, March 22-28, will be an opportunity for health professionals and the public to recognise and acknowledge the value of caregivers. This year, NZNO and the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) will use the week to...

Distributing NZNO's Niue relief fund.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... NZNO'S NIUE relief fund, set up last month to assist in rebuilding the island nation following Cyclone Heta, has now reached $18,000. It is hoped the money will be used primarily to help nurses in Niue as they cope with the destruction of...

Conference offers multidisciplinary focus on ageing.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... AROUND 300 people are expected at next month's Association of Gerontology Conference in Christchurch. Held in association with the New Zealand Geriatrics Society, the three-day event from April 14-16 is titled "Expanding horizons: the art and...

NZNO call for nurse to patient ratios makes headline news.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... MORE THAN half of NZNO's 10,000 copies of its booklet on nurse to patient ratios have been distributed to nurses, hospital chief executives, nurse leaders and health spokespeople across all political parties. The release of its...

Swedish nursing students examine New Zealand elderly care standards.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... FOUR SWEDISH nursing students from Stockholm's Ersta Shondal Hogshola nursing school recently spent several weeks working in rest-homes in Wellington. Their aim was to gain experience of working in another country and to compare standards of...

Students begin Pacific nursing programme.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... A BACHELOR of nursing (BN) programme, specifically for Pacific students, began at Whitireia Community Polytechnic last month. More than five years in the planning, the course was instigated by former head of the nursing school at Whitireia...

Taranaki Health develops policy on Maori patients.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... TARANAKI DISTRICT Health Board has developed a Tikanga best practice policy to ensure the spiritual, psychological and physical well-being of Maori patients and their families. The policy, accepted by the DHB board earlier this year, will be...

Nominations called for prestigious Akenehi Hei Memorial Award.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... TE RUNANGA O Aotearoa NZNO is calling for nominations for the prestigious Te Taonga Akenehi Hei Memorial Award. First awarded three years ago to nursing educator and cultural safety pioneer, the late Irihapeti Ramsden, it was established...

New graduates heading overseas.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... NEARLY TEN percent of the nursing students who sat State finals in November last year intended to seek work overseas. Preliminary findings of a survey conducted by Nurse Educators in the Tertiary Sector (NETS) reveal that 9.3 percent of the...

Nursing intakes vary around the country.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... FEWER THAN 1500 students began bachelor of nursing (BN) programmes in the country's 17 nursing schools last month (see table below). Some schools experienced an increase in numbers, others a decline. Emerging trends include an increase in the...

Oral history records nursing stories.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... WHEN REGISTERED nurse Marlene Gillingham (nee Phipps) did her nursing degree at the then Manawatu Polytechnic in 1996 at the age of 58, she became fascinated with nursing theorists like Dorothy Oram and Ernestine Weidenbach. This sparked an...

Free 'flu vaccines for nurses.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... FROM THIS month, free influenza vaccination programmes will be running in hospitals, general practices and the wider community. This year, there is a particular focus on clinical staff caring for people in hospital. "Getting a 'flu...

Listening to children's views.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... THE NEED for easy access to free health and dental care was a key issue to emerge from a symposium on children's rights in Wellington last month. The Office of the Commissioner for Children organised the symposium, which brought together...

Nursing skills add value to school trusteeship.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... NURSING SKILLS have proved as useful in an education setting as the hospital environment, according to nurse and school trustee Trish Schoonderwoerd. In addition to her work as a registered nurse at Whangarei's Kensington Hospital,...

DHB budget blowouts threaten patient safety.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... BUDGET PROBLEMS reported by Capital and Coast and Canterbury District Health Boards (DHB) highlight the fact DHBs are not funded either to pay nurses properly or to ensure safe staffing levels, according to NZNO chief executive Geoff Annals....

Waiariki student gains top exam marks.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... WAIARIKI INSTITUTE of Technology graduate Bronwyn Ives (pictured) gained first equal placing nationwide in the State final nursing exams held in November. Ives, who is now enrolled in the new graduate programme at Taupo Hospital, said...

Nurse educator appointed to ethics journal.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... A NEW Zealand nurse educator and ethics author Elizabeth Niven has been appointed as regional editor for the international nursing journal, Journal of Nursing Ethics, edited by Verena Tschudin. The nursing co-ordinator for postgraduate...

Midwives to celebrate a centenary of registration.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... INTERNATIONAL MIDWIVES Day on May 5 will be marked in New Zealand by celebrations of 100 years of midwifery registration in this country. On the day, a travelling exhibition of midwifery practice, sponsored by the New Zealand College of...

Third edition of important health care text published.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... A THIRD edition of the well-used New Zealand text Health Care and the Law has just been published. General editor and NZNO legal adviser Sue Johnson says the new edition seeks to build on the endeavours of the first two editions to describe...

Plan for public health workforce being developed.(news and events)
March 1, 2004... THE MINISTRY of Health wants a clearer picture of the makeup of New Zealand's public health workforce. It is developing a public health workforce action plan and is asking those working in public health for their opinion on a range of issues,...

ICN leader prepares for another demanding year: while visiting New Zealand last month, ICN executive director Judith Oulton took some time to reflect on the year ahead.(news focus)
March 1, 2004... FOR INTERNATIONAL Council of Nurses' (ICN) executive director Judith Oulton, summer holidays in New Zealand are a time to relax and rejuvenate in preparation for another demanding year of strategic planning, conference organising and...

The role of overseas nurses in our health system: nurses and midwives from overseas are a growing component of our workforce. Here we outline the process nurses go through to gain New Zealand registration and some share their experiences and observations.(news focus)
March 1, 2004... NEW ZEALAND'S health services would be under far more pressure, were it not for the number of overseas nurses working within them. Between 2000 and 2003 the number of overseas nurses registered in New Zealand, jumped from 1119 to 1514--a 35...

Cultural safety training should be compulsory.(news focus)
March 1, 2004... ALL OVERSEAS nurses should have cultural safety training before they are allowed to practise here, according to English-trained nurse and NZNO professional nursing adviser (PNA) Faith Roberts. Roberts came to New Zealand in 1988 and began...

A journey to an unknown land.(news focus)
March 1, 2004... JULIE TEGG, along with her husband and two children, then aged 10 and 6, came to New Zealand 18 months ago. They'd sold up their home in Gloucestershire and travelled around the world to a country where they knew no-one, so Tegg could work as...

A different language and a different culture.(news focus)
March 1, 2004... MICHIKO YONEKURA is an unusual phenomenom in New Zealand nursing--a Japanese-trained nurse who has carved a career for herself in a very different culture, speaking a very different language. After completing her training in Japan in...

The dangers of alcohol and pregnancy: nurses have a responsibility to educate women about the dangers of drinking alcohol during their pregnancies.(education)
March 1, 2004... FOETAL ALCOHOL Syndrome (FAS) and Foetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) happen as a result of alcohol being consumed during pregnancy. They can affect a baby in many ways, causing learning difficulties, behavioural problems and brain damage. FAS,...

Dental health is a key child health issue: New Zealand children's dental health has declined since the early 1990s. Nurses who work with children have a key role to play in reversing that trend.(practice)
March 1, 2004... EVERY CHILD who has been through the New Zealand school system will have encountered the school dental nurse. Providing oral health services to children has long been the domain of the school dental nurse, now known as dental therapist, with...

Nursing on the foreshore: how can NZNO demonstrate its commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi as its guiding document? Could it become a leader in society as it seeks to "walk the talk"?.(viewpoint)
March 1, 2004... AS NZNO continues the pursuit of excellence in nursing, the need to balance efficiency with social justice becomes paramount. Nurses have accepted and understood that sensitivity, empathy and respect for cultural diversity creates an...

Children must be supported to grieve: a nurse who has worked across the life spectrum--from neonatal intensive care to hospice care--believes nurses need to support children to come to terms with death and to help them grieve in a healthy way. To do that, nurses must feel comfortable with their own knowledge and skills.(viewpoint)
March 1, 2004... IN THE drama and grief surrounding a death, children can often be forgotten, when a family is grieving. Or, with the best intentions, children may be deliberately excluded. However, children have an amazing capacity to deal with difficult...

Dealing with ethical challenges in practice: protecting a baby's health can be a complex matter, especially when a nurse is confronted by a family's illegal activities.(exemplar)
March 1, 2004... FOR THE last 13 of my 34 years as a public health nurse, I have worked in the eastern Bay of Plenty, an area I always wanted to work in, partly because of my own Tuhoe ancestry. My great-grandfather Wehi was from this iwi. As there is no...

Research on nurse practitioner role underway: although the nurse practitioner role is relatively new, a number of research projects on it are underway. And a national committee works to ensure all issues concerning the role are canvassed.(professional focus)
March 1, 2004... THE NURSE Practitioner Advisory Committee of New Zealand (NPACNZ) comprises representatives of four key nursing organizations: NZNO, The Australia and New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses; the College of Nurses Aotearoa and the...

New bargaining criteria recommended: new bargaining criteria should help organizers establish priorities in negotiating collective agreements.(industrial focus)
March 1, 2004... NZNO IS recommending new criteria for negotiating collective agreements (CAs). This is to take into account new forms of bargaining, NZNO's focus on sector work, and moves towards more multi-site and national CA bargaining. Prior to the...

Colleges/sections discuss funding options.(section news)
March 1, 2004... NEW FUNDING proposals for colleges and sections were a major discussion topic at a college/section chairpersons' and treasurers' meeting last month. Almost all colleges/sections were represented at the day, including some new office holders...

Nurse restrains patient inappropriately.(nursing council)
March 1, 2004... THE NURSING Council has suspended enrolled nurse Molima Molly Pihigia from nursing for a year, after finding her guilty of professional misconduct on the grounds of negligence, malpractice and that her conduct brought or was likely to bring...

Nominations for Akenehi Hei Award sought.(te runanga)
March 1, 2004... TE RUNANGA O Aotearoa NZNO is now calling for nominations for the Te Taonga Akenehi Hei Memorial Award. First awarded three years ago to cultural safety pioneer, the late Irihapeti Ramsden, the award was instigated by Te Runanga as its...

Profiling Leanne Lloyd.(te runanga)
March 1, 2004... Ko Hokianga te moana; ko Ohaki te marae; ko Te Rarawa re hapu; ko Ngapuhi te iwi; ko Mare raua ko Reremoana Ropiha toku matua; ko Leanne taku ingoa. Tena koutou katoa. I BEGAN my nursing career as a nurse aid in Wellington in 1994. While...

National bargaining is strategically important.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... ONE OF the key strategies in the primary health care sector is to advance fair pay for primary health nurses through national bargaining. Analysis of NZNO membership undertaken in August last year showed there were 5500 members, spread across...

Maniototo Hospital moves towards MECA rates.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... MANIOTOTO HOSPITAL is the smallest of the five rural hospitals in the Otago region privatized by the National Govern merit in the mid-90s. Previously staff at Maniototo, Oamaru, Dunstan, Gore and Balclutha Hospitals were public sector...

Range of activities underway in district health boards NZNO/DHB election strategy.(sectors reports)
March 1, 2004... THE DISTRICT health board (DHB) elections will again run alongside the local body elections in October this year. Minister of Health Annette King, announced late last year that the Government had approved a new way of electing DHB members...

Auckland delegates day.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... LAST MONTH 140 delegates from the three Auckland DHBs met at Alexandra Park for a planning day. The key focus of the day was discussion and planning around the bargaining options for 2004-bargaining for a national multi-employer collective...

Senior nurses agreement.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... UNIT NURSE managers and after-hours co-ordinators at Nelson and Wairau Hospitals have met to discuss whether they want NZNO to negotiate a collective agreement. This is the first time, since the national award was broken up under the...

Otago restructuring.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... THE OTAGO DHB underwent a provider arm management restructure late last year. As well as saving money, the focus was to provide for increased clinician involvement in decision making. For nursing, this has meant the former director of nursing...

Fair pay and safe staffing key issues.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... AFTER FOUR days of strike action in November/December last year and three mediations, NZNO members at Redwood Lodge in Rotorua finally ratified their collective agreement in mid-December. This dispute highlighted the two major issues facing...

Negotiations begin for MRT MECA.(sector reports)
March 1, 2004... NEGOTIATIONS FOR the first multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) for medical radiation technologists (MRTs) got underway with a pre-negotiation meeting in Christchurch last month. NZNO advocates and employer representatives met to...

NZNO change manager farewelled.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... TWO NEW board members were welcomed to the January meeting. Nano Tunnicliff, a Nelson Hospital laboratory nurse, represents the Top of the South while Sarah Paku represents the Hawke's Bay region. Paku works with the Maori health provider...

Defining nursing scopes of practice.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... NZNO AND other nursing groups are working with the Nursing Council on a definition of nursing scopes of practice. This is in accordance with the requirements of the new Health Practitioners' Competence Assurance Act for health practitioners...

Raising NZNO awareness of Treaty.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... NEWLY APPOINTED policy analyst-Maori, Sharon Clair, presented a report to the board on her goals and objectives in the coming year. These include implementing the Treaty of Waitangi into NZNO policy and practice; assisting Maori to...

Certification processes modified.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... THE BOARD approved a modification to NZNO's certification and accreditation processes. This is to take into account the three-yearly competence review that will come into effect under the new Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act. ...

Future of regional councils discussed.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... DISCUSSION ON NZNO's structural review paper is continuing. A range of recommendations includes the disbanding of regional councils, with more decision making responsibilities devolved to workplaces, colleges and section. Bay of...

New plan to fund colleges and sections.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... THE BOARD approved a plan from NZNO's financial executive for colleges and sections to prepare simple strategic, business/ operational plans. These would include key strategic objectives and identify resources required to meet those...

Focus on magnet hospitals.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... A CONFERENCE on magnet hospitals, sponsored by the Ministry of Health, had been postponed from February 19 to April 1, president Jane O'Malley reported. Guest speaker will be magnet assessor for the American Nurses Credentialing Centre, Kim...

Helen Snell appointed to NPAC-NZ.(board of directors)
March 1, 2004... THE BOARD of directors endorsed newly accredited nurse practitioner (diabetes) Helen Snell as an NZNO representative on the Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee of New Zealand.

Events.(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... Conferences & Venues 2004 2004 Mar 23-26 Stomal Therapy Conference. 'Steaming ahead' email: cfs.rot@xtra.co.nz attn: Sue Hatchwell. 2004 Mar 25-27 2004 Cultural Safety forum. contact:...