From nurse education, clinical, or workforce issues through to healthy living, Nursing Review has it covered.

Nurses are being urged to get their flu jab this season to protect vulnerable patients as New Zealand research indicates up to 80 per cent of people infected with the flu are unaware.

The top region for nurse flu vaccination rates last year was once again Tairawhiti – topping Waikato and Northland, which both have 'vaccinate or mask' (VOM) policies.

There is an urgent public health need to have confidence in our fresh water systems much sooner than 2040, says Rural GP Network chair and NP Sharon Hansen 

Kiwi nurses have upped their game, with the latest national statistics showing that nurses are cleaning their hands nearly 85 per cent of the required times.

Requiring unimmunised nurses to wear masks in high 'flu season is backed in a Ministry of Health letter to district health board chief executives.  The letter also hints that voluntary immunisation may not work.

The district health board that suspended two unvaccinated nurses last 'flu season for refusing to wear a mask is currently sticking to its controversial policy.

The 'flu vaccination uptake amongst hospital nurses keep steadily increasing but still varies radically across the country.

Requiring non-vaccinated nurses to wear masks when caring for patients is into its third 'flu season in Northland and is being widened to cover all clinical areas.

The uptake of nurses getting the flu vaccine rose nine per cent last year but there is still room for improvement, says the National Influenza Specialist Group*.

Kiwis are being urged to get immunised sooner rather than later after last month saw early bouts of flu put patients in intensive care.

Five student nurses joined a research team going back into three South Auckland schools to measure the impact of regular classroom visits focusing on sore throats and skin infections.

Putting on gloves makes nurses and other healthcare workers more likely to fail to wash their hands when caring for patients, the latest national statistics show.

Hand hygiene nurse champion LOUISE DAWSON recently reminded a clinician to carry out hand hygiene before cannulating her. The clinician's response was a cursory hand rub and a comment that the evidence didn't stack up for hand hygiene in most cases anyway.  Dawson wonders whether it will take more superbugs and increasing antibiotic resistance before some finally get the hand hygiene message.

*Two Red Cross nurses – one a veteran and the other on her first mission – are the second Kiwi contingent to head to Sierra Leone to help try and stem the Ebola outbreak.*

Safely returned Red Cross nurse Donna Collins describes the meticulous and life-saving methods of getting out of personal protection equipment (PPE) used in an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone.

Returning Red Cross nurse Donna Collins says the true heroes of fighting Ebola are the national nurses who have lost colleagues, faced eviction by landlords, and have been ostracised by their villages, but they keep turning up for work each day. Back safely from Sierra Leone, Donna talks to FIONA CASSSIE about the testing, sometimes fearful, but ultimately very satisfying mission to help the Ebola-stricken nation.

Would ED nurses here send away an unwell man recently arrived from Liberia? Though the chance of an Ebola victim arriving in New Zealand is very unlikely, both the Ministry of Health and the Infection Control Nurses’ College believe the devastating West African epidemic is a good wake-up call to be ready for what could walk through the door some day…

While the lack of direct flights from West Africa makes the chances of person infected with Ebola flying into New Zealand very unlikely – the risk is always there that another infectious and deadly viruses may one day arrive at an ED or general practice near you. 

Trans-Tasman researchers hope to fast-track developing a vaccine to combat the ‘sore throat that breaks hearts' in New Zealand.

Seventy-five years after the ‘wonder drug’ penicillin saved its first patients, we could be heading toward a post-antibiotic era in which common infections once again kill. Nurses have both a vested interest and a vital role in preventing this. FIONA CASSIE reports.

NURSING REVIEW talked to nurse researchers and an infection control nurse specialist who share stories of fighting infection before antibiotics, the 'H-bug' epidemic of the 50s and today.

From January 2017 both boys and girls will be offered free vaccine protection against human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes genital warts, cervical and some other cancers.

Chickenpox, the last of the common vaccine-preventable childhood diseases, is to be added to the free childhood immunisation schedule from 1 July next year. NURSING REVIEW finds out more.

With New Zealand just about to add another vaccine to its childhood immunisation schedule Nursing Review looks back at other major milestones in the 75 years or so since the first routine vaccinations were offered to Kiwi children.

From whitebaiters in gumboots to a women wearing their favourite boots: nurse REBECCA ABURN shares some case studies from the frontline of diabetes foot care.

Hawke’s Bay nurses were recently tested when Havelock North was hit by what’s believed to be the country’s worst ever waterborne disease outbreak – more than 5,000 people brought down with gastric illness. FIONA CASSIE shares the stories of some of the nurses involved and some of the lessons they learned.

Nursing Review talks to paediatrician Cameron Grant about some of the take-home messages around childhood immunisation in the longitudinal Growing Up in New Zealand study.

To glove or not to glove? Is it ‘nobler’ and safer for nurses to increasingly wear gloves when caring for patients? Fiona Cassie finds out the answer from British infection control researcher Dr Jennie Wilson.

Three Waikato DHB frontline staff were suspended this winter for refusing to wear a mask after declining the flu vaccine. FIONA CASSIE looks at the sometimes fraught issue of infection control campaigns that aim to reduce the risk of influenza by increasing the vaccination levels of nurses and other healthcare workers.

Follow a day in the life of recent graduate nurses Courtney Fermanis from early morning crossfit to door-knocking as an outreach immunisation nurse for her iwi.

Hand hygiene compliance has almost quadrupled in Middlemore Hospital's emergency care department since Debbie Hailstone provided evidence to staff of the bugs lurking on their phones and keyboards.

The mother of two children by the age of 17, Uputaua Suniula is now a nurse  helping to turn around the health of teenagers and children in Porirua.

Keeping nursing procedures up to date can be a tedious and neverending task. For the past three years, however, the five Midland region DHBs have been using a ‘Kiwified’ online nursing procedure service that is shortly to go live across the South Island. FIONA CASSIE finds out more.

Letters to the editor re: hand gel and skin care

Thelma Glasgow started training at Rotorua Hospital with her twin sister back in 1964 and 50 years later the theatre clinical nurse educator is still nursing fulltime. Find out about her nursing day now and nursing days in decades past.

Returning Red Cross nurse Donna Collins says the true heroes of fighting Ebola are the national nurses who have lost colleagues, faced eviction by landlords, and have been ostracised by their villages, yet they keep turning up for work each day. Back safely from Sierra Leone, Donna talks to FIONA CASSSIE about the testing, sometimes fearful, but ultimately very satisfying mission to help the Ebola-stricken nation.

As Nursing Review went to press, three nurses in Western hospitals had acquired Ebola after caring for patients originally infected in West Africa. Though the chance of an Ebola victim arriving in New Zealand still remains very slim, both the Ministry of Health and the Infection Control Nurses’ College believe the devastating West African epidemic is a good wake-up call.

MARGARETH BROODKORN takes a look at the chequered history of hand washing and asks whether today's health professionals have progressed that much?

CYNTHIA WENSLEY in this Clinically Appraised Topic (CAT) looks at whether or not enriching tube feeding with immune-boosting nutrients reduces infection.

*Does taking good *bugs* (probiotics) keep bad bugs at bay in hospital? *

Vulnerability is a common thread through many articles in Nursing Review this edition.

Surgery can be traumatic enough for a patient without an infection setting them back weeks, months, or even disabling them for a lifetime. LINLEY BONIFACE* of the Health Quality & Safety Commission backgrounds the national campaign to prevent surgical site infections and the role that nursing plays.

More than 150 children have been hospitalised this year with pertussis (whooping cough) and three babies in all have died since the outbreak began in August 2011. TRISH WELLS-MORRIS, education facilitator for the Immunisation Advisory Centre* puts the argument for all those caring for infants – be it as nurses, parents, or grandparents ­­– to be immunised against the disease.

Winter ‘flu season looms

Kerry Kennedy's day starts with her dog demanding a walk. Her working day starts at her home desk inputting yesterday's notes before hitting the road to visiting hepatitis patients needing regular blood tests because of the risk of liver disease.

Last year 46 per cent of district health board nurses got vaccinated against the flu – less than the 48 per cent average for all DHB heath workers. This article explores the debate around the value, ethics, and efficacy of health professionals getting the annual flu vaccination and looks at some of the statistics, research, and prevailing attitudes around the sometimes contentious topic.

NEWS including: New graduate job data online/ Meningitis research highlights sharing drinks risk/ Nursing ePortfolio to be rolled out/ Kiwi nurse in Oz honours list

Green nail polish?

CLINICALLY APPRAISED TOPIC (CAT): Does bathing patients with antiseptic cloths reduce bloodstream infections?

Can use of reminder prompts to both the patient and the provider increase influenza vaccination rates amongst the elderly?

Just a sore throat … too many families now know some sore throats last a lifetime. FIONA CASSIE talks with some of the passionate pioneers of school throat-swabbing campaigns as the national Rheumatic Fever Prevention programme rolls out.

*Wielding a big needle once a month doesn’t make Sandra Ball many friends with her young rheumatic fever patients.*

*It was in South Auckland that school-based sore throat clinics were first trialled in New Zealand.*

Keeping your hands clean? Maybe not. National statistics show Kiwi nurses are missing one in three occasions they should be reaching for the hand gel. FIONA CASSIE looks at the Hand Hygiene New Zealand programme.

The number of nurses getting swine flu last year was not significantly different to the general population, a major study for the Ministry of Health has found.

Last winter’s pandemic flu saw intensive care admissions for acute respiratory distress skyrocket to 15 times higher than previous years, a study has confirmed.