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

About 15 registered nurse prescribers have now been authorised since the new prescribing pathway came into affect last September. But numbers are expected to grow soon with the first graduates of the new postgraduate diplomas in RN prescribing due this winter. 

Rural nurses are being surveyed and urged to vote for a working group to up the profile of nurses working rurally from small town hospitals to remote communities. 

In New York today NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku repeated her call to a United Nations forum for a Māori nursing workforce strategy to help meet Māori health needs.

Nearly 70 primary health and family planning nurses from Invercargill to Whangarei are trialling a third level of nurse prescribing. The new limited level of prescribing rights – to be known as registered nurse prescribing in community health – is aimed at nurses currently using standing orders and is a step below the registered nurse prescribing in primary health and specialty teams which got underway in September last year.

A young nurse serving the high-needs Aranui community in east Christchurch has won an award for emerging healthcare leaders.

World first research showing sore throat clinics in South Auckland schools helped dramatically drop rheumatic fever rates justifies the hard work put in by nurses and whānau workers, says nurse leader and co-researcher Lizzie Farrell.

A new study of Australian woman getting the flu vaccine while pregnant has added to the safety evidence of immunisation during pregnancy.

Her first script was for paracetamol but writing it herself was "still an awesome feeling", says the country's first registered nurse prescriber.

A pilot to boost Māori nurse numbers in primary health care is underway in South Auckland with four graduates employed and a New Year intake to follow.

Nurse practitioner Pareake O'Brien says she is stunned to win the Te Akenehi Hei Award that was also awarded to her late mother Putiputi O'Brien more than a decade ago.

A once "rebellious" teenage mum and now passionate convert to rural outreach nursing says she is humbled to be the joint winner of the Young Nurse of the Year Award.

E-cigarettes containing nicotine should be freely for sale and organisations allowed to decide where people can 'vape' to help people quit tobacco, says Smokefree Nurses Aotearoa.

A New Zealand Nurses Organisation petition launched at the recent Indigenous Nurses Conference was just a few hundred signatures short of it target five days later.

A founder of the faith nursing movement in New Zealand, Elaine Tyrrell, was recently honoured with a Queen's Service Medal for her nearly 20 years work in the field.

After nursing patients with chronic kidney disease for more than two decades, Suzanne Joynt has seen the comfort and support that advance care planning (ACP) about end-of-life care can provide for patients and their families. So when her stepfather was diagnosed with a terminal illness, she hoped other nurses would be aware of its benefits too.

Nurses from Great Barrier Island to Franz Josef – including three new Māori nurse practitioners ­– were honoured at this month's national rural health conference.

Nurses have a key role in reducing the threat of antibiotic resistance that could cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050, says the new Kiwi leader of the International Council of Nurses Dr Frances Hughes.

ROSEMARY MINTO believes the key to making a difference to patients is finding the self-belief system driving their health behaviours. Read on to find out how out the primary health care nurse practitioner has chosen New Year's resolutions to help her to do just that.

Safe Sleep Day is on December 4 to help ensure babies sleep safely this summer. A safe sleeping advisor tells Nursing Review that nurses often have special opportunities to ask the questions that can make a difference to vulnerable families.

The first ever appointment of an NP into a rural general practice by a government-funded rural recruiter is hoped to open doors for more NP placements to follow.

A 26-year-old nurse whose working day can range from treating glacier accident victims to running mother and baby groups has won the 2015 NZNO Young Nurse of the Year award.

A Christchurch women's health nurse inspired by her mother's cancer death and a nursing professor specialising in interprofessional practice and perioperative care have received NZNO's top award.

Nursing taonga Putiputi O'Brien RN QSO passed away this month aged 93.  NGAIRA HARKER of the College of Nurses Aotearoa, HEMAIMA HUGHES of Te Kaunihera o Nga Neehi Māori o Aotearoa (the National Council of Māori Nurses) and KERRI NUKU of Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO pay tribute to this special nurse. 

KIM CARTER on why nurses may need to step out of their comfort zone to ensure good care for all clients across the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity.

The fate of more than 100 Healthline nurses is unknown after another provider was chosen to launch a merged national telehealth service later this year.

ROSEMARY MINTO calls for nurses to be informed and take a lead in educating men and their whānau about prostate cancer. The NP, who sadly lost her own father to the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, is a member of the Prostate Cancer Working Group, which is soon to release a long-awaited best practice pathway for prostate cancer testing and management.

JANE HANNAH, a heart failure nurse specialist, says some families expect her to arrive in 'black robes and carrying a sickle' when referred for an 'end of life' discussion.  But she says anxiety falls and patients are more satisfied with their care after having a 'conversation that counts

Becoming a facilitator rather than a dictator of care…CHERYL CALVERT, a gerontology nurse specialist, shares the profound difference becoming an Advanced Care Planning facilitator has made to her practice

*Small town nurse KIM CARTER is well aware of the Rapid Response Rural Grapevine (RRRG) and even more so after her recent wedding. She reflects on when to share and not to share with patients, and on finding the balance between building a therapeutic relationship and maintaining Code of Conduct professional boundaries.*

Tales of the days of nursing hostel curfews, starched caps and when 'doctors were God' can be heard online with the launch of New Zealand's first nursing oral history archive.

OPINION: NP Rosemary Minto looks back to successes of the past and looks forward to a time when the primary health care paradigm gets a bigger shove in the right direction.

One of the country's largest primary health organisations – Auckland's ProCare – has appointed its first ever nursing director. Lorraine Hetaraka Stevens

Nursing leaders are angry and frustrated at moves to exclude nurse practitioner-led services from being eligible for general practice-only funding.

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.

Firsthand positive experience of nurse practitioners prompted a Timaru GP to sponsor NP advocate Professor Jenny Carryer on an NP road show to the region.

A last minute boost to the new scholarship funding has seen 13 practices serving high need South Auckland communities take on new graduate nurses.

$40 million of the Green’s proposed $100 million School Hub policy is earmarked for nursing services in primary schools.

Free prescriptions and more time … primary health nurse practitioner ROSEMARY MINTO argues for what could most help patients like Charlie*.

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.

Sharon Hansen, NP and deputy chair of the Rural General Practice Network (NZRGPN) responds to nurse leaders concerns about barriers to NP practice in rural areas being created by new definition of general practice team

Christchurch nursing students from Afghanistan to Japan are the first winners of a new annual Pegasus Health Scholarship award for migrant and refugee students.

Palliative care nurse advisor ANNE MORGAN asks whether feeding the dying is the right thing to do or simply the easiest option when faced with families who see withdrawing nutrition as "cruel" or "starving the person to death".

Primary health nurse practitioner ROSEMARY MINTO on the challenge of "flicking the switch" to good health habits and the need to realise the 'story' behind each reluctant quitter or non-exerciser. Plus the need to be funded to give the time required to support people make and maintain lifestyle change – particularly with the low levels of health literacy.

Treasury highlights the "critical importance" of focusing on patient safety and not just narrow government targets, in its briefing to the new Health Minister.

Nurse and general practice co-owner KIM CARTER believes one of the biggest barriers stopping nursing from making a bigger difference in primary health is nurses' attitude to money.

The country's first child and youth NP, PAULA RENOUF, says a decade on, some things have improved but still too many children are falling through the cracks.

*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.*

*Nurses are asked to be "kind and non-judgemental" in series of videos released on a new website aiming to help nurses better understand and help smokers stop.*

More nurses could be getting the right to prescribing from early next year – if the current Nursing Council application is given Cabinet approval.

Opening up prescribing to suitably qualified nurses in primary health and other specialties is a step closer with a formal application being lodged by the Nursing Council with the Ministry of Health.

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. 

Nurses nationwide are invited to take part in a major online survey hoping to pinpoint the real differences between a staff nurse and a specialist nurse’s daily work.

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

Primary health nurse practitioner ROSEMARY MINTO argues why nurses and health planners and providers should sit up and take more notice of Whānau Ora – a home-grown model she believes could help overcome health inequities in New Zealand.

Addiction lecturer and mental health nurse Dr DARYLE DEERING says people affected by mental health and addiction issues need a response from compassionate and skilled nurses.

Not all people are ‘typical’ males or females. Nurse educator CRAIG WATERWORTH is keen to raise awareness amongst nurses about intersex people so they can be better supported.

FoodSwitch - Health Navigator review of a NZ-developed nutrition app that helps people find out more about the food products available on their local supermarket shelf. 

Vicky Noble’s latest role is advising on health delivery to prisoners across the country. But along the way the nursing leader has nursed in New York to Beijing and worked as a glass artist.

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.

A new national health target is underway on screening and referring obese four-year-olds. FIONA CASSIE finds out more and whether this is enough to help curtail the 10 per cent of Kiwi kids who are now clinically obese – fat to the point that their health is likely to be at risk.

Nursing Review reports that nurses need to put away their own prejudices or guilt about weight and start conversations that will help families find a healthy way forward.

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.

Checking the feet of diabetes patients may be some of the most effective wound care a nurse can provide. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about how to prevent and detect the early signs of foot ulcers that can see people losing toes, feet and even legs.

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.

A tsunami of mental health challenges on the horizon is helping to bring PHC nursing leaders across the Auckland isthmus together. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about the resulting collaborative project to upskill primary health nurses in mental health and addiction.

When is a nurse at risk of jeopardising being a ‘good nurse’ in their eagerness to be a ‘good neighbour’ or ‘good teammate’? PATRICIA McCLUNIE-TRUST uses a case study to work through some of the professional boundary issues that nurses can face.

In the latest battle in the pay parity war, the NZNO has presented a number of interventions to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on behalf of iwi provider nurses and health workers. 

Loneliness can be a precursor to depression in older people. NICKY DAVIES for her PhD thesis asked older people what they think loneliness actually is. FIONA CASSIE reports on the findings and the take-home messages for nurses working with older people who may be lonely… or just alone.

The nursing sector has its collective fingers crossed that it is only months away from nurse prescribing being opened up to more than just nurse practitioners and diabetes nurse specialists, including nurses working in other long-term conditions. Nursing Review reports.

Every day around 24 New Zealanders –75 per cent of them aged over 65 – have a stroke. These 9,000 or so ‘brain attacks’ a year are the major cause of serious adult disability in the country, but stroke nursing is a specialty still relatively in its infancy in New Zealand. FIONA CASSIE finds out more from nurses working in the field.

Nurse-turned-lawyer Robin Kay looks at the value of good clinical notes and gives some guidance on how to write them.

Dr ANECITA GIGI LIM looks at how NSAIDs work and in particular how using NSAIDs can increase the risk of acute kidney injury.

Research into insights gained by a ‘rapid scan’ survey of Nurse Maude’s district nurses 18 months after the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake was also shared at the People in Disasters Conference.

Nursing director LORRAINE HETARAKA-STEVENS calls for innovative and courageous strategies to recruit more new graduate nurses, including under-represented Māori, into the ageing primary health nurse workforce.

Nursing Review looks at the extra expectations that are often placed on Māori and Pacific nurses and shares some advice for nurses and workplaces on how to avoid the risk of burnout.

Back in 1908, one of the country’s first Māori registered nurses and midwives, Akenehi Hei*, struggled to get the government to pay for her work. More than a century later, nurses working for Māori and iwi health providers are still struggling with pay equity issues, says Kerri Nuku, kaiwhakahaere of Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO.

Nurse turned life coach JAN AITKEN reflects on how well nurses look after themselves and offers some advice on self-care for nurses.

More than 1,000 New Zealand women are diagnosed with gynaecological cancers every year and around 400 die of them – the majority from ovarian cancer. Nursing Review seeks to raise awareness of this female-only group of cancers, including why labelling ovarian cancer the ‘silent killer’ is not helpful, what obesity has to do with endometrial cancer, and how a vaccine can save lives. FIONA CASSIE reports.

The number of women who die from cervical cancer in New Zealand has dropped dramatically by 60 per cent since 1990. The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, available free to all young women under 20, may in the future see even fewer women lost to this most preventable and most high profile of the gynaecological cancers.

A “very, very distressing” cancer that nobody talks about. This is how Christchurch gynaecological oncologist Bryony Simcock opened her address on vulval cancer to last year’s NZNO Women’s Health section conference.

Is mindfulness clinically effective? Check out this edition’s Critically Appraised Topic (CAT)

As registered nurse prescribing inches closer, MARK JONES and JILL WILKINSON argue that prescribing innovations could be better and faster in the future if the Queen wasn’t involved. They are calling for the proposed new Medicines Act to see a handover in power for deciding nursing’s prescriptive authority from the Queen (ie, the Crown) to the Nursing Council.

PROFESSOR JENNY CARRYER calls for courageous disruption to ensure the new Health Strategy leads to changes in the health system with a positive impact on population health.

A safe sleeping advisor tells Nursing Review that nurses often have special opportunities to ask the questions that can make a difference to vulnerable families.

A nursing mantra for much of the past two decades has been evidence-based practice. US nursing researcher Dr Karen Monsen believes it’s time to rethink that mantra and instead start mining ‘big data’ for practice-based evidence of expert nursing. Fiona Cassie reports.

Is your New Year resolution to have a better “work-life balance” in 2016? As a Christmas and Summer bonus we have updated and re-published our first ever RRR professional development article & activity that looks at just that topic. 

Thousands of children turn up each year in hospitals with respiratory and skin conditions. Many of them return to damp, cold or overcrowded houses that further aggravate or caused the conditions in the first place. FIONA CASSIE talks to two nurses whose focus is working with families to prevent the adverse effects of sub-standard housing on child health.

Kidz First public health nurses see the reality of how Auckland’s housing crisis impacts on often struggling families. Seven nurses and their clinical nurse manager Lizzie Farrell share stories of some of the families they work and walk alongside.

Housing researcher NEVIL PIERSE talks to Nursing Review about getting the hard statistics and evidence to back healthy housing initiatives.

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.

Debridement can be simple and slow or quick and complex. FIONA CASSIE finds out from wound care nurse specialist Emil Schmidt some of the ‘whys’ ‘wheres’ and ‘hows’ of simple debridement – and when to call in the experts.

Nursing taonga Putiputi O’Brien RN QSO passed away in August aged 93. NGAIRA HARKER, HEMAIMA HUGHES and KERRI NUKU pay tribute to this special nurse.

Nursing Review updates the next steps towards widened registered nurse prescribing in, hopefully, 2016.

Michael McIlhone is the director of nursing for one of the country's largest PHO's. Find out more about this nurse leader who was a teenage 'zambuck' at a Lions vs All Black test and who believes a sense of humour and a strong sense of social values are pretty essential to be a nurse.

Outrage at yet another bottle store opening in her down, but far from out, community stung Christchurch practice nurse KAREN CARPENTER into action. FIONA CASSIE talks to the Aranui nurse about her successful campaign, her resulting community leadership award and her realisation that nurses can make a difference.

What do today’s modern libraries offer nurses who walk through their doors or, more frequently, login online? FIONA CASSIE talks to district health board librarians VIV KERR and PETER MURGATROYD.

How does a young nurse’s income stack up against those of his or her peers who become teachers or lawyers? Do we lose more young nurses overseas than other professions? Why does the average income of nurse graduates plateau and fall after five years? FIONA CASSIE reports on two Ministry of Education studies about young graduates’ incomes and destinations.

It is now around eight years since funding for postgraduate nursing study was decentralised to district health boards.

A positive evaluation of a Health Workforce New Zealand-funded physician assistant (PA) pilot in primary health has been released. HWNZ has no plans to take further steps to initiate a PA training programme but more US-trained PAs are being sought by practices and an application for regulation of the role is in the pipeline. FIONA CASSIE reports.

It’s cold season; your nose is running and your throat is sore. CYNTHIA WENSLEY looks at the evidence for zinc as a cold remedy.

The last edition of Nursing Review contained an article called ‘Fad diets: what do dietitians say about the latest crop?’ that looked at some of the latest dietary trends; in particular, the Paleo diet, the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet, the no-sugar approach and the low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) approach.

When it comes to smoking cessation tools, it seems there are mixed signals around e-cigarettes. Some argue they could be lifesavers for tobacco smokers struggling to quit; others argue they are a smokescreen for a new generation of problems. *So what knowledge should nurses have on the subject? Nursing Review attempts to clear the air.* 

Any diet that bans fruit has to raise eyebrows. The same goes for a diet that advocates lashings of cream and butter with every meal. The demonising of one food group as the source of all dietary evil, or the fixation on another as a saviour, is often the key selling point for the latest fashionable weight loss diet.

That patient with the persistent cough or wheeze may be mislabelled asthmatic. And that COPD patient prescribed a steroid inhaler may only be increasing their risk of pneumonia. Nursing Review talks to respiratory physician associate professor Jeff Garrett about misdiagnoses and misclassifications that can result in misprescribing for some airway disorders.

Nursing Review talks to pain management NP Sue King about not only the pain associated with the more common long-term conditions but also about chronic pain as a long-term condition in its own right – and how nurses can best help their patients manage it.

While interRAI is still the new, and sometimes unpopular, kid on the block in residential aged care, it is already well established in the DHBs’ Health of Older People community sector. FIONA CASSIE talks to a Nelson gerontology nurse and interRAI lead practitioner GABRIELLE STENT about why she thinks interRAI is worth getting to know.

Pelvic examinations involve much more than good speculum technique. Researcher Dr Catherine Cook addressed the recent NZNO Women’s Health Section conference about what Māori women reported made a gynaecology exam into a positive experience they were willing to repeat. FIONA CASSIE reports.

Counties Manukau District Health Board is entering its fifth year of successive campaigns to foster community answers to better self-management of long-term conditions (LTC) and fewer hospital admissions. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about the latest campaign, Manaaki Hauora, and about 'Huff and Puff'; just one of the 20 plus projects now underway.

Penguin & whale spotting at lunchtime...Caryn Braun spent the Antarctic summer as a flight nurse at McMurdo Station for the United States Antarctic Programme. Find out about the day in the life of a nurse in Antarctica.

*Blanket screening for family violence in primary health is the dream of family violence intervention champion Debs Higgins of Hastings Health Centre.*

’Tough customers’ are now turning up for appointments more and more often since primary health care NP Jane Dutton joined Whanganui’s Castlecliff Health nearly six months ago.

Dunedin’s criminal courts are home turf for Patsy-Jane Tarrant, who recently gained a doctorate in her specialty field of forensic mental health.

A pre-diabetes education programme successfully preventing diabetes in the community is one initiative that helped lead to Palmerston North clinical nurse specialist and diabetes prescriber Tracey McNeur being nominated as a nursing hero.

Rotorua nurse Bev Gray is retiring after 50 years of nursing including setting up the city's first coronary ICU to public health nursing and says, given the chance, she would choose nursing all over again.

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.

US-born Kiwi-trained nurse Brittany Jenkins is a West Coast hero for developing a resuscitation service for health practitioners stretching from Karamea to Haast.

The hero nomination of home dialysis nurse Sue Patience is the result of her dedicated support of patients caught by last year’s Auckland power outage and her earlier work for evacuated Christchurch earthquake dialysis patients.

Anne Sisam is a public health nurse hero working with vulnerable families in a caravan park in West Auckland to empower them to keep healthy.

More clients than ever before can consult with a nurse by phone following a new initiative that Family Planning nursing leader Rose Stewart helped develop.

This International Nurses Day, nurses are being asked not to leave health system finances just to the bean-counters in the back room. Instead, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) says nurses should be actively engaged in thinking about how each dollar can be best spent to improve health care. Nursing Review reports.

Patients shared stories across the Auckland isthmus recently during the inaugural region-wide Patient Experience Week. LYNNE MAHER tells FIONA CASSIE why nurses and other health professionals need timely reminders that patients seek courtesy, communication and compassion as part of good clinical care.

Tales of the days of nursing hostel curfews, starched caps and when “doctors were God” can be heard online with the launch of New Zealand’s first nursing oral history archive.

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.

LIZ MANNING shares some simple tips on how to keep your nursing portfolio manageable, succinct, and of a good quality.

This edition’s critically appraised topic (CAT) looks at how best to reduce the risk of delirium in elderly patients without turning to drugs.

Nursing Review caught up with Minister of Health and former GP, Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN, recently to talk about his plans to move more funding from the secondary to the primary health sector, and his views on the nursing and physician assistant roles.

Lorraine Hetaraka-Stevens is the first nursing director for the country's largest PHO, ProCare. Check out who inspired her to go nursing, her wish list for nursing and why she'd like to head to Vietnam some day.

Sexuality is central to being human but is not always a topic we are ready to discuss indepth over a cup of coffee or raise with our patients. Nursing Review asked Mary Hodson, a therapist specialising in emotional and sexual intimacy, to share some thoughts on maintaining your sexual wellbeing.

Four years on, Christchurch’s nurses are still driving on bumpy roads to workplaces that are often temporary or under repair before returning to a home that may still be cracked or leaking. And with a $650 million rebuild, redevelopment and reshuffle of hospital services underway over the next four years and increasing demand for mental health services, it seems there is little relief in sight.

FIONA CASSIE talks to SUE TURNER, manager of Canterbury’s All Right? wellbeing initiative, about one small silver lining of the quakes – people’s awareness of their own mental health – and how All Right? is helping people restore and maintain their personal wellbeing.

A toolkit of quick, fun activities for kids first developed to help quake-stressed parents is now a free smartphone app available across the country.

Looking after our skin often comes a distant second to extramural study, full-time work and looking after family in the busy world of today’s nurses. Cosmetic nurse LARA MOLLOY shares some practical and quick skin care tips for nurses on the go.

Is one-off advice on pelvic floor exercises enough to keep urinary incontinence at bay? This edition’s critically appraised topic (CAT) looks at whether pelvic floor muscle training makes a difference.

The vision for the end of 2014 was for all New Zealanders to have electronic access to their core personal health information*. The reality is that it is still some time away. NURSING REVIEW gives you an update on where sharing electronic health records between patients, practices, pharmacies, hospitals, and other health professionals is up to.

Is a smartphone app more successful in increasing physical activity than setting goals? Step up and check out this edition's critically appraised topic (CAT). 

Young people walking through the door of Youth One Stop Shops around the country are offered a holistic, wraparound service that many nurses aspire to. FIONA CASSIE learns that it comes at the cost of a continuous funding struggle to keep the – often nurse-led – youth health services running.

Better meeting the health needs of young people is a major aim of a new nursing framework.  FIONA CASSIE finds out more about the National Youth Health Nursing Knowledge and Skills Framework, which outlines the essential skills all nurses should have, as well as those specialising in working with youth.

Heather Laxon's job as a school nurse at Mangere College is a lot more complicated than the stereotype of patching scraped knees. Read on to discover the complexities the modern school nurses faces.

Every year, more than 20,000 claims are made to ACC for burn injuries. Burn clinical nurse specialists Deborah Murray and Jackie Beaumont see many of the worst of them. FIONA CASSIE gets advice from the pair about first aid and management of minor burns for nurses in the community and discovers there is no such thing as a ‘simple’ burn.

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.

FIONA CASSIE talks to nursing leader and Children's Team member Sonia Rapana about her role in the Children's Team initiative to help children not only survive but also thrive.

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

PHO clinical manager BARBARA VARDEY says until recently she has been an ‘accidental tourist’ along her career path.

Seventeen years after stepping into her pioneering role as a Canterbury primary health care nursing leader Shelley Frost has stepped down to concentrate on national roles

Find out what gets rural nurse practitioner Sharon Hansen out of bed at 5.30am. And what three wishes Hansen, who is also deputy chair of the Rural General Practice Network, would like granted for nursing.

Long-term mental health clients die prematurely at up to three times the rate of the rest of the New Zealand population. FIONA CASSIE finds out how nurses have been responding to long-standing calls to improve the physical health of people with long-term mental illness.

A recently released survey of 1500 Kiwi patients found them to be largely satisfied with the nurse at their practice. Co-researcher Deborah Davies talks to FIONA CASSIE about the research and how it links to a new knowledge and skills framework that could see both patient satisfaction and expectations of their nurse rise.

Not ignoring “just a smoker’s cough” and other symptoms could see more of the 2000 Kiwis diagnosed with lung cancer each year living longer and better quality lives. FIONA CASSIE talks to lung cancer and respiratory nurse specialists about how nurses can play a part.

The frustration and isolation of suddenly becoming a 24/7 carer for her husband in an “ad hoc” and “failing” health system prompted long-standing Wellington local politician HELENE RITCHIE to tell her story and call for a Royal Commission inquiry into carer issues.

6.15am: I leap out of bed and go for a walk ... NOT!  Reality is that I snooze for another 15 minutes then drag myself from my happy place to make a cuppa...  Read on and find out how the rest of the day pans out for primary health care nurse Robynann Dyson.

PROFESSOR JENNY CARRYER is alarmed that after 10 years of battling barriers hindering nurse practitioners, a new contract currently being negotiated for primary health providers could create yet another barrier.

Nursing leaders are angry and frustrated at moves to exclude nurse practitioner-led services from being eligible for general practice-only funding.

Denis Allen starts his working day by heading through a metal detector scanner, picking up a kilo of keys and radio before passing through eight remote controlled doors to arrive finally at the prison health clinic. Find out more about his day

Promoting healthy lifestyles is bread and butter for today’s nurses, but recent research indicates Kiwi nurses are more likely to be obese then their patients. FIONA CASSIE discovers more about nursing, obesity, and weight management.

When orthopaedic nurse Helen Bloomer talks to her overweight patients about weight loss, she can see them thinking “what would that skinny runt know”.

So should employers be walking the talk by supporting their nurses to maintain a healthy weight by supporting healthy lifestyle choices?

Screening of the country’s Special Olympics athletes shows high levels of undiagnosed health issues. Special Olympics CEO KATHY GIBSON challenges the policy makers and the health sector to provide free health screening for people with intellectual disabilities.

Self-declared ‘BC’ (before computers) nurse Jodie Healey, once daunted by IT, is now the e-Medication clinical liaison nurse for Southern District Health Board. FIONA CASSIE talks to her about bringing her fellow ‘BC’ nurses over to the advantages of electronic medication management at the bedside.

NEWS

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

Janine Spence's day begins early, very early, huddled in a blanket studying for her Masters degree before her children wake. Her working day is filled with children and families as co-ordinator of B4 School Checks and outreach immunisation for mostly vulnerable families without their own GP.

The first public health nurses went into primary schools in the 1920s and still work there today. How many, and how much time this often stretched-thin workforce can spend in schools, were talking points in parliament this year. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about the debate and new initiatives for nurses in primary schools from Kaitaia to Aranui.

The MOKO project: from itchy kutu-infested head to playground advocate

Mana Clinic: the way it could and should be?

Aranui Neighbourhood Nurse: Kids open the doors to families in need

Being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child or teenager means living with an ‘in your face’, chronic condition for the rest of your life. FIONA CASSIE talks to adolescent diabetes nurse specialist Kirsty Newton and primary health nurse Catherine Nelson about creating an on-campus, specialist support service for young people with diabetes at Victoria University of Wellington.

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.

Sharon Hansen, NP and deputy chair of the Rural General Practice Network (NZRGPN) responds to nurse leaders concerns about barriers to NP practice in rural areas being created by new definition of general practice team

Free prescriptions and more time … primary health nurse practitioner ROSEMARY MINTO argues for what could most help patients like Charlie*.

College of Nurses co-chair TAIMA CAMPBELL argues that climate change is a public health and nursing issue as much as an environmental issue. Read on to find out more.

Former barman and now ED nurse practitioner MICHAEL GERAGHTY wonders when Kiwis will grow out of defining a great night as waking up feeling sick with no memory of the previous night and no cash in their wallet.

ANDY McLACHLAN – Scotsman, cardiology NP and past-consumer of deep-fried pizza and hamburgers the size of your head – recently got lectured by an after-hours pharmacist while picking up his type 2 diabetes medication. As a reformed character with great blood sugar, cholesterol, a BMI of 24 (and only succumbing to the occasional pink iced bun) McLachlan suggests sensitivity is needed for when and how health professionals’ offer lifestyle advice to patients.

We look to nurses as learners, educators, and leaders in this edition. Read on about teaching fledgling nurses in the classroom and on the ward, fostering leadership skills, nurses sharing their career tales, and milestones past and future in the recognition of competence and professional development.

NEWS: Nursing Council restructuring/ Challenge thrown to PHC nurses/

Care Plus entered nursing’s vocabulary a decade ago. Has it helped nursing tackle the burden of chronic conditions and better support for people to manage their health? Or has it added up to not much? FIONA CASSIE does the sums…

Too narrow and too prescriptive is Helen Kjestrup’s verdict on Care Plus. So the clinical services manager for Masterton Medical Centre grabbed the chance offered by bulk-funding to say goodbye to the more onerous restrictions of Care Plus.

One of the country’s long-term conditions care pioneers has been bubbling with innovation but lagging behind in patients signed up to its basic care package.

After lagging at the bottom, Western Bay of Plenty PHO is now perched at the top of the ‘more heart checks’ performance table. FIONA CASSIE talks to RN and general practice coordinator Donna McArley on getting the heart tick and moving on to managing those highlighted as being at risk. She also talks to outreach clinical nurse leader Sue Matthews about doing heart checks at truck stops to freezing works.

Truckies are being waved down and pulled off the road in the Bay of Plenty for the good of their health.

Nursing Review checks out the momentum on the new Diabetes Care Improvement Packages and finds report cards ranging from ‘excellent’ to ‘could do better’.

A Christchurch randomised-control trial found people struggling with managing their diabetes made significant improvements after a one-day education session. FIONA CASSIE talks to Lisa Whitehead about the research team’s findings and their ‘hunch’ that combining cognitive behaviour therapy with education could be even more effective.

Canterbury quakes saw Christchurch lose more than 650 residential care beds. One response was TotalCare – a collaborative approach led by community-based Nurse Maude to offer residential care in the home. Nursing Review reports on Sheree East’s recent presentation on the scheme to the Home Health Association conference.

Gisborne nurse Janet Askew loves her garden, being a grandma, and working in some of the world’s worst trouble spots. A decade of working in war-torn Sudan to natural disaster-hit Indonesia recently won her Red Cross’s highest international nursing award ­– the Florence Nightingale Medal. She tells FIONA CASSIE why she loves her work.

In the last two years, 170 patients fell while in public hospital care and broke their hips, and 22 of those people died earlier than expected. FIONA CASSIE talks to Sandy Blake about the new national drive to reduce falls and her pilot of a bedside electronic falls risk assessment tool using TrendCare.

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

Paula Renouf became the country’s first nurse prescriber in June 2003. Nursing Review caught up with her on travelling sabbatical in the United States’ Pacific North West and asked her to reflect back on the decade that’s followed.

No doctors’ appointments ‘til Friday. Why not see the nurse instead? MidCentral is upskilling practice nurses to assess and treat patients who front up to acute care walk-in clinics with minor ailments and illnesses. FIONA CASSIE finds out more

Diabetes nursing managed to ‘jump the gun’ to RN prescribing with a successful demonstration site. Next off the starting blocks is expected to be respiratory nursing. FIONA CASSIE looks at some specialist areas and their likely prescribing ambitions.

One issue that prescribing reform will hopefully improve is the current grey area over when a nurse is ‘advising’ or ‘prescribing’ an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine like paracetamol.

To celebrate International Nurses Day this year Nursing Review invited district health boards across the country to contribute stories on nursing ‘heroes’ in their region. We got stories back on just some of the unsung, innovative, compassionate, high achievers and dedicated nurses that make up the New Zealand nursing workforce.

NICOLA RUSSELL vents some frustration that in 2013 general practice is still largely “business as usual” despite the optimistic rhetoric of the 2001 Primary Health Care Strategy. She also calls for input into an upcoming College of Nurses workshop for nurses keen to explore developing primary health care nursing services.

NEWS briefs including: *New nurse leaders appointed/ *About 200 nurses affected by migration changes/ *New STI resource for health professionals***

You’re as old as you feel. Whether nurses feel wiser or worn -  more and more are nursing into their 60s and beyond. Persuading even more baby boomers to delay retirement is increasingly high on the agenda as we face the double whammy of an ageing population – more nurses due to retire at the same time as more demand for health services. Nursing Review looks at what nursing can do to better support older nurses to keep nursing.

The alarm goes off at 5am, and not long after, Margaret Woodcock is taking the brisk 20-minute walk to the train station to catch the 6am train to work.

Had a good night’s sleep recently? No? You are not alone – about one in four Kiwis have chronic insomnia at some point in their lives.

Want to get fitter and stronger but short on energy and time? FIONA CASSIE talks to nurse-turned-personal trainer Jo Stark about squeezing exercise into your life minute by minute.

Find out more about GPNZ chair SHELLEY FROST - her favourite movies, missing hands-on nursing and why she does her grocery shopping online.

Eating healthily ain’t rocket science. And it isn’t about fad diets either. But it does take organisation. Nurse-turned-life coach Jan Aitken shares tips for becoming a healthier eater.

The first primary health nurse to gain formal recognition for her mental health nursing skills has been credentialed and others are due to follow.

A free online learning programme to help primary health care nurses meet the growing demands for diabetes care is being offered on a newly launched website.

Timely phone calls after discharge can help the frail elderly stay well and stay home. FIONA CASSIE reports on Dr Claire Heppenstall’s PhD research into the frail elderly recently presented to the College of Nurses symposium.

KIM CARTER two years ago boldly went where few nurses have gone before. She shares tips and encouragement for nurses considering following in her pioneer footsteps and buying a general practice.

Plunket Nurse Maria Browne's day starts with waking three teenagers before heading off on the bumpy roads of post-quake Christchurch. Read on to find out more...

The White Paper for Vulnerable Children was a major new policy plank for 2012 and training all ‘front line professionals’ in detecting child abuse and neglect is one of its key aims. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about why child protection training is important for nurses.

Nurse practitioners’ frustration at “millions” being found for physician assistant pilots when NP practices serving high-needs communities are closing or near broke was vented at their recent annual conference.

US-trained physician assistants will be at work in five medical centres from Huntley to Gore by the end of the year, Health Workforce New Zealand has confirmed.

A nurse practitioner survey found five of the country’s NPs are still hunting for NP positions.

How should nurses behave? The Nursing Council recently released its 21st century guide to what patients should and shouldn’t expect from their nurse. FIONA CASSIE looks at what’s new in a new Code of Conduct underpinned by traditional values

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

Youth health NP LOU ROEBUCK and Professor JENNY CARRYER, patron of youth one-stop shop, WAVES, ask why a popular health service helping thousands of young people can’t get funding.

Nursing opposition to the proposed delegated prescriber role has been tempered by amendments proposed by the Health Select Committee to the Medicines Amendment Bill.

This edition's RRR (Reading, reflection and application in reality) looks at what health literacy means for nursing and finds that patient-centred communication is still the answer.

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.*

FIONA CASSIE talks to Victoria’s doyenne of wound care, Jan Rice*, about new wound science, old-fashioned wound cleaning, and eating to heal.

JENNI MANUEL shares a day in her life travelling the bumpy roads of Christchurch as a community mental health nurse case manager for the Canterbury District Health Board.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation policy advisor Jill Clendon took a look at the New Zealand general practice model of primary health care and found it lacking at the recent primary health care nurses conference.

Sharon Myoji Schnare, a United States-based family and women’s health nurse practitioner addressed the recent primary health care nurses' conference* about the brave new world opening up to nursing.

TAIMA CAMPBELL ‘plain packages’ the need to tell the truth about the tobacco industry.

If your car is your home, it’s tough getting diabetes under control. FIONA CASSIE looks at a whānau ora approach to chronic conditions at one of the country’s first whānau ora centres.

Lyvia Marsden brings 50 years of nursing to the ‘non-nursing’ whānau ora model she developed for North Shore’s Te Puna Hauora. FIONA CASSIE talks to the president of the National Council of Māori Nurses and other Te Puna nurses about their approach to chronic conditions and whānau ora. And how nurses can't be all things to all people.

From July 1, free Get Checked diabetes annual reviews are no longer. Funding for the maligned scheme gave a kickstart to many nurse-led diabetes clinics in primary care. What happens next?

Respiratory nurse practitioner Diana Hart helps the morbidly obese breathe easily again at night. FIONA CASSIE learns more about her successful bi-level ventilation clinics.

Sue Schroder walks to work knowing her twin pre-schoolers are in her husband's good hands.  She then sets to work with the mostly young women clientele providing information and support on contraception to STIs...

JILL WILKINSON and ANGELA BATES profile a nurse practitioner-led health centre looking after many of central Wellington’s homeless and high needs population.

Increasing interest from nursing students in primary health careers is putting pressure on clinical placements in primary health, a research project has found.

The first social media guide to help Kiwi nurses avoid stepping over the professional line in their online life has been released.

Can telehealth monitors in the home help nurses and doctors care for more patients with chronic conditions? Preliminary results from the country’s second telehealth research project – ASSET – indicate the answer is probably “yes”. FIONA CASSIE reports.

The refugee journey is almost always fraught with fear, loss, and trauma. Further definition states that a refugee is ‘a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster’.

Prison nurse LOUISE CHA reports on the challenge of helping an estimated 80 per cent of prisoners quit when smoking was officially banned in prisons last winter.

Wellington nurse NICKI BABBAGE writes about her fortnight’s experience with low-tech theatre nursing in an isolated town in the Papua New Guinea highlands.

Nursing organisations are giving a firm thumbs-down to the new delegated prescriber role proposed in the Medicines Amendment Bill.

News briefs including: More nurses in schools/ Oz aged care package get nurses’ backing/  Innovative RNFSA and HCA training underway/ NZ hospital productivity ‘bucks trend’/ Toolkit to improve elective patient flow/  New ACC patient handling guidelines/ Strong cultural life enhances Māori elders

About one in seven nurses smoke. Should they know better? Quitting is easier said than done. FIONA CASSIE talks to smokefree nurse advocates and nurse smokers about the battle to quit. And shares some top tips and research for nurses wanting to quit.

Nursing Review talks to Professor Jenny Carryer – who has an enduring research and personal interest in the topics — about eating, exercise, body-size, and health.

RRR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARTICLE:  Work-life balance? We attach great cultural significance to the close of one year and start of another, whether dated by the Gregorian or Chinese calendar, Matariki or a more personal anniversary. Times of transition prompt review and reflection, prediction, and planning. Many of us will have taken stock of last year, wondered how we did it all, and resolved to better balance ‘work’ and ‘life’. In this learning activity, we’ll take a look at what work-life balance means – theoretically, critically and personally – by reviewing some of the themes most relevant to the experiences of nurses in New Zealand.   BY SHELLEY JONES

Listening to patients and their whānau is a learning experience nurses can’t afford to ignore. Nursing Review talks to Taima Campbell about her keynote address to last year’s Australian Nurse Educators Conference.

FIONA CASSIE talks to recent Florence Nightingale medal winner Andrew Cameron about the momentous and mundane of being a Red Cross nurse.

Ever wondered want an occupational health nurse does?  Terry Buckingham shares how they are "at work for you".

The push for Canterbury patient records to be shared electronically was stepped up after last year’s February quake and the service is now close to being launched.

web p BruceYarwood2 Bruce Yarwood is a bloke and a practice nurse. If that combination is not rare enough, the practice he works in is dedicated to men’s health. Fiona Cassie finds out more about this army nurse manager turned men’s health specialist.

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Newly created PHC college looks to the future

The current ‘lull’ in the nursing shortage is international but short-term and the shortage will return worse than ever, says the American past president of the international Honour Society of Nursing.

From July 1 the Ministry of Health has added iodine as a recommended supplement for pregnant and breastfeeding women, with subsidised tablets available. Dr Pat Tuohy, the ministry’s chief advisor on child and youth health says: “Pregnant and breastfeeding women have increased iodine requirements and in spite of a good diet and mandatory fortification of bread with iodised salt (introduced late 2009) they remain at risk of inadequate iodine intakes. Not enough iodine can result in impaired brain function and impaired growth and development in the unborn baby and young infant. Drug-buying agency PHARMAC is now subsidising a New Zealand-made iodine tablet providing the recommended 150mcg daily dose, which can be prescribed or bought over the counter at pharmacies. Iodine deficiency problems in New Zealand lead to table salt being iodised in 1924 and the level increased in 1938, but the ministry says recent research indicated further intervention was needed to stop iodine deficiency disorders from once again widely affecting the New Zealand population. The re-emergence of iodine deficiency is thought to be due to increased consumption of commercially prepared food mostly made with non-iodised salt, the declining use of iodine sanitisers by the dairy industry and generally reduced salt intakes.

The effectiveness of a medication to help quit smoking is examined in this edition’s clinically-appraised topic. 

Youth health NPs GILL ALCORN and REBECCA ZONNEVELD report back on the work of nurse-managed health centres in the US.

Getting asthma under control is the aim of the simple web-based tool GASP, targeted at nurses and GPs. And its success in helping cut hospital admissions and exacerbations has made it an award winner. Fiona Cassie talks to Wendy McNaughton, the respiratory nurse behind GASP

This month’s clinically appraised topic looks at a major study’s findings into the long-term effectiveness of the HPV vaccine

Be it asthma or pneumonia, every nurse at some point cares for someone with a respiratory condition. Helping nurses evaluate their respiratory nursing skills or guide their development as a specialist is the aim of a soon-to-be-finalised knowledge and skills framework. Fiona Cassie finds out more.

A UK men’s health project that took its strategies to betting shops, pubs and sports clubs is the f ocus of Bruce Yarwood’s article marking International Men’s Health Week

CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE:

Nurses and more quit smoking resources will be needed to help tax-hit smokers quit, say nursing smokefree advocates.

A call for urgent action to clean up legislative barriers faced by rural nurse practitioners was made at the recent Rural General Practice Network conference.

New guidelines Available for an important area of health professionals’ work

As schools go back this month so will public health nurses as they start the second year of a cervical cancer vaccine “catch-up” programme in schools. FIONA CASSIE finds out more

In 1909 New Zealand nurses formed the first national voice for nursing. For much of its first 100 years this voice recoiled at becoming a union but eventually evolved into the dual professional and industrial roles of today’s New Zealand Nurses Organisation. Fiona Cassie in 2009 looked back at NZNO's history.

WENDY DUCKETT found herself specialising in a particularly antipodean field – skin cancer – soon after arriving in New Zealand. FIONA CASSIE finds out more about the nursing voice on the Skin Cancer Collegiate Association

Nurses dominate when mole ‘mapping’ melanographers gather for their annual conference.