NEWS
More PHC nurses credentialed in MH
Eight primary health care nurses recently celebrated being credentialed for their mental health skills.
The Manaia Health PHO in Northland was the first primary health organisation to take a group approach to the credentialing programme offered by the College of Mental Health Nurses with the support of Health Workforce New Zealand.
Associate director of nursing, Mary Carthew, and primary mental health nurse, John Hartigan, were the advocates that led to a six-day MH training programme being developed and delivered over six months to the eight nurses. The nurses reported an enhanced level of confidence to screen, assess, provide brief intervention, and refer people experiencing mental health and addiction issues following the programme, which included group supervision.
Old healthy food pyramid dropped
The old healthy food pyramid is being dropped by New Zealand Heart Foundation in favour of a new “healthy heart” guide. Delvina Gorton, the foundation’s nutrition advisor, said it had swapped the traditional food pyramid for its new ‘healthy heart’ tool that shows ‘at a glance’ the balance of foods to eat most of, eat some of, and cut back on.
“Apart from the new shape, the biggest change is that vegetables and fruit are at the top and claim the biggest proportion of the heart to show we should ‘eat most’ of them.”
The foundation’s website www.heartfoundation.org.nz/healthyheart has an online tool that helps you build a shopping list and experiment with recipes to put the Healthy Heart Visual Food Guide into play.
HPV website launched
A new one-stop shop website for information on genital HPV, vaccines, and cervical and throat cancer has gone live. The site has been launched by the New Zealand HPV Project and says it provides up to date information on human papilloma virus (HPV) including “that most people will get HPV at some time in their lives but for most it will be transient and will go away without causing significant health problems”. The site also provides the latest emerging knowledge about the wider implications of HPV involvement in throat cancers, as well as the genital tract of both women and men. Check it out at: www.hpv.org.nz
Nursing Council rejects Government push for merger
The Nursing Council has voted to reject a Government-proposed merger after 98 per cent of submissions backed the council staying a standalone entity.
More than 1330 job-hunting new nurses have fingers crossed
More than a third of the country’s new nurses are competing for just 53 positions currently on offer through the Auckland District Health Board.
Celebrating 40 years since nursing training first left hospitals
Four decades on from nursing training first taking the leap from hospital to tertiary-based training is to be celebrated in Christchurch later this month.
