Screening for patients at the greatest risk of post-surgery pain will be one of the first projects for the country’s newest pain nurse practitioner.
Waikato Hospital’s Sue King, a nurse for 33 years, recently gained nurse practitioner status in pain management – the first with prescribing rights.
She was followed close behind by a fellow Waikato Hospital nurse, Sandra Haggar, who recently became a palliative care NP.
King said having the ability to prescribe was central to being able to do her work on the pain round as now she won’t have to rely on junior doctors.
She has also developed a pilot tool, that she is about to trial, for screening elective surgery patients for factors known to put them at higher risk of severe post-operative pain.
“What I hope this tool will do is flag people at risk which will alert the anaesthetists so we can then think about their pain management in a more timely and comprehensive way in order to minimise the impact of post surgical pain.”
She also said discharge communication from the hospital to the patient and GPs also needed to improve. King first attempt last year at getting NP status was unsuccessful but in the interim she completed her prescribing qualifications and had a chance to reflect before this year’s successful second application.
South African-trained Haggar came to New Zealand in 1998 and has been working with the Waikato Regional Palliative Care Service since 2004. She said working in palliative care was where she belonged and every day she met people with incredible resilience and fortitude. She is currently halfway through her prescribing practicum.
