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
New graduate job data online
Nearly 90 per cent of successful new graduates got jobs in their first choice district health board, according to analysis of the new job hunting clearing house.
A breakdown of the job hunting choices of the November 2012 graduates, which DHBs received the most applications, and graduates from which regions were the most successful has been released on the Ministry of Health website. The analysis showed that nearly half of graduates were only prepared to do job-hunting in boards in the region they trained in. Nursing school cohorts success in finding jobs ranged from 40 per cent for one school and 81 per cent for another, with the Ministry saying the results should not be read as a “league table” as much of the difference was due to the number of jobs available in the local DHB.
The data also showed that most DHBs tended to employ local graduates who undertook their final clinical placement with that DHB, with the exception of Waitemata DHB (who only took 40 per cent local graduates) and small DHBs like West Coast and South Canterbury without local nursing schools. The DHBs taking on the most new graduates as a proportion of their existing nursing workforce were Tairawhiti and Nelson-Marlborough, and the DHBs taking on the least were Auckland and Wairarapa. Read more at: bit.ly/12cwCnD
Research highlights risk of sharing drinks
Research by Victoria University has found that the bacteria causing meningitis can survive on drink bottles and glasses for up to a week.
The research has shown that meningococcal bacteria can survive outside the body for periods ranging from four hours to seven days, and that environmental conditions are a key factor in survival rates for the bacteria. Using artificial saliva made and donated by the University of Otago’s School of Dentistry, survival rates were tested for a selection of strains on both plastic and glass, including the strain causing the 1990s and early 2000s epidemic. It was found that the bacteria of every strain that was tested could survive drying, in one case for up to 10 days. The bacteria lasted significantly longer on glass than on plastic.
Nursing ePortfolio to be rolled out
The successful pilot of an ePortfolio for nurses will soon see it rolled out to a wider nursing audience. The pilot by Ngā Manukura o Āpōpō was initially aimed at Māori nurses who did not have access to an established professional development and recognition (PDRP) programme. It aimed to test the concept of an open source ePortfolio system. A wider public launch is planned for this winter and more information can be found at www.ngamanukura.co.nz
Kiwi nurse in Oz honours list
New Zealand Red Cross nurse Andrew Cameron (left) was honoured in the Australian Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to nursing. The Australian-based nurse received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) particularly for his work with the International Committee of the Red Cross. His missions have included working in Kenya, Sudan, Yemen, South Ossetia and most recently Afghanistan. In 2011, he received the Red Cross’s highest nursing award – the Florence Nightingale Medal. (Check out Nursing Review’s profile on Cameron online at: bit.ly/15ySgtB)
New ICN president
Canadian nursing leader Judith Shamian was elected the 27th president of the International Council of Nurses at the recent ICN congress in Melbourne. At the congress, the Chinese Nursing Association and the Palestinian Nursing Association were welcomed as new members.
