Briefs November
Another NP barrier falls
Another prescribing barrier for nurse practitioners is due to fall after years of lobbying. From 21 November, nurse practitioners and dietitians will be able to apply online for “special authority” pharmaceuticals for their patients so they can access funding for the restricted medications.
Helen Snell, chair of the Nurse Practitioners Advisory Committee (NPAC), said the move was “great progress” for nurse practitioners. She said NPs had been able to submit hard-copy requests since October last year. “But now we will be able to submit requests online, providing an instantaneous response, so less delays for patients.” Lobbying to amend the 59 pieces of legislation found by a Ministry of Health expert advisory group to contain “unnecessarily restricting particular activities, powers or rights to doctors” has also been ongoing.
New colour code for head pillows
The new colour coding system for hospital pillows is a culturally respectful infection control practice, says Canterbury District Health Board. The board is introducing a policy of using only blue pillowcases for pillows that support a patient’s head, and white pillowcases for pillows supporting other parts of the body. Mary Gordon, the board’s executive director of nursing, said the idea started from discussions between infection control staff and Te Komiti Whakarite (the board’s MÄori advisory committee). “The beauty of this idea is its simplicity and that it delivers positive outcomes for everyone,” Gordon said. Tahu Potiki Stirling of MÄori Health Services said the initiative showed the board was attuned to MÄori cultural traditions and it was reassuring to know that the board was committed to minimising the chances of infection among all patients under their care.
New blood sugar results go live
The haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test is commonly used to indicate a person’s average blood glucose (sugar) levels. Over the past two years, New Zealand laboratories have been undertaking dual reporting of HbA1c levels, using both the old percentage-based units and the new international standard “mmol/mol” units. From 3 October, dual reporting ceased and health professionals are now required to use the “mmol/mol” measure in their practice. The changeover has been led by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with district health boards, the National Information Clinical Leadership Group and the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes. Conversion tables have been sent out and are available to download from the Ministry of Health website (www.moh.govt.nz) along with links on how to calculate HbA1c values.
Hutt Valley appoints new DoN
Acting director of nursing Michele Halford has been appointed executive director of nursing for Hutt Valley District Health Board. Halford has worked at the board for over 20 years after starting in 1990 as a new graduate. She was appointed as the board’s first ‘hospital in the home’ coordinator and then became a nurse consultant in the community. For the past five years she has been the associate and then acting director of nursing. She graduated with a master’s degree last year. Halford was the second acting director since former director
Toni Dal Din left the post in May last year to take up a mental health leadership post at neighbouring Capital & Coast District Health Board. Mark Davies was on a 12-month acting director contract but left earlier this year to take up a senior nursing role in northern New South Wales.
New DoN for the West Coast, too
Karyn Kelly (pictured left) has been appointed as West Coast District Health Board’s director of nursing and midwifery to replace the current chief nurse, Jane O’Malley. Kelly has been acting director for the past year and has been nursing on the West Coast since 1991, when she was a new graduate from the Wellington Polytechnic nursing school. She completed her nursing degree through Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology in 2001 and is currently finishing a master’s degree in nursing with the University of Otago. Kelly said the next few years on the Coast would be a busy time for nursing, with the implementation of integrated family healthcare centres and the introduction of new models of care. “The ongoing development of the nursing workforce will enable innovative ways of providing ‘better, sooner, more convenient’ care, with clinicians working to the edge of their scope.” Her roles at the board have ranged from paediatrics to aged care. She became a clinical nurse specialist in cardiology and was associate director of nursing for clinical practice development.
Fulbright scholar to study post-disaster lessons
Former chief nurse Dr Frances Hughes has been awarded a senior Fulbright scholarship to spend up to five months studying in the United States. She will be examining the lessons learnt by health professionals from a national disaster, in particular the psychosocial lessons learnt by US nurses, and looking at how the lessons apply to
New Zealand nurses. She’ll be thinking about how educators and professional bodies prepare nurses to respond to a disaster and ensure they remain competent to provide psychosocial support. Hughes, a mental health specialist, was on a year-long Harkness Fellowship in New York during the ‘9/11’ disaster in 2001. Hughes and an Australian colleague Margaret Grigg were commissioned by the World Health Organization in 2006 to write international guidelines for nurses on coping with the mental health issues arising from disasters. They attended a workshop in Bali that year where Indonesian nurses shared the lessons learnt from the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami and the Bali bombings. In the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes, the pair has also run a series of workshops for New Zealand nurses on psychosocial responses to disasters.
