Welcome
to the College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 302 1 June 2016
National
news
Dannemora nurse
Susheela Chandra aims for 1000 cervical smears
Susheela
Chandra has set herself a goal to help improve women's health.
The
Dannemora nurse wants to complete 1000 cervical smears in a year before
next month.
Read more here
Visitors who haven't
had flu job will have to wear masks at Waikato Hospital
Visitors
to Waikato Hospital who haven't had their flu jab will be met with blue
masks.
The
new hardline stance, an extension of the staff policy which came into
effect last flu season, will now make it mandatory for visitors to
wear a mask if they haven't vaccinated against influenza.
Read more here
Nurse censured and
fined for 'inappropriate relationship' with inmate
A
nurse has been censured after forming an "inappropriate relationship"
with a prison inmate, and inviting him to live with her upon his release.
The
"high-risk" inmate let slip to his probation officer that he was
dating the nurse, and eventually moved in with her.
Read more here
Call to tackle toxic
surgery smoke risk for doctors, nurses, patients
Surgeons,
nurses and patients are being exposed to toxic surgical smoke from burnt
body parts, and health staff want new safety measures to combat the risks
in New Zealand hospitals.
Read more here
RISK OF TOO MANY
UNSUPPORTED NEW GRADUATES IN REST HOMES A 'CONCERN'
A
survey confirming rest homes are employing high numbers of new graduates with
no guaranteed mentoring is an "ongoing concern", says the nurses
union NZNO.
Read more here
NEW GRAD EMPLOYMENT
DIPS AFTER RECORD HIGH
The
number of new graduate nurses in work is down on the same time last year at just
under 74%, according to the latest graduate survey findings.
Read more here
NURSE LEADERS FIND
BUDGET HIT AND MISS
Extra
money for health is welcomed but it falls short of meeting health needs and
investing in the health workforce needed to meet health targets, says nursing
and health leaders. And they question increasing tobacco tax without increasing
investment in quit smoking programmes and social supports needed to encourage
people to quit.
Read more here
Cancer
issues
Plan for full rollout
of bowel cancer screening programme – a positive decision
Bowel
Cancer New Zealand welcomes the budget announcement today of a plan to fully
implement a national bowel cancer screening programme. The nationwide charity
for bowel cancer patients and whānau has been calling for the introduction of a
screening programme since 2010.
Read more here
Age restrictions for bowel cancer screening risk
'unnecessary deaths'
A long-awaited commitment to national bowel cancer screening
is welcome but the planned age restriction risks "continued unnecessary
deaths", a lobby group says.
Read more here
Proposed test for
bowel cancer 'second rate' - expert
The
Government has committed to the wrong screening method for bowel cancer,
an expert in cancer prevention programmes says.
Last
week's Budget revealed the Government would
spend $39.3 million over four years to roll out a
national bowel screening programme from next year.
Read more here
Mental
health
Number of suicides may
be three times as high as recorded
The
country's suicide rate may be three times as high as official figures suggest.
The
most recent statistics put New Zealand's suicide rate at about 11 people a
week, almost 570 in a full year.
Read item here
Pharmacy
Proposals to widen
funding access to important vaccines
PHARMAC
is asking the public for feedback on proposals to widen funding access to the
varicella (chickenpox) and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, as well as
other changes to funded vaccines.
Read more here
Public
health
Measles outbreak
highlights importance of immunisation
Health
Minister Jonathan Coleman says the ongoing measles outbreak highlights the
importance of being immunised.
Read more here
Free MMR vaccine
reminder from Ministry of Health
Don't
let measles make you lose your spot at the tractor pull at Fieldays next month
– make sure you’re fully vaccinated before you go.
Read more here
Taking the fight
against rheumatic fever into the community
Porirua
parents can now get their children’s sore throats checked and treated at any
time throughout the year, free of charge and without an appointment.
Read more here
Tobacco,
drugs and alcohol
Budget 2016:
Cigarettes to soar in price
The
cost of a packet of ciggies will rise to about $30 in the next four years after
the Budget delivered a 10 per cent a year tax rise.
Read more here
Massive Mass Quit
Smoking Challenge
Smoking
prevalence remains high amongst people using mental health and addictions
services, with a prevailing attitude that they are already under enough stress
and smoking is a great way to relieve that stress. This attitude was fostered
by a past culture where staff and service users smoking together was the norm
and cigarettes were seen as a beneficial tool to treatment. It would take a
team of brave souls indeed to implement a mass quit smoking challenge within
this environment.
Read more here
Researchers find new
ways to reduce smoking in NZ
It will take radical, fresh ideas and new technology to break
some New Zealanders of their smoking habit and for smoking prevalence to be
less than the Government’s goal of five percent in NZ by 2025.
Read more here
Continuing annual tobacco tax increases: New
modelling of the likely impact
On Thursday the NZ Government announced it would
continue it’s programme of yearly 10% tobacco tax increases for the years 2017
to 2020 inclusive. Using our peer-reviewed BODE3 forecasting model, we project that
with these additional four years of tax increases smoking prevalence in 2020
will be 21.4% for Māori and to 8.9% for non-Māori – compared to a projected
22.7% and 9.3% if this taxation programme had not continued beyond January
2016. Prevalence reductions may be greater if we hit a ‘tipping point’ – our
modelling necessarily uses responsiveness to tax seen in the past. Thus the
further tax increases will help us get to a tobacco-free NZ by 2025, but more
‘endgame’ strategies are almost certainly also needed
Read more here
Compulsory drug treatment bill under fire
Doctors and human rights advocates are lining up to
condemn aspects of a new bill which would let doctors order patients to undergo
compulsory treatment for drug an alcohol addiction. Nine to Noon speaks to the
chair of the New Zealand Medical Association, Dr Stephen Child, Roger Brooking
- an addiction medicine specialist and the Human Rights Commission Legal
Manager Janet Anderson-Bidois
Listen here:
Corporates tackle alcohol risks
One of the country's highest-profile sporting
bodies is among dozens of corporates to put staff through an alcohol awareness
programme.
Read more here
International
news
AAP Recommends at
Least One Full-Time Nurse in Every School
Children's
health needs are increasingly complex, requiring more time and expert care
Read more here
Physician anesthesiologists oppose VA rule replacing physicians with
nurses in anesthesia
The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)
urges Americans to protect our nation's Veterans by opposing a U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed policy that removes physician
anesthesiologists from surgery and replaces them with nurses, lowering the
standard of care and jeopardizing Veterans' lives.
Read more here
Better late than never? FDA proposed ban on
powdered gloves welcomed, questioned
The right thing to do — a long time ago
The FDA’s recently proposed
rule1 to ban powdered latex gloves was welcomed by occupational
health advocates, but there was some sentiment that the FDA was finally
addressing a problem clinicians long since had to solve themselves.
Read more here
Nurses call for rent controls to improve
health and combat housing crisis
Motion
coincides with tenants movement in Scotland calling for full rent
controls
LOTHIAN NURSES want action on sky-high private sector rents to help NHS
staff find accommodation in the areas they provide hospital care, and to reduce
damage to public health caused by poor housing.
Read more here
Articles
of interest
Five strategies to help
prevent nurses’ patient-handling injuries
May 2016 Vol. 11 No. 5
For too many years,
musculoskeletal injuries from moving patients have been common among
practicing nurses. It’s time to put all of our energy— both from an
individual and organizational perspective—into prevention. Here are
five strategies you can use to prevent injuries from manual patient
lifting and moving.
Read more here
From
the Ministry of Health
New Zealand Health Research Strategy: discussion
document
This discussion document
seeks your views on the content of New Zealand’s first health research strategy
for the next ten years.
Read more here
Strategy to Prevent and Minimise Gambling Harm
2016/17 to 2018/19
This document sets out the
Ministry’s approach to and budget for funding and coordinating services to
prevent and minimise gambling harm for the three year period starting 1 July
2016.
Read more here
Standards of Service Provision for Lung Cancer
Patients in New Zealand
The Standards of Service
Provision for Lung Cancer Patients in New Zealand have been developed to ensure
that people with lung cancer receive the best possible care, regardless of
where they live. The standards include requirements for investigation,
diagnosis, treatment and supportive care. They also specify waiting times for
lung cancer treatment, and promote a multidisciplinary approach to treatment
planning.
The standards were
originally developed and published in provisional form on the Ministry website
in 2011. The Ministry provided additional funding to the Midland Cancer Network
to support the NLCWG to update and finalise the standards.
Read more here
The above information has been collated for the
College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc by Linda Stopforth, SNIPS and is provided
on a weekly basis. It is current as at Tuesday
31 May 2016.
If you have any feedback about content - what parts
are most useful or what you would like added - please email admin@nurse.org.nz
For more up
to date news and information follow SNIPS at:
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