Welcome to the College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 350 31 May 2017
NATIONAL NEWS
Maria Baxendine recognised as Waikato DHB’s Nurse of the Year 2017
Maria Baxendine is a brilliant example of continuous quality improvement in practice. Her passion to make a difference has led to her driving a vast number of improvement projects in Waikato Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED), much to the delight and appreciation of her colleagues.
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Partnering with Wintec for midwifery and nursing workshops
Wintec has partnered with Waikato DHB to host clinical assessment workshops for local nurses and midwives, with the third such workshop held at Wintec today and attended by 180 participants.
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AGED CARE
Strategies needed to prevent malnutrition in older people
New research from Massey University shows concerning levels of malnutrition among older people living independently in the community or newly admitted to hospital or a residential care facility.
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DHBs
Auckland District Health Board working to improve culture and eliminate bullying
The chairman of the Auckland District Health Board has reminded staff to be kind to each other and to report workplace bullying.
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Waikato Hospital's ED staff showing the strain
Waikato Hospital's health bosses are bracing for a challenging winter as staff turnover and workload demands take a toll on front-line staff.
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HEALTH FUNDING AND RESEARCH
Budget 2017: Health gets nearly $4bn over four years
The Budget provides almost $4 billion in extra funding for health over the next four years.
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Budget 2017: Health funding to record levels with $1.7b injection to DHBs
A strained health sector is set to receive a record $3.9b shot in the arm, with $1.8b going to District Health Boards (DHBs) alone.
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Funding for rheumatic fever prevention halved in Budget despite failure to cut hospitalisation
Funding for rheumatic fever prevention halved in Budget despite failure to cut hospitalisationsFunding to reduce rheumatic fever in New Zealand has been halved in this week's Budget.
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HEART DISEASE
The ExerScience Clinic: The fight to reduce early death in heart disease patients
The statistics are harrowing: 30 per cent of all deaths in New Zealand, according to Massey University research, are caused by cardiovascular diseases, including heart, stroke and blood disease.
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MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health packages part of plan for integrated healthcare in Waitemata
Giving high-needs mental health patients quick and easy access to psychiatrists is one way a new plan is improving health services in Auckland's north and west.
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Researchers claim Community Treatment Orders violate human rights
Researchers from New Zealand and Australia have claimed that a standard practice used in psychiatry may be ineffective and violate international human rights conventions.
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OBESITY / SUGAR TAX
Parents don't recognise their children are overweight - study
Parents don't recognise their children are overweight, a new report has found. A majority of parents of overweight or obese pre-schoolers thought their kids were within a normal weight range, raising concern among specialists.
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Study finds majority of TV food ads are unhealthy and target children
The majority of foods advertised on New Zealand television are unhealthy, and most of those unhealthy food advertisements are specifically targeted at children, new research has found.
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PUBLIC HEALTH
Third of Kiwi women have chlamydia by age 38: study
One in three women and one in five men have had chlamydia by the age of 38, a study estimates.
The high rate of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) has prompted a plea for more Kiwis to get tested.
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NZ records highest ever number of HIV diagnoses in 2016
More people were diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand last year than at any other time since records began in 1985.New figures from Otago University's AIDS Epidemiology Group show 244 people were diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand in 2016.
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TOBACCO, DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark slams glacial action over national stop smoking plans
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is slamming Government inaction over eradicating smoking in less than 10 years, saying it is likely to take decades.
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Researchers to propose new Smokefree 2025 action plan
A group of New Zealand researchers is preparing a new evidence-based action plan to reduce smoking rates in New Zealand because it says the goal of a smokefree Aotearoa by 2025 is unlikely to be achieved - and a promised Government action plan has not been produced.
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WORKFORCE
Threat of staff exodus looming in mental health and addictions sector
The mental health and addictions sector is warning that a serious staff skill loss is looming.
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Midwives' criticism sent to ministry
An anonymous complaint submitted by a group of midwives alleging midwifery is at a ''crisis point'' is being handled by the Ministry of Health.
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Mothers and babies at risk at busy maternity units, hospital midwives say
Understaffed maternity units in hospitals nationwide are putting mothers and babies' lives at risk, a group of midwives warns.
The New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) backed the complaint and said "urgent action" was needed from the Ministry of Health.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Nurse follow-up phone calls to elderly patients don't prevent readmissions, study says
Follow-up phone calls to help elderly patients with medication use and encourage additional appointments have little to no practical effect, according to new research.
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The association between higher nurse staffing standards in the fee schedules and the geographic distribution of hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study using nationwide administrative data
Noriko Morioka, Jun Tomio, Toshikazu Seto and Yasuki Kobayashi
BMC NursingBMC series – open, inclusive and trusted 201716:25
In Japan, the revision of the fee schedules in 2006 introduced a new category of general care ward for more advanced care, with a higher staffing standard, a patient-to-nurse ratio of 7:1. Previous studies have suggested that these changes worsened inequalities in the geographic distribution of nurses, but there have been few quantitative studies evaluating this effect. This study aimed to investigate the association between the distribution of 7:1 beds and the geographic distribution of hospital nursing staffs.
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Cross-sectional examination of the association between shift length and hospital nurses job satisfaction and nurse reported quality measures
BMC NursingBMC series – open, inclusive and trusted 201716:26
Background
Twenty-four hour nursing care involves shift work including 12-h shifts. England is unusual in deploying a mix of shift patterns. International evidence on the effects of such shifts is growing. A secondary analysis of data collected in England exploring outcomes with 12-h shifts examined the association between shift length, job satisfaction, scheduling flexibility, care quality, patient safety, and care left undone
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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 30 May 2017
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