Welcome to the College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 400, Wednesday June 2018
NATIONAL NEWS
Nursing community support 'way of life' for Nelson woman Penny Molnar
A life supporting others for the benefit of the community has just been "a way of life" for Penny Molnar.
The Nelson woman has been awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the community.
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Long stay ICU patients emerge emotionally fragile, finds nurse researcher
A nurse researcher who followed six patients spending a fortnight to 66 days in intensive care found they emerged not only physically debilitated but also psychologically fragile.
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Pay offer to nurses - Expert reaction
In a bid to avoid a strike, district health boards have offered nurses a series of three pay rises over 15 months.
Read more here
NZNO takes the revised DHB offer to its members
NZNO’s DHB MECA negotiating team is today providing its assessment of the revised district health board multi-employer collective agreement (DHB MECA) offer to its 29,500 DHB members.
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GREEN CROSS, PRIVATE HOSPITALS ON WATCH FOR SPILLOVER FROM NURSES' COLLECTIVE TALKS WITH DHBS
New Zealand's private healthcare providers including Green Cross Health are watching collective negotiations between the nurses' union and district health boards to see when and if a far-reaching pay hike will spill into the rest of the sector.
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Nurses' and teachers' salaries crunched by the rising cost of living - and housing in particular
Nurses have voted to strike for better pay, and teachers are considering the same. ADELE REDMOND looks at whether their salaries have fallen behind the cost of living.
After 20 years, Ashburton Intermediate School teacher Jade Tonks is earning what an accountant or lawyer might get five years into the job.
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Security guard not enough to protect us, hospital staff say
A security guard will be placed in the acute inpatient unit at Christchurch's Hillmorton Hospital after the latest violent assault on a staff member by a patient.
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INVESTIGATION : The suicides, sackings and stressed staff of Tauranga Hospital
A nurse leaves a suicide note addressed to his colleagues. Another kills himself after feeling mistreated at work. A third's suspected suicide is under investigation. What's going on at Tauranga Hospital?
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One in three staff at Hawke's Bay DHB say they were bullied last year
A third of staff surveyed at Hawke's Bay District Health Board said they were bullied last year and half said they felt unsafe to speak up about inappropriate behaviour.
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One-hundred WorkSafe bullying complaints but no prosecutions
WorkSafe New Zealand has never prosecuted anyone for bullying, despite receiving about 100 complaints.
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Terms of reference shackle health review
“The terms of reference for the recently announced health review shackle its potential to take full advantage of the opportunity to bring about transformational change” says Chris Higgins, New Zealanders for Health Research Chief Executive.
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AGED CARE
Are Home Based Care Policies for Elderly People Compromising Their Health?
A generation of policy makers have developed care for the elderly based on the assumption that they are better off in their own homes, with home care support. However, is it time to question whether this policy is actually compromising many elderly people’s health and well-being?
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CANCER ISSUES
Exclusive: Women with cancer 'failed' by lack of screening, DHBs say
District health boards have accused the Ministry of Health of failing women as rates of life-saving cancer screening go backwards.
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Many breast cancer patients can skip chemo, landmark study finds
Most women with the most common form of early-stage breast cancer can safely skip chemotherapy without hurting their chances of beating the disease, a landmark US study finds.
The study is the largest ever done of breast cancer treatment, and uses genetic testing to gauge each patient's risk
Read more here
Global cancer rates: How does NZ compare?
New Zealand's dismal cancer statistics have been highlighted in a global index, putting the country proportionally second worst for new cases.
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CHILD AND MATERNAL HEALTH
Auckland district health boards tackling sudden infant death in Māori babies
Auckland district health boards are joining forces to reduce the number of deaths among Māori infants.Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) affects Māori families more than any other group in New Zealand, Waitematā DHB said.
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HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
Wellington homes are too cold to be healthy, University of Otago research confirms
It's official, Wellington homes are too cold.
University of Otago researchers based in the capital have looked at 49 homes in Wellington City Council housing and confirmed they are too cold to be healthy.
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Damp houses worse than meth houses, says health board chief
Cold, damp houses have a more dangerous effect on your health than third-hand exposure to methamphetamine, a health boss says.
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MENTAL HEALTH
Māori models of health vital for the well-being for Māori
Michelle Levy, psychologist recently raised concerns that NZ psychologists 'very cold, robotic toward Maori.' Both Waka Oranga, National Collective of Māori Psychotherapy Practitioners, and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists (NZAP) support these concerns: “We need to ensure that practitioners are well trained to understand Māori health needs and are capable of responding warmly to Māori with respect for kaupapa Māori values such as wairuatanga, manaakitanga, and whanaungatanga.
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PATIENT SAFETY
Interactive dashboard of individual DHB performance launched
The Health Quality & Safety Commission has launched a new, publicly-available dashboard of health system quality that shows at a glance how individual district health boards (DHBs) are performing in a variety of areas.
Read more here
PUBLIC HEALTH
Protecting kids against the flu this winter
In the wake of a deadly flu season in the northern hemisphere, health professionals are encouraging parents to consider vaccinating their children.
Read more here
TELEHEALTH AND E-HEALTH
Seniors Slow to Embrace Online Access to Doctors
WEDNESDAY, May 30, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Many doctors have internet portals to help patients manage their care. But that doesn't mean older folks will use them.
A University of Michigan poll found only about half of patients 50 to 80 years old have set up an online account with their health care provider.
Read more here
TOBACCO, DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
Which region has the highest rate of smoking among adults?
The Gisborne region has the highest proportion of smokers in the country, statistics by the Ministry of Health reveal.
Tairawhiti District Health Board covers an area from the East Cape in the north to the Wharerata ranges in the south - a population of 47,680 people.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Nurse-Led Communication in the Intensive Care Unit
We examine him each day — the elderly patient, intubated, sedated, with a bewildered wife at his bedside. We should sit down with his wife before we ask her to make hard decisions about her husband’s care, but the unit is so busy that we find ourselves scurrying by, pausing only to offer rushed updates that do not allow for the exchange of meaningful information.
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Advancing the development of nurses in Samoa
Samoa took a step forward to improve the delivery of nursing services on Tuesday, thanks to a partnership between the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.) and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
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New campaign aims to encourage more young people to consider a career in nursing
Young people aged between 16 and 18 are the target of an eye catching new campaign to attract more people to study for degrees in nursing and the allied health professions (AHP). The campaign will look to increase applications through Clearing 2018 and ahead of the UCAS applications deadline in January 2019.
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Dundee and CSM Academy launch Singapore nursing partnership
The University of Dundee has established a new partnership in Singapore with CSM Academy International which will see degree-level education provided for hundreds of Singaporean registered nurses every year.
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Better aged-care begins with more registered nurses in homes
People are marching in the streets demanding better care for older Australians in aged care homes after increasing media reports of neglect, abuse and negligence.
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Nursing staff miss out on training amid NHS cuts
Employers in every setting across the UK must ensure nursing staff have access to continuing professional development (CPD) and guarantee protected time for it, the RCN has said.
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4 ways nurses can fight alarm fatigue
The American Association of Critical Care Nurses recently released a practice alert to help hospitals manage the clinical alarms that notify providers when patients' conditions change.
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WORKPLACE
Developing a workplace bullying risk audit tool
Michelle R. Tuckey, Yiqiong Li, Annabelle M. Neall, Joshua D. Mattiske, Peter Y. Chen, Maureen F. Dollard
Asia Pacific Centre for Work Health and Safety (UniSA)
This project, funded by a SafeWork SA Commissioned Research Grant (CRG), is innovative in creating an evidence-based practical tool to assess the risk of workplace bullying before it occurs. The tool is based on the organisational risk contexts for workplace bullying.
Read more here
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
Nurse practitioner integration: Qualitative experiences of the change management process
Journal of Nursing Management (Early view)
The aim of this qualitative research was to explore perceptions of organisational change related to the integration of nurse practitioners from key nursing stakeholders.
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Interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates of those 60 years and older in the community
Cochrane database of systematic reviews
The effectiveness of interventions to increase influenza vaccination uptake in people aged 60 years and older varies by country and participant characteristics. This review updates versions published in 2010 and 2014.
Read more here
NEW PUBLICATIONS
Investing in a Safe and Effective Workforce: Continuing professional development for nurses in the UK
PUBLICATION CODE : 007028
CPD is vital for nursing staff to maintain and develop the skills they need to deliver high quality, safe and effective care across all roles and settings. This report outlines the importance of CPD, current access to CPD and the RCN's call to action for the Government.
Read more here
Tools of the Trade: Guidance for Health Care Staff on Glove Use and the Prevention of Contact Dermatitis
Updated guidance focusing on contact dermatitis, the main work-related skin condition affecting health professionals' hands. Includes information on glove use, infection prevention and control practice, as well as the importance of considering glove use. Deb have supported the development, publication and distribution of the RCN Tools of the Trade guidance and collaborated with the RCN to ensure wide promotion. The sponsors have not had any editorial input into the content, other than a review for factual inaccuracies.
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 5 June 2018
If you have any feedback about content - what parts are most useful or what you would like added - please email admin@nurse.org.nz
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