CNA no 21 30 August.pdf (0.09MB)
College of Nurses – News Update. No. 21 – 30 August 2010
From the NZ media this week
Targets results show big health improvements"The first full year of the Government's new Health Targets show District Health Boards are delivering more frontline services for our significant investment in the public health service," Health Minister Tony Ryall says.http://tinyurl.com/2aar7rj
Woman who targets silent killer'She is New Zealand's first renal-nurse practitioner but Rachael Walker's focus is always on her patients.
http://tinyurl.com/26hrcuo
Anti-smoking drug concerns
Ten deaths including a suicide have been tracked by health authorities monitoring an anti-smoking drug that is in line for massive public rollout with taxpayer funding.http://tinyurl.com/25j5eqf
Hospital-to-change-visiting-hours
Waikato Hospital is about to trial new visiting hours in response to "chaotic, overcrowded wards" hampering patients' recoveries.http://tinyurl.com/263knma
Candidates split on wisdom of merging health boardsToday, the Herald begins a three-part series on the three agencies that run our healthcare system. We look at who is standing and what the issues are.http://tinyurl.com/2g4sn49
From international media sources
RCNA Welcomes Tele-Health VisionThe Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA) has expressed support of the government's tele-health proposals. The proposals are an initiative to provide the public with direct access to nursing care through online health services.http://tinyurl.com/232tx7r
'Skills passport' proves hit with nursesA “skills passport” for nurses moved a step nearer following a successful pilot by the health sector training council Skills for Health.http://www.nursingtimes.net/5018731.article?referrer=e18Articles of interest
First, protect the patient from harm: applying adult learning principles to patient safety.Duffy B. Patient Saf Qual Healthc. July/August 2010;7:32-36.This piece describes how education can reduce patient harm by promoting attitude and behavior changes within the health care system.http://tinyurl.com/2bs6n3d
Factors influencing best-practice guideline implementation: Lessons learned from administrators, nursing staff, and project leaders, Ploeg, J et alBackground: Clinical practice guidelines are promising tools for closing the research evidence-practice gap, yet effective and timely implementation of guidelines into practice remains fragmented and inconsistent. Factors influencing effective guideline implementation remain poorly understood, particularly in nursing. A sound understanding of barriers and facilitators is critical for development of effective and targeted guideline implementation strategies.Aim: This paper reports the perceptions of administrators, staff, and project leaders about factors influencing implementation of nursing best practice guidelines.http://tinyurl.com/29sz79d
From the Ministry of Health
Living Standards and Health: New Zealand 2006/07
Date of publication (online): August 2010Summary of publicationThe report 'Living Standards and Health: New Zealand 2006/07' compares two measures of living standards that were included in the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey, and investigates the associations between living standards and health.
Living standards are a direct measure of an individual's of family's actual consumption of goods and services that are essential for wellbing. Many factors influence an individual's living standards, including income, assets, non-income contributions, special demands on income, adverse life events, and human and social capital.
The 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey included two measures of living standards: the New Zealand Individual Index of Deprivation (NZiDep), developed by the University of Otago, Wellington; and the Economic Living Standards Index - short form (ELSI), developed by the Ministry of Social Development. Both measures were found to perform well in the survey.
This study found that most New Zealanders enjoyed good living standards. However, young adults and people of Pacific or Māori ethnicity were more likely to experience poor living standards.
The study also found that living standards were significantly associated with health outcomes, health risk behaviours and health service use. There were particularly strong associations between living standards and psychological distress, as well as between living standards and unmet need for a general practitioner in the past year. However, it should be noted that these associations between living standards and health were not necessarily causal, as poor living standards can cause poor health, and poor health can also negatively affect living standards. This study also showed that living standards act on health independently of income, as well as partially mediating the effect of income.
This study has some potential implications for policy. Findings from this study suggest that living standards contribute to health, independently of income (or other measures of socioeconomic position). This study also suggests (but does not prove) that policies that provide non-monetary social assistance to improve living standards - such as subsidised home insulation, health care and child care - could usefully complement income redistribution policies, in order to improve health outcomes overall and also achieve gains in health equity.http://tinyurl.com/2cvgca3
The above information has been collated for the College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc by Linda Stopforth, SNIPS. It is current as at Monday 30 August 2010. Email stop4th@xtra.co.nz
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