Welcome to the College of Nurses – News Update.
No. 175, Wednesday 23 October 2013
From NZ media this week
Auckland Uni offers first specialist stroke nursing course
New Zealand’s first specialist stroke nursing course will be underway next year for registered nurses.The University of Auckland’s School of Nursing will be up-skilling registered nurses with the six-day course starting in February. It will be open to any registered nurse with an interest in nursing stroke patients.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/auckland-uni-offers-first-specialist-stroke-nursing-course/5/171016
Emergency nurses urged to spot child abuse
Specialist paediatrician and child protection expert Dr Patrick Kelly thinks it's time for healthcare professionals to become "the fence at the top of the cliff"' rather than the ambulance at the bottom.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/9307834/Emergency-nurses-urged-to-spot-child-abuse
Nurse Educators Conference Opens Doors for Collaboration Opportunities
The 2013 Australasian Nurse Educators Conference (ANEC) held recently at Te Papa in Wellington has been hailed as an outstanding success by Whitireia, a key host of the event.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1310/S00135/nurse-educators-conference-opens-doors-for-collaboration.htm
Horowhenua rules supreme in MDHB 2013 Health Awards
Forty-two finalists in nine different categories went up against each other at this year’s MidCentral DHB Health Awards with the top prize, the Supreme Award going to a new nurse practitioner role.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/health/horowhenua-rules-supreme-mdhb-2013-health-awards/5/171480
Nurses call for action to eradicate poverty
Thursday the 17th of October is International Day for the Eradication of poverty and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is calling for action locally, nationally and internationally to eradicate poverty. 25 percent of New Zealand children currently live in poverty.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/health/nurses-call-action-eradicate-poverty/5/171087
Senior Doctors Endorse Nurses Concerns Over Secret Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement Negotiations”
“Senior doctors endorse the concerns raised by nurses about the secret negotiations over the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today. Mr Powell was commenting on the recent media statement by the NZ Nurses Organisation.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1310/S00082/senior-doctors-endorse-nurses-concerns-over-secret-tpp.htm
One third of Maori nursing students smoke - study
A new study shows a third of Maori nursing students smoke cigarettes, and most of those who try to quit, do it cold turkey, or without help.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/225027/one-third-of-maori-nursing-students-smoke-study
Health planning social bonds trial
The Government has given the green light to pilot social bonds, an innovative form of social sector investment.Social bonds are a way for private sector capital and expertise to be used for a social purpose. The Ministry of Health has this year been exploring the potential for social bonds in New Zealand, including testing interest from providers of services and potential investors.
http://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/health-planning-social-bonds-trial
Patients get to rank their stay in hospital
Patients will be able to write reviews of their public hospital stays when Trip Advisor-style ratings are adopted in New Zealand next year.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9304709/Patients-get-to-rank-their-stay-in-hospital
Aged care
Rest home families concerned by cuts
In August Campbell Live ran a story on Ranfurly rest home for veterans. Back then the new management was proposing a pay cut for staff.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Rest-home-families-concerned-by-cuts/tabid/817/articleID/317338/Default.aspx
More Ranfurly rest home families come forward
Families of some of the residents and veterans at Ranfurly came to Campbell Live because they were concerned about cuts to outings and activities for their loved ones
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/More-Ranfurly-rest-home-families-come-forward/tabid/817/articleID/317516/Default.aspx#ixzz2hvAynRhg
Cutbacks after veterans' home sold spark inquiry
Trust orders detailed review of care standards after changes made by developer start to bite
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141854
DHB specific
Hospital staff fear major cuts
Senior medical staff at Wairarapa Hospital believe major cuts in services will happen because of unsustainable debts and management style.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11143410
Centralised system costs 300 DHB jobs
Taranaki District Health Board doesn't know how many jobs will be lost if a proposal to centralise operational finances, purchasing and goods supply goes ahead.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/9282720/Centralised-system-costs-300-DHB-jobs
Labour calls for ED recording change
Concerns have been raised over a hole in emergency department statistics that Labour says leaves the system open to potential "rorts".
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9309569/Labour-calls-for-ED-recording-change
Growing pressure on EDs concerns board
The newly elected Southern District Health Board will encourage patients to utilise their GPs as a solution to the increased pressure on hospital emergency departments.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/9309827/Growing-pressure-on-EDs-concerns-board
Trial to keep residents away from hospital
Porirua is to be the petri dish for a government experiment aimed at stopping people rushing to emergency departments with preventable health problems.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9305974/Trial-to-keep-residents-away-from-hospital
Midland DHBs join together with Map Of Medicine
The roll out of a tool by five district health boards in the Midland region will allow clinicians across all sectors of health to work more closely together.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/health/midland-dhbs-join-together-map-medicine/5/171032
Waikato DHB Launches Second National Patient Safety Campaign Topic
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) today joins each of the four DHB regions - Northern, Midlands, Central and South Island - to launch the second topic of the Open for better care national patient safety campaign:
reducing harm from surgical site infections (SSI).
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1310/S00093/waikato-dhb-launches-second-national-patient-safety-topic.htm
New Healthline symptom checker app offers online alternative
The thousands of people in the Auckland region who call Healthline every year now have another way to access expert health advice and information with the launch of the free Healthline symptom checker app.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1310/S00080/new-healthline-symptom-checker-app-offers-online-alternative.htm
Primary care
Rapid response clinics now open in Auckland
Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia announced the opening of eight sore throat drop-in clinics in Auckland this week as part of the Government’s $45 million campaign to reduce rates of rheumatic fever.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/health/rapid-response-clinics-now-open-auckland/5/171203
Public health
Long term diabetes awareness programme launched
Diabetes NZ has launched a new programme designed to make more people aware of diabetes and get to them thinking about prevention. This first stage of the programme runs throughout October and includes the distribution of posters and pamphlets across the country.
http://www.diabetes.org.nz/thedangerisreal/home
Advance Care Planning – good for patient care and better use of health dollars?
Advance Care Planning (or ACP) is the process of thinking about, talking about and planning for future health care and end of life care. In its delivery, this seems a very clinically focussed, individual health care process, so what relevance has it got for Public Health?https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2013/10/14/advance-care-planning-good-for-patient-care-and-better-use-of-health-dollars/
Cellphone users told to cut down use
Children and heavy users of mobile phones have been given a warning to cut down on their call time for the sake of their health.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9292279/Cellphone-users-told-to-cut-down-use
More than a million Kiwis are obese - report
More than a million New Zealand adults are now obese, according to the 2013 Ministry of Health annual report.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11142268
Lack of exercise and fatty diet leave six out of 10 Pacific adults obese
Lack of exercise, $1.50 pies, an abundance of fried chicken and traditional Polynesian food served with lashings of coconut cream have resulted in an obesity rate in Pacific adults of more than 60 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=11142610
Weight-watch warning plan for beer and wine
Alcoholic drinks have calories, say experts, so labels should say how many we're drinking.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11143815
Where there is smoke ...
The biennial Smokefree Oceania conference is in Auckland this week. Health reporter Martin Johnston looks at research and policy highlights from the meeting, attended by more than 400 international delegates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11143719
Trial run finds pluses in cheap, low-nicotine cigs
Cigarettes containing a very low level of nicotine can help people quit smoking, if they are cheap enough, a trial has found.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=11143812
Water nitrate a risk to infant health
Threats to Canterbury's drinking water are a "ticking time bomb" that could lead to infant deaths if not more strictly controlled, a top health official has warned.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9309726/Water-nitrate-a-risk-to-infant-health
Social health
Ill homeless people worry health board
A surge in homelessness in Christchurch among people with mental health issues has become an "extreme concern" to the city's health professionals.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/9297313/Ill-homeless-people-worry-health-board
International media
Health: third of trusts fill nurse shortfalls from abroad
Nursing Times report says findings are proof of trusts recruiting in Europe amid new shortage of NHS-registered nurses
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/14/health-trusts-nurse-shortfalls-recruit-abroad
More doctors, nurses becoming hospital administrators
Take a close look at how medical care is being delivered, and it’s clear that doctors and hospitals are being asked to work more closely together to maintain quality even as payments start to shrink.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/10/12/5239841/more-doctors-nurses-becoming-hospital.html?rh=1
Nurses Take On Various Roles with Insurance Exchanges
Despite political wrangling over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a federal government shutdown, nurses around the nation have been promoting and preparing for the enrollment of millions of uninsured Americans through health insurance exchanges, also called marketplaces. Initial open enrollment in these exchanges began Oct. 1
http://nursingworld.org/HomepageCategory/NursingInsider/Nurses-InsuranceExchanges.html
Physician assistants fill in at the fringes of health care
Ben Olmedo traveled from Afghanistan to Alaska to find the gaps he wanted to fill. Wisconsin-born Carrie Kowalski found her niche in Venice Beach, Calif. And Vicki Chan-Padgett found her space full of needy women and children in Las Vegas 30 years after she first trained as an Air Force medic.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/physician-assistants-fill-fringes-health-care-8C11390114
New California law lets nurses, midwives perform some abortions
SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California's Democratic governor signed a law on Wednesday that will allow nurses and midwives to perform some abortions, a move supporters hope will influence the national debate on abortion even as other states are tightening the rules.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/new-california-law-lets-nurses-midwives-perform-some-abortions-8C11366306
Exclusive: Nursing shortage drives hospitals overseas (registration required)At least a third of hospital trusts in England have turned to actively recruiting nurses from overseas as they struggle to keep wards adequately staffed, an investigation by Nursing Times has found.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/5064201.article?referrer=e1
Articles of interest
Silencing and Self-Silencing About Patient Safety
Over the past month, I have been doing a lot of traveling and lecturing about patient safety. What keeps coming up in my encounters with doctors, nurses, and others who work in healthcare is the subject of fear, silencing, self-silencing, institutional silencing and pedagogical silencing. As I wrote in one of my last posts, an attending uses a nursing student to intimidate a resident. Nurses intimidate nursing assistants, newly graduated nurses, and each other. Doctors, a surgeon ten years out of training, informs me, “eat their young.” So do nurses, according to what I thought was almost exclusively nursing territory. Fact is, in health care, toxic hierarchy and the silence it generates is a gift that keeps on giving.
http://suzannecgordon.com/silencing-and-self-silencing-about-patient-safety/
Health Workforce Brain Drain: From Denouncing the Challenge to Solving the Problem
Citation: Cometto G, Tulenko K, Muula AS, Krech R (2013) Health Workforce Brain Drain: From Denouncing the Challenge to Solving the Problem. PLoS Med 10(9): e1001514. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001514
Migration of health workers from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to high-income countries is one of the most controversial aspects of globalization, having attracted considerable attention in the health policy discourse at both the technical and political level [1]. Some countries (e.g., the Philippines [2]) train health workers to export them overseas and reap the financial benefits of remittances; such investments should therefore be considered as driven primarily by economic—rather than population health—motives. In most cases, however, migration of health professionals is unplanned for and represents a “brain drain” for source countries, a result of enormous wage differences and poor working conditions, including lack of support, adequate infrastructure, and career development opportunities, in LMICs. The increased recognition that this phenomenon contributes to exacerbating human resources for health (HRH) shortages in LMICs culminated in the adoption of the World Health Organization global code of practice on international recruitment of health personnel (the WHO Code) at the World Health Assembly in 2010 [3].
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001514?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+plosmedicine%2FNewArticles+%28PLOS+Medicine+-+New+Articles%29
Publications and Reports online
New Zealand Nephrology Nursing Knowledge and Skills FrameworkEndorsed by the National Nursing Consortium for Specialty Standards
9 October 2012
Nursing Advisory Group
Renal Society of Australasia (NZ Branch)
The 1999 Competency Standards for the New Zealand Renal Nurse (National RenalQualification Working Party, 1999) first defined Nephrology nursing as a specialised area ofnursing practice in New Zealand.In 2006 a National Renal Advisory Board (NRAB) scoping paper identified that the training of"skilled nephrology nurse specialists/practitioners for the future" required an "agreed strategy"(National Renal Advisory Board, 2006, p18). However a workforce survey commissioned by theRenal Society of Australasia (RSA) reported that only 21% of Registered Nurses working withinNew Zealand Renal Units held any renal post graduate qualifications (Bennett, McNeill &Polaschek, 2009). This led the NRAB to highlight the importance of progressing work onspecialty competencies for renal nursing to both ensure a skilled workforce and further developthe specialty (National Renal Advisory Board, 2009).Thus, in 2008 the RSA New Zealand (NZ) Branch Nursing Advisory Group (NAG) responded tothis need, commencing a project to draw up a professional development framework fornephrology nursing within New Zealand. The establishment of endorsement criteria andprocesses by the National Nursing Consortium in February 2009 (National Nursing Consortium,2011) provided the platform upon which to complete the framework.
http://www.kidneys.co.nz/resources/file/NZ%20Nephrology%20Nursing%20KSF_FINAL%209-10-2012-1.pdf
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 22 October 2013
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