Welcome to the
College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 288 17 February 2016
From
NZ media this week
Report: New Zealand’s health workforce fit for the
future
New Zealand has released the Health of the Health Workforce
2015 report, which outlines key facts and trends in the sector.
http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/report-new-zealands-health-workforce-fit-future-190892311
DHBs
and PHOs
Hospital
staff not representative of community, councillor says
New Zealand
European people dominate the MidCentral District Health Board workforce, but
the organisation is attempting to address what it calls a "complex
issue".
With a total
of 2681 employees working at the DHB, 24 hail from the Pacific Islands and 162
Maori were working at the DHB in September last year.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/76734251/Hospital-staff-not-representative-of-community-councillor-says
Alarm over $138 million DHB saving plan
Directive for hospitals to make cuts prompts
claims patients could be exposed to tired and stressed staff
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11590079
Jonathan
Coleman, Annette King in numbers war as row over DHB funding heats up
The Health Minister has defended the Government's
directive that District Health Boards save $138 million this year, pointing out
it was a collective saving of one per cent.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/76938252/jonathan-coleman-annette-king-in-numbers-war-as-row-over-dhb-funding-heats-up
Drugs,
alcohol, smoking, addictions
Increase taxes on tobacco to improve health of New
Zealanders, says Professor
The Government should continue to hike taxes on
tobacco and raise them to at least 20 per cent a year, health professionals and
advocacy groups have told Parliament.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=11587454&ref=rss
Smokers to get texts
from doctors in bid to help people quit
Smokers
around the country are starting to receive texts from their doctors encouraging
them to stamp out the habit.
As
part of the Ministry of Health's target to provide smokers with better help to
quit, doctors would be sending text messages to their enrolled patients and
requesting a response to establish a record of smoking status and help to give
up.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/76737760/smokers-to-get-texts-from-doctors-in-bid-to-help-people-quit
Mental
health
Mental health patients are being locked up when
they shouldn't be
Mental health services are supposed to avoid
locking patients up in isolation - also known as seclusion. But it still
happens.
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/mental-health-patients-are-being-locked-up-when-they-shouldn-t-be
Suicide prevention training planned for rural health workers
Rural health professionals are to get specialist training in
suicide prevention as drops in dairy prices and a possible drought are expected
to take a toll on farmers' mental health.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/76460754/suicide-prevention-training-planned-for-rural-health-workers
Canterbury's mental
health funding to be cut
Canterbury's
cash-strapped health authority may be forced to cut mental health services,
despite evidence the region's youth are more distressed than ever before.
Funding
information for the Canterbury District Health Board's (CDHB) upcoming
financial year, obtained byStuff, shows the discrepancy between the
region's mental health funding and the national average growing larger
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/76850687/canterburys-mental-health-funding-to-be-cut
Canterbury
DHB Board has not made a decision to cut services
Canterbury
DHB Board chair, Murray Cleverly, says the Board has not made a decision to cut
mental health services.
http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/un-doctored/2016/february-2016/16/Canterbury-DHB-Board-has-not-made-a-decision-to-cut-services.aspx
Obesity
New Zealanders are fat
and in denial about it, says survey
Kiwis
are dangerously porky and dangerously deluded about it, a new study has found.
While
we might tout ourselves as a sports-mad nation, the reality is most of us are
hopelessly inactive.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/76747921/new-zealanders-are-fat-and-in-denial-about-it-says-survey
Patient
safety
Elderly lives could be saved by new drug harm prediction system
Doctors could be able to
electronically calculate the risk before medicines are prescribed to the
elderly, saving lives, if a new system being tested in New Zealand proves
successful.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/elderly-lives-could-be-saved-by-new-drug-harm-prediction-system
MidCentral
District Health Board addressing medication errors increase
The number of patients being prescribed and
administered the wrong medicines at MidCentral District Health Board continues
to increase.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/76785920/midcentral-district-health-board-addressing-medication-errors-increase
Primary
Health care
New immigrants and the health system
Professor Robin Gauld of the University of Otago discusses
how the pressure can be taken off hospitals by educating immigrants about
primary care.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/201788896/new-immigrants-and-the-health-system
Immigrants and primary healthcare
Professor Robin Gauld of the University of Otago answers some
listener questions about new arrivals and how they use the health system.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/201789083/immigrants-and-primary-healthcare
Endless surge strains
DHB
New
immigrants to Auckland unfamiliar with the health system are turning up to
hospitals when they should be going to doctors, MPs on the Health Committee
heard yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11587685
Public
health
Bronchiectasis
in New Zealand – the Growing Problem That Goes Unnoticed
The Dominion
Post’s recent cover story (9 February) pays tribute to the tragic passing of
beautiful young toddler Ataahua, who died of bronchiectasis just shy of three
years of age.
Bronchiectasis
is a growing problem in New Zealand – between 2000 and 2013, hospitalisations
for this disease increased by 30%. Deaths from bronchiectasis have doubled
within in a decade, from 42 per year in 2000/01 to 84 in 2011. The disease
affects an estimated 4,226 people across the country.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1602/S00031/bronchiectasis-in-nz-the-growing-problem-that-goes-unnoticed.htm
Respiratory disease
which killed Wainuiomata infant a rising problem, says expert
The
death of a Wainuiomata toddler highlights a growing problem of respiratory
diseases in New Zealand children, a health expert says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/76852950/respiratory-disease-which-killed-wainuiomata-infant-a-rising-problem-says-expert
Students ask for
stricter tenancy rules in the battle against cold and mould
Students
battling "cold and mould" in poorly insulated and badly ventilated
flats can suffer life-long health problems, a select committee has heard.
Both
the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA) and the New
Zealand Union of Students' Associations (NZUSA) made submissions on the
Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which aims to make homes warmer and
drier.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/76736008/students-ask-for-stricter-tenancy-rules-in-the-battle-against-cold-and-mould
From International media this week
Patients far more likely to die if nurses care for
more than six, major study finds
New research
finds patients looked after by nurses coping with more than 10 patients have
death rates 20 per cent higher than those with a caseload of six
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/12148420/Patients-far-more-likely-to-die-if-nurses-care-for-more-than-six-major-study-finds.html
Minimum nurse numbers bill
is passed into law
A bill
ensuring hospitals in Wales have sufficient nurses on duty at all times has
been passed by AMs.
Welsh Liberal
Democrat leader Kirsty Williams, who proposed the legislation,
said Wales would be the first part of Europe with such a legal requirement.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-35532865
Nurse practitioners fighting for independence
TULSA
— Oklahoma's nurse practitioners are fighting for independence at the
State Capitol.
They have
asked the legislature to amend the Oklahoma Nurse Practice Act, to free them
from doctor supervision.
http://ktul.com/news/local/nurse-practitioners-fighting-for-independence
Higher ratio of HCAs
linked with increased mortality
New research into staffing levels within NHS
hospitals has suggested a link between a higher proportion of healthcare
assistants per patient and a rise in mortality.
http://bit.ly/1TU4iFG
Work
and management
Peer coaching for nurse managers
Nursing
Management:
February 2016 - Volume 47 - Issue 2 - p 52–54
Development of true peer review can provide the
necessary substance to support and grow 21st century nursing leaders. However,
there's often limited formal recognition and support for nurses who choose
management. At Middlesex Hospital, our nursing leadership team launched an
initiative to promote the recognition, assessment, and competency development
of nurses in leadership positions. Our CNO propelled us into action by
establishing a nursing management peer review taskforce.
http://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Fulltext/2016/02000/Peer_coaching_for_nurse_managers.12.aspx
The best strategies to engage millennial nurse
leaders
Nurses entering practice today need to be trained on how to
become the next generation of nurse leaders. In order for that to happen, there
are time-tested principles/practices that need to be observed, but the way in
which those are delivered must evolve to reflect how this new class of
"millennial" nurses absorbs and processes information.
http://bit.ly/1WfJU0i
Articles
of interest
A normative analysis
of nursing knowledge
Renzo
Zanotti* and Daniele Chiffi
Nursing
Inquiry
Volume 23, Issue 1, pages
4–11, March 2016
This
study addresses the question of normative analysis of the value-based aspects
of nursing. In our perspective, values in science may be distinguished into
(i) epistemic when related to the goals of truth and objectivity and
(ii) non-epistemic when related to social, cultural or political
aspects. Furthermore, values can be called constitutive when
necessary for a scientific enterprise, or contextual when
contingently associated with science. Analysis of the roles of the various
forms of values and models of knowledge translation provides the ground to
understand the specific role of values in nursing. A conceptual framework has
been built to classify some of the classical perspectives on nursing knowledge
and to examine the relationships between values and different forms of
knowledge in nursing. It follows that adopting a normative perspective in the
analysis of nursing knowledge provides key elements to identify its proper
dimension.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.12108/epdf
An analysis of
England's nursing policy on compassion and the 6Cs: the hidden presence of M.
Simone Roach's model of caring
Ann
Bradshaw*
Nursing
Inquiry
Volume 23, Issue 1, pages
78–85, March 2016
In
2012, chief nursing officers (CNO) in England published a policy on compassion
in response to serious criticisms of patients’ care. Because their objective is
fundamentally to shape nursing, this study argues, following Popper, that the
policy should be analysed. An appraisal tool, developed from Popper, Gadamer,
Jauss and Thiselton, is the framework for this analysis. The CNO policy
document identified six values and behaviours, termed ‘6Cs’, required by all
nurses, midwives and care staff. The document contains no data, references or
acknowledgements, but is similar to the 6Cs defined by the Canadian nursing
nun, Sister M. Simone Roach, in her theory of caring published 30 years
earlier. Roach considered caring and the components of it, including compassion,
to be moral virtues, an inner motivation to care. This study suggests that
without explicit reference to Roach's ideas, and her underlying theoretical
base, the CNO requirement has the effect of turning virtues into commodities
and a form of external control, described by Ritzer as a McDonaldized
dehumanization. This study, which has international relevance beyond England
and the UK, suggests that the CNO revise their policy by acknowledging Roach's
6Cs and openly discuss the implications of her work for their policy.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nin.12107/epdf
From
the Ministry of Health
Pertussis Control Strategies 2015: A consistent
approach for New Zealand
Pertussis is a highly contagious
respiratory disease characterised by a prolonged paroxysmal cough (whooping
cough). The focus of pertussis immunisation and surveillance is to protect
those most at risk from severe disease (those aged under one year).
New Zealand experienced a
major pertussis outbreak, peaking from August 2011 to December 2013, resulting
in the hospitalisation of hundreds of infants aged under one year and the death
of three unimmunised children, including two infants too young to be immunised.
In April 2015 the Ministry
of Health held a workshop to bring together expertise and those with experience
from this epidemic to discuss pertussis disease control strategies and a
consistent approach for New Zealand. Gains have been made in the infant
primary immunisation series, but pertussis is still a major public health
issue. The Ministry of Health wanted to assess the available data and
strategies with the aim of minimising the impact of future outbreaks on those
most vulnerable.
Key areas of focus were:
the National Immunisation Schedule, maternal immunisation, improving
immunisation coverage, surveillance, and communications for health
professionals and the public.
In this publication we
share the discussions held at this workshop.
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/pertussis-control-strategies-2015-consistent-approach-new-zealand
Indicators for the Well Child/Tamariki Ora Quality
Improvement Framework –
September 2015
Published
online: 04 February 2016
Summary
The Ministry of Health, in
partnership with sector experts, developed the Well Child / Tamariki Ora
Quality Improvement Framework, drawing on New Zealand and international
research.
The Framework has three
aims: focusing on family/whānau experience; population health and best value
for the health system; and setting quality indicators to audit health system
performance.
This is the fifth Well
Child / Tamariki Ora quality indicators publication, and shows areas of
excellence and areas for improvement. The quality indicators help support the Ministry
of Health, DHBs and providers of Well Child / Tamariki Ora and related child
health services to identify and prioritise areas for national and local quality
improvement.
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/indicators-well-child-tamariki-ora-quality-improvement-framework-september-2015
Health of the Health Workforce Report 2015
This Health of the Health
Workforce Report 2015 is Health Workforce New Zealand's second update on the
state of the health and disability workforce. It is a companion document to the
Role of Health Workforce New Zealand, which provides background and contextual
information.
The workforce is made up of
a wide variety of occupational groups that will increasingly work together as
models of care move out of hospitals and closer to home. The five main
occupational groups discussed in this report are:
doctors and dentists – the
medical workforce
nurses
midwives
allied health, science and
technical workers
kaiāwhina (non-regulated)
workers.
The 2014 report has had a
significant impact across the health sector in raising understanding of the
issues facing New Zealand’s health workforce and the various ways the sector
and the Ministry of Health is addressing those issues. The 2015 report
contributes to the development of strategies and programmes to improve New
Zealanders’ health and wellbeing.
Health Workforce New
Zealand’s focus continues to be on strengthening the health and disability
workforce by improving the recruitment, retention and distribution of health
professionals. It works across the sector and at a regional level to
align workforce development with service demand.
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/health-health-workforce-report-2015
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
16 February 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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