Nurse Practitioners of New Zealand Conference:
Pioneering and Clinical Excellence

Helen Snell, NP,
Immediate Past Chair,
Nurse Practitioners of New Zealand. 

Nurse Practitioners of New Zealand (NPNZ) held its first conference on October 20th 2007, at the Heritage Hotel in Auckland.  One hundred and ten delegates comprised a diverse audience of registered Nurse Practitioners (NP), nurses on the NP pathway, nursing academics, potential employers of NPs, and others.  Keynote speakers included the Annie W Goodrich Professor Emeritus Donna Diers, Yale University, Connecticut, USA and Professor Jenny Carryer, Executive Director of the College of Nurses Aoteaoroa.  Their eloquent presentations set the scene for the day by connecting past and present, and by challenging the recent discourse on NP roles in New Zealand.  The conference programme was varied which enabled delegates to attend sessions with particular relevance to their interest areas.  Mark Jones, our Chief Nurse Advisor gave an insightful future-focused presentation forecasting how the NP role may continue to develop over the next 10 years.  In addition, there were some stunning clinical practice examples presented by NPs in practice.  The conference concluded with Professor Emeritus Donna Diers providing a summary of the day and other observations applauding New Zealand nurse practitioner development to date.  Her presentation papers will be published in the journal, Nursing Praxis in New Zealand. 

I would like to thank NPs Mary-Jane Gilmer, Victoria Perry, Alison Pirret, Jackie Robinson and Trish White who worked with me on the conference organising committee to ensure such an incredibly successful and well facilitated day.  Thank you also to the College of Nurses Aotearoa who supported NPNZ in many ways, particularly with administrative support.  We would also like to thank all the pharmaceutical companies who provided sponsorship for the conference.  We look forward to offering our next conference on 15 January 2008 in conjunction with the National Nursing Centre Consortium Conference.  See www.globalhealthcareconference.com for more information and registration details…See you there.