Welcome to the College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 426, Wednesday 12 2018
Weekly news round-up of nursing and health information in New Zealand and internationally
NATIONAL NEWS
Pacific nurses say pathway to practice too hard
Pasifika nurses in New Zealand say the pathway for trained migrant nurses to practice in this country is too difficult, and if changed, could significantly ease the shortage in the profession. The Aged Care Association says there are at least 500 nurse vacancies in rest homes around the country as nurses leave the sector for jobs in district health boards, now offering better pay. The government has also promised to provide an extra 500 hospital nurses. Eseta Finau is a Tongan nurse, living in Auckland, who is on the board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and chair of the Pacific Nurses Section. She says Pasifika nurses trained in their home countries have to pass an expensive, stringent English language test - which many fail and a bridging course would be far more appropriate.
Read more here
Former DHB nurse specialist wins European award
Former Waikato District Health Board clinical nurse specialist Dr Simone Inkrot has received a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Nursing and Allied Professions Investigator Award at the ESC Congress in Munich. The prestigious award acknowledged the importance of her NZ Heart Foundation-funded research on the link between health professional empathy and patient self-care, which was done with co-investigator Debbie Chappell while Inkrot worked for Waikato DHB. Read the full story on the NZ Heart Foundation website.
Read more here
Lyn Scott, first hospital-based nurse prescriber for Waikato DHB
Congratulations to Lyn Scott who has not only achieved registered nurse prescriber status (ophthalmology/eyes) recently, but did so with a high pass mark. She becomes Waikato DHB’s first hospital-based nurse prescriber.
She can now prescribe, within certain conditions, a range of medications to patients at Waikato Hospital’s Eye Clinic where she practices clinically
Read more here
New CEO wants Nursing Council to keep being flexible and forward-focused
The Nursing Council’s newly appointed CEO Catherine Byrne says she intends to build on the work of the retiring CEO and keep nursing regulation “connected and relevant” to everyday nursing.
Read more here
Nursing Council chair becomes its new CEO
Catherine Byrne has stepped down as Nursing Council chair so she can step into her new position as the council’s chief executive and registrar.
Read more here
‘I shouldn’t have to fear the people I’m there to help’: The violent reality of working in healthcare
Healthcare workers experience more violence than any other job in New Zealand. A nurse writes about her experiences in ED wards around the country, and what needs to change.
Read more here
Additional security for Hillmorton Hospital after string of assaults
A nurse who suffered serious burns after a mental health patient threw boiling water over her has a message for health leaders: things need to change.
Read more here
Short-term fix to protect nurses: more security
This comes after assault reports where one nurse was stabbed, one attacked with boiling water and another strangled at a Christchurch Hospital.
Read more here
Nurses at Christchurch mental health facility ‘angry and scared’ after spate of attacks
Staff at Hillmorton Hospital’s mental health facility are in fear, says New Zealand Nurses Organisation’s John Miller. Source: Breakfast
Read more here
Battling superstition - the life of a Fred Hollows Foundation eye nurse in Vanuatu
The best part of the job of an eye nurse in Vanuatu is witnessing someone who thought they were blind forever suddenly seeing again.
"These are amazing stories for people to hear because people here still believe that if you have a cataract and become blind then that is it," says David Silapo, the sole eye nurse on Tanna Island.
Read more here
CANCER
Cancer Korero booklet launched
The Midland Cancer Network region has the highest total MÄori population in New Zealand. MÄori are up to 20% more likely to get cancer than non-MÄori. With the right information, support networks, early detection and treatment many cancers can be cured if they are found and treated in time.
Read more here
CHILD AND MATERNAL HEALTH
New Zealand children set to benefit from $9m Starship donation
Starship children's hospital will be rolling out a fleet of ultra-lifelike manikins to train health professional nation-wide thanks to its largest-ever donation.
Read more here
National target met after dramatic improvement in tamariki health indicator
Manaakitanga, determination and teamwork are behind the dramatic improvement of a Māori health indicator which has led to a national target being met for the first time, says the head of BOPDHB Māori Health Gains and Development.
Read more here
DHBs
Patients at Waitemata DHB waiting up to 12 months for heart ultrasounds
Patients at Waitemata District Health Board are waiting up to 12 months to get a heart ultrasound.
Read more here
DISABILITY
Disability and support sector at funding breaking point 'waiting on a tragedy'
The disability sector is waiting on a tragedy as funding levels reach unsustainable levels and support providers assess their viability.
Read more here
MENTAL HEALTH
NZNO says workforce issues missing in mental health and addiction report
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) welcomes He Ara Oranga, the report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, but says more emphasis on nursing and workforce wellbeing is required.
Read more here
Over 200 suspected suicides associated with DHB failings
At least 208 suspected suicides reported by DHBs in the last year occurred while or soon after the person was under public health care.
Read more here
TOGETHER ALONE
New Zealand’s silent Pasifika mental health crisis
What do you do if your culture treats mental illness like a curse? Bury it deep. Indira Stewart reports on why so many Pasifika people suffer psychological distress - and why so few seek help.
Read more here
MIDWIFERY / MATERNITY
New Zealand's premature babies have better chance to survive and thrive, study shows
Premature babies born in New Zealand have a better chance to "survive and thrive" than in many other countries around the world, a study shows.
Read more here
PATIENT SAFETY
NZ Government so concerned about surgical mesh injuries they want to hear from mesh injured New Zealanders so they can work out what has really been happening behind the scenes.
Mesh injured New Zealanders are thrilled that they will finally have the opportunity to share their personal stories about how they have been injured and harmed after undergoing a surgical procedure with a medical implant known simply as mesh.
Read more here
More than 600 people injured while in New Zealand hospitals this year
Baby deaths, delays in cancer diagnosis and items left inside bodies after surgery were among the "adverse events" recorded at Auckland hospitals in the past year.
Read more here
PHARMACY
Patients prescribed medications for longer than recommended
Almost half of patients are being prescribed common medications for longer than recommended, putting them at unnecessary risk of harmful side effects, new research shows.
Read more here
SOCIAL HEALTH
Child poverty: 100,000 children 'doing it really tough'
One in five New Zealand children are living in homes without access to enough food or adequate healthy food.
Read more here
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Too few fully trained nurses linked to daily three percent rise in patient death risk
Admission to a hospital ward with below average numbers of fully trained (registered) nurses to care for patients is linked to a 3 percent rise in the risk of death for each day the shortfall persists, suggests UK research published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety.
Read more here
WELLBEING
The Healthy Chef’s top 5 snacks to get you through a shift
Nurses and midwives need to maintain a healthy diet, both for their own physical and psychological health, and to ensure they provide the best care to patients.
Read more here
Impact of nurses’ risky drinking behaviours
Nursing and midwifery work can be physically, mentally, and emotionally stressful (Dyrbye et al. 2017). Like many people working in stressful roles, members of this workforce use many strategies to manage the pressures of their professions – both healthy, such as exercise and family activities, and potentially damaging, such as drinking, smoking, and displacement (Happell et al. 2012).
Read more here
CONSULTATION
Managing fatigue and shift work in hospital-based nursing
The Safer Nursing 24/7 Project has released a draft national code of practice for managing fatigue and shift work in hospital-based nursing for a three-month period of public consultation.
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 11 December 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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