With a "shopping bag of medication" each, a Swahili medical
dictionary and an itch for adventure, three Otago Polytechnic
nursing students are heading to Tanzania.
Enrolled nurses in Dunedin celebrated meeting new practice
requirements last week, but there is concern at the lack of a
national strategy for employing more nurses.
Turning patients with minor ailments away from the emergency
department is unsafe and unethical, New Zealand Nurses
Organisation professional nursing adviser Suzanne Rolls says.
A two-day Dunedin conference attracting 120 post-anaesthetic
care nurses reflects the emerging recognition of this nursing
specialty, one of the organisers, Shirley Fraser, says.
Nursing staff under pressure in Dunedin Hospital's busy
emergency department are taking their concerns to management,
but a quick fix seems unlikely The Otago Daily Times
understands there is mounting anxiety among staff.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation has come out in support
of retaining neurosurgery services in Dunedin, saying the
implications of a Christchurch-only service for acute
patients from the southern area are grim.
Dunedin nurse Barbara Turnbull will be in war-torn northwest
Pakistan next week, working in a Red Cross tent hospital,
living in the "safe" part of the city of Peshawar where
suicide bombings and gun battles occur frequently and
adjusting to temperatures of 45degC.
