Nurse Practitioner Conference a First for NZ

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For immediate release,
Thursday 16 November , 2006

Nurse Practitioner Conference a First for New Zealand

Otago Polytechnic is to host the first ever national conference for current and intending nurse practitioners at the end of November. Entitled Best Practice in Prescribing: Nurse Practitioner Conference, the event has already attracted more than 60 registrations from around the country.

“This conference will offer a forum for networking, discussion and debate in this new and advancing field of nursing,” explains Otago Polytechnic School of Nursing Principal lecturer Jean Ross.

“There are a very small number of nurse practitioners in New Zealand and the process of becoming accredited is long and arduous. This conference will bring people together under the umbrella of developing new and innovative ways of achieving the goals for nursing practitioners set out in the government’s primary healthcare strategy.”

Nurse practitioners in New Zealand must be working towards a clinical Master’s degree, have four years or more of nursing experience in a defined scope of clinical practice to be eligible for NP endorsement by the Nursing Council.

Key note speaker for the conference is Auckland-based Paula Renouf who qualified as a paediatric NP in the United States in 1992. She will be discussing Prescribing in Primary Care: the importance of a broad base of diagnostic knowledge and collaboration. Other speakers will lead continuing education sessions in areas such as mental health, neonatal healthcare and best practice in men’s health. Participants are also invited to present a research poster.

Minister of Health, Hon. Pete Hodgson will open the conference.

ENDS

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