Hawke's Bay collaborative centre to encourage best practice.

The new Collaborating Centre for Practice Development, a joint initiative of Hawke's Bay District Health Board (DHB) and the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), was launched last month, with guest speaker the Ministry of Health's chief nursing adviser Mark Jones. The purpose of the centre is to support health professionals and senior managers to deliver evidence-based care, innovation and service improvement, through education, research and facilitation, said Dean of EIT's Faculty of Health and Sport Science Susan Jacobs. The initial focus will be on the development of nurse practitioner (NP) and other advanced nursing practice roles.

The launch also included a celebration of the publication last month of Clinical Supervision in Aotearoa/New Zealand, edited by EIT senior lecturer Dianne Wepa. Wepa's previous publication is the widely used text Cultural Safety in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The new book includes chapters and practice examples from a range of contributors from different regions and health care areas. "Clinical supervision is one tool for practice development, and we are delighted to celebrate this first New Zealand text using a multi-disciplinary approach to clinical supervision," said Jacobs. Further information on the book can be found on www.pearsoned.co.nz. "EIT and Hawke's Bay DHB have been working together for over 25 years, and more recently have collaborated in a number of multi-disciplinary projects with the on-going aim of providing the Hawke's Bay region with a highly skilled workforce and the community with the best health care practice," said Jacobs.