Primary health care nurses' council sets goals.

The Primary Health Care Nurses' (PHCN) Council met again early this month to continue the work begun last October.

The PHCN Council, which represents practice nurses, public health nurses, nurses for children and young people, and district nurses, is working towards four broad goals--leadership, governance, community need and professional practice environments. The council has three further meetings planned for this year. Its vision is: "NZNO primary health care nurses collaboratively working towards improved health outcomes."

The four goals and some of the objectives and activities the council has decided are achievable and should be useful for PHC nurses, are listed below.

Goal 1: Primary health care nurses will have clear, accessible, integrated nursing leadership to encourage and promote change and facilitate the development of new roles and models of practice.

Objective: PHC nurses and key stakeholders will be aware of the vision, goals and objectives of the NZNO PHCN Council. Activities include developing a communication strategy with relevant contacts and groups outside the council. Some of the communication strategies will include accessible information about the council on the NZNO website, sharing information through NZNO journals and other publications, and attending and presenting at conferences.

Goal 2: PHC nurses will be equal partners with other professional groups and community representatives in governance of primary health care.

Objective: All primary health organisations (PHOs) will have nursing leaders on their governance board. The council is aware that there are not many resources available for nurses involved in governance activities and hopes to assist PHC nurses by providing practical guidance and written information on this and other related topics.

Goal 3: Align nursing practice with community need.

Objective: Influence district health board (DHB) funding and planning and PHOs in developing service specifications and contracts, which enable nursing and nurses to respond to their obligations. The council is working on guidelines to assist nurses develop nursing service proposals to DHBs, PHOs and other funders. A PHC nursing service specification generic template is also being developed.

Goal 4: Development of a nursing professional practice environment.

Objective: All PHC nurses will have access to a professional practice environment. One of the major achievements for the PHCN Council will be the development of an NZNO PHC professional development programme, which includes an education and career framework for PHC nurses. This should be ready to present to the PHC sector in the near future for use by organisations as a generic template.

The council also recognises the need to develop a credentialing framework for PHC nurses, enabling subspecialty competency identification.

Another of the council's objectives is that all PHC nurses will have access to standards of practice. To achieve this, we will be working to develop recommended national standards of practice for PHC nurses and generic position description frameworks for PHC nurses based on professional development recognition programme (PDRP) levels: beginning, competent, proficient and expert.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of the council's objectives and activities. Council members are all working nurses, who are doing this work over and above other professional and personal commitments, with the support of our NZNO colleges and sections. This means the achievements may be slower than we would like or that PHC nurses need. The PHCN Council encourages feedback from nurses regarding their work and focus, and looks forward to discussion and debate once completed works are submitted to our colleagues.

For any comments or discussion regarding the above or to contact any of the PHCN Council members, please email NZNO professional nursing adviser Chris Millar on [e-mail].