Public health nurses 'go the extra mile'.

Two new faces were welcomed to the public health nurses' (PHN) section committee meeting last month in Wellington. They were our new professional nursing adviser Angela Clark, who helped us manoeuvre our way through remits and other core business, and Heather Robertson from Gisborne, who has been seconded to the committee until our AGM in October when she will stand for election. Heather comes with some very valuable skills. She has just finished her master's degree, and her skills were quickly put to good use.

We spent some time finalising our "area of practice triangle", which indicates the broad scope of PHN work and our areas of specialisation. This has been formulated through wide consultation with PHNs around the country and replaces our previous scope of practice. It is a living document, reflecting the wide variety of contracts that nurses around the country hold. PHNs work with the social mental, physical and spiritual aspects of health for families and communities. Our holistic approach means PHNs "go the extra mile" for some families. It also means it can be hard for PHNs to show outcomes and this often leads to funding issues. We need to unite as a workforce to strengthen our future. The area of practice triangle will be distributed as a poster to workplaces over the next few months.

Also on our agenda was PHN representation at the 4th NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses' Conference next year. We are hoping Auckland committee member Maureen Thorpe, who finishes her six-year term this year, will be able to join the conference organising committee, as she did previously. Committee members Margaret Briggs and Maureen Thorpe will be attending the NZNO AGM in September, representing our section.

We talked with Hawke's Bay District Health Board PHN Joan Plowman whose team is organising the PHN conference in Napier from October 1213. I'm sure this is going to be a great success and I'm looking forward to visiting the Hawke's Bay. For further information, contact Joan on email [e-mail]. Although our AGM is being held the morning after our major social event, we encourage as many as members as possible to attend, as we really value your input.

During our meeting, Public Health Association (PHA) senior analyst Sue Sewell came to talk to us about the draft generic competencies for public health practitioners and feedback on these is now welcomed. The discussion document and the feedback form can be found on the website www.pha.org.nz. Feedback should be sent to [e-mail] by November 10. Collaboration with all the disciplines that make up the public health workforce is needed to form these generic competencies. Committee member Rhonda Mikoz has been on the project's governance group. It is great that the PHA has sought input from PHNs from the very start. The committee would like to encourage all PHNs to contribute to our publication PHN in Touch, which is published three times a year. Contributions can be as little as one paragraph. We want to hear about the work PHNs are doing. We can be reached at our PHN section email [e-mail]. The committee's next meeting will be at our conference in October.

PREPARING EXPERT NURSE WITNESSES

NZNO is running three workshops for registered nurses (RNs) preparing them to be expert nursing advisers or witnesses for authorities such as the Accident Compensation Corporation, Health and Disability Commissioner and Coroner's Court. The first workshop will be in Christchurch on October 3. The other two will be hosted in Wellington and Auckland early next year.

The programme has been developed by professional nursing adviser Susanne Trim and legal adviser Sue Johnson in response to issues identified by NZNO's medico-legal team in its review of expert opinions written about members' practices for various authorities. Registrations are restricted to 24 at each workshop. The workshop is participatory and is targeted for those RNs who:

* have already acted as expert witnesses;

* are credible, articulate and nationally respected experts in their field; and

* will be assisting with identification of expert witnesses and providing them with professional support.

Speakers at the workshop will include Johnson and representatives from the various authorities. For further information and a registration form, contact Trim on [e-mail].

RAISING DISTRICT NURSES' PROFILE

The District Nurses' (DN) Section committee has recently developed a poster to raise the profile of district nursing nationally, The poster aims to give an overview of the vision, mission and purpose of the DN section, as well as key goals, publications and the nature of DNs' work.

According to section chair Hellen Bygate, district nursing remains the best kept secret from the public, unless they have had personal involvement with the service. Other nurses are also not always aware of the services DNs provide.

"District nursing has an uncertain fit within the primary health care strategy, as DNs work across district health boards (DHBs), primary health organisations, non-government organisations and private health providers," said Bygate. "District nurses must work with other nurses working in the primary health care sector to achieve the strategy's vision and be proactive in the development of new and innovative services. We want to strengthen networking within our own section and with other primary health care nurses. Our section can be a key vehicle for political action, helping to shape the future of DNs' position within primary health care nursing services." Copies of the poster have been distributed to all district nursing bases and DHB directors of nursing.

Report by PHN section chair Shennan Brown