Abstract: An interdisciplinary (nursing-medicine) collaboration in a qualitative descriptive research project undertaken in the Wellington School of Medicine with New Zealand Health Research Council funding. The purpose was to inform the practice of nursing and medical practitioners. A group of patients were interviewed in their homes. Their experience of having a diagnosis of hypertension and prescription of long-term treatment requiring adjustment in their lives and the lives of their families is presented as themes.

Abstract: The report of a research project commissioned by the Wellington Division of the New Zealand Cancer Society to provide a foundation for policy to give direction to development of its services. The research approach and methodology had an ecological theory foundation. It involved a survey and in-depth interviews with people with cancer and those caring for them to understand their experience. Needs were identified from the data and presented according to three distinct phases in the course of living with cancer. People moved from the shock of diagnosis, through the time of treatment when usual living was suspended and focus narrowed on the intensive fight against the disease, then into a very different phase of on-going ?wait-and-see? time requiring a new way of living with uncertainty for both patient and carers. The last phase was where most of the unmet needs lay. Recommendations were made for services to provide a continuous caring relationship for patients and carers with a knowledgeable person from the point of diagnosis.

Abstract: The Well Child/Tamariki Ora Health Book (the Plunket book) is a small booklet given to New Zealand mothers on the birth of a child. Although use of the book has decreased since it?s inception in 1920, it is frequently kept within the family and handed on from mother to child. Utilising an oral history approach, this study has traced the development of the Plunket book over time and explored the experiences of a group of 34 women and one man who have reflected on their ownership of, or involvement with, Plunket books. The study found that the book remains an effective clinical tool for mothers and nurses. Nurses use the book as a tool to help develop a relationship with a mother and her family, and to identify and build on strengths. Mothers have used the book as a tool to link past with present, to maintain kinship ties across generations, to deal with change intergenerationally, and in a manner that contributes to their self-identity as woman and mother. The study recommends that nurses and other health professionals continue to use the Plunket book as a clinical tool mindful of the fact that the book remains in use beyond the health professional?s immediate involvement with the mother and child, playing an important role in the context of the New Zealand family across generations.

Abstract: A dissertation in partial fulfilment of Master Health Sciences (Clinical)through University of Otago
The nurse practitioner is one of the newest nursing health care professionals to be introduced to the New Zealand health system for many years. Eighty-six nurse practitioners are credentialed in New Zealand, with three working in urban Emergency Department settings. Nurse Practitioners are common internationally especially in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. The purpose of this integrated literature review is to explore current research and literature in regards to the Emergency Department Nurse Practitioner, and their role within emergency settings. This review presents the growth and development of the nurse practitioner as an advanced practice nursing position. Four key themes emerge from the literature review; education of the Emergency Nurse Practitioner , how and who defined the Emergency Nurse Practitioner role, practice setting of the Emergency Nurse Practitioner, and what the barriers are to independent practice. The economic, legal and governance aspects of the Nurse Practitioner role are also portrayed. This integrated review documents the potential for further development and expansion of the Emergency Nurse Practitioner scope of practice to provide a broad range of patient care services within Emergency Departments, and emergency care settings. Future research is essential for the promotion of autonomous practice of the Emergency Nurse Practitioner within the international and New Zealand health care system.

Abstract: This article reviews the recent evidence underpinning the New Zealand Ministry of Health's recommendation to offer free annual influenza vaccination to people aged six months to 64 years who have certain chronic medical conditions (eligible younger people). These results show there is relatively limited research providing evidence underpinning recommendations for influenza vaccination among people aged <65 years. These results show that there is a need to increase nurses' awareness of the rationale behind the New Zealand influenza vaccination policy, that this may in turn increase their willingness to recommend influenza vaccine to more eligible younger people.

Abstract: A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Nursing.