Abstract: An analytical tool of Force Field Analysis was used to identify and describe forces influencing the development of innovative roles, including the nurse practitioner role, in primary health care nursing. At the commencement of the study an initial analysis of research, literature and policy identified forces driving or restraining the development of innovative roles. A mixed research method of surveys and focus group interviews with key stakeholders, namely nurses in innovative roles, general practitioners and nurse leaders, was then used to identify factors influencing development within the Northland District Health Board. Descriptive statistics and interpretative methods were used to analyse the data. A final analysis enabled a picture of forces influencing innovative role development to be presented. Driving forces reflected international trends and were strongly influenced by economics and a political imperative to reconfigure health care services towards a primary health focus. The Treaty of Waitangi was also a key influence. Driving forces had greatest impact on the development of new roles. Forces were identified as drives towards cost-effective evidence-based health care (effective services), equity for Maori, response to local needs and workforce reorganisation. The major forces restraining the development of innovative roles were reinforced by attitudes, customs and support systems. These forces were identified as poor professional identity and support, an outdated nursing image, inadequate education and training and slow transition from traditional practices and structures (tradition). These forces had a negative influence on support for innovative roles. Promotion of kaupapa Maori, involvement of the local community, local Maori and nursing in decision-making and promotion of a team culture have the potential to support further development of innovative roles. Political ideology and the Treaty of Waitangi will continue to be major influences directed through policy and the contracting and funding process.

Abstract: When the New Zealand Nursing Council introduced the nurse practitioner as a new level of nurse in 2001, the opportunity arose for the introduction of primary health care nurse practitioners into the rural practice arena in this country. This dissertation explores the influences on the development of rural nursing in the last decade in New Zealand including the role of the Centre for Rural Health in advancing rural nursing education, as well as the impact the shortage of health professionals in rural New Zealand has had on the development of the rural primary health care nurse practitioner concept. For pioneering primary health care nurse practitioner roles to be successfully implemented in rural communities in New Zealand, several challenges need to be faced; the creation of roles and employment opportunities, community acceptance of the role, medical and nursing acceptance of the role and the establishment of independent nurse prescribing within the constraints imposed by current legislation. The dissertation explores the current literature in an attempt to offer solutions to the identified challenges. With the creation of primary health care nurse practitioner roles and the establishment and acceptance of these roles in rural communities, a new mode of health service delivery in rural New Zealand will begin.

Abstract: The aim of the study was to determine the practice of nurses employed in integrated care projects in New Zealand from late 1999 to early 2001. Integrated care was a major health reform strategy that emphasised primary health care as a means to improve service provision between the health sectors. An investigation of nurses' practice sought to determine the extent to which primary health care principles had been adopted in practice, as a comprehensive primary health care approach has been advocated globally in the management of chronic conditions; the leading cause of disability throughout the world and the most expensive problems faced by health care systems. The philosophical basis of the research was postpositivism. The study employed a quantitative non-experimental survey design because it allowed numeric descriptions of the characteristics of integrated care projects to be gained for the purpose of identifying nurses' practice. The unit of inquiry was the integrated care project, and 80 comprised the study population. Data were obtained on projects from expert informants (n=27) by telephone survey using a structured interview questionnaire developed by the researcher. Data obtained from interviews were statistically analysed in two stages. First, data were produced to comprehensively describe the characteristics of integrated care projects and nurses practice. The 'Public health interventions model' was used as a framework to analyses the interventions (activities) and levels of population-based practice of nurses. Following this, the social values embedded in nurses' practice were determined using 'Beattie's model of health promotion' as a framework for analysis. A strong association was found between nurses' practice in projects and strategies used in integrated care, such as information sharing, guideline development and promotion, and case management, and projects with an ethnic focus, low income focus, chronic condition focus, and well-health focus. Whilst nurses undertook interventions most frequently at the individual practice level they were also strongly associated with the small proportion of interventions that were undertaken at the community level. The majority of interventions by nurses reflected the health promotion value of health persuasion, indicating a paternalist and individual-oriented philosophy. Nurses were engaged in two interventions that indicated a collective-oriented philosophy – coalition building and community development, the latter reflecting health promotion values of negotiation, partnership and empowerment. The study demonstrated that nurses' practice in projects was predominantly centred on individual-focused population-based practice suggesting the need for a framework to assist nurses to transition their practice to include more activity at the community and systems levels. Without a reorientation of practice, nurses will remain limited in their ability to achieve health gains for populations. In response to this conclusion, and drawing on research results and reviewed literature, a new model, The 'Primary Health Care interventions model' was constructed. Recommendations include advocacy for the acceptance of the model by the health funder, professional nursing bodies, health organisations, educational institutions, nurses, communities, and individuals.

Abstract: Changes within the New Zealand health system have led to an emphasis on primary health care. The New Zealand government and the Southland District Health Board have identified that nurses can make significant contribution to improving the primary health outcomes for New Zealanders. However, within Southland there exist barriers to nurses influencing health outcomes. A Southland draft Primary Health Care Nursing Strategic Plan 2005 recommended that the employment of a primary health care nursing leader would reduce these barriers and lead to a comprehensive primary health care nursing service. This dissertation argues, using literature, that the employment of a transformative nursing leader, using a facilitative style, would implement changes that would develop a community responsive nursing service, establish a primary health care educational structure and ensure quality nursing care. Successful implementation would occur as the leader facilitates experiential learning within groups and with individuals to review current experiences and implement transformative primary health care nursing changes that improves health for all. The dissertation introduces the background to the changing primary health care environment in New Zealand and to the Southland current situation in chapter one. Chapter two describes the unique features of transformative leadership style and how it is applies to nursing and specifically to Southland's changing primary health care environment. The chapter specifically emphasises the role of and the art of facilitation which is a critical transformative leadership process. Chapter three describes the process of the experiential learning cycle, which the author argues will improve health outcomes, when used by the transformative leader to enable nurses to learn from their experiences and make nursing changes that improve health care. Chapter four addresses the dissertation question by describing how transformative leadership will facilitate the experiential learning process to Southlanders and improve health outcomes, reduce inequalities and increase accessibility through a comprehensive primary health care nursing service.

Abstract: This thesis concerns an investigation of the tripartite arrangements between the government, the nursing and the medical sectors in New Zealand over the period 1984 to 2001 with a particular focus on primary health care. The start point is the commencement of the health reforms instituted by the Fourth New Zealand Labour Government of 1984. The thesis falls within a framework of critical inquiry, specifically, the methodology of depth hermeneutics (Thompson, 1990), a development of critical theory. The effects of political and economic policies and the methodologies of neo-liberal market reform are examined together with the concept of collaboration as an ideological symbolic form, typical of enterprise culture. The limitations of economic models such as public choice theory, agency theory and managerialism are examined from the point of view of government strategies and their effects on the relationships between the nursing and medical professions. The influence of American health care policies and their partial introduction into primary health care in New Zealand is traversed in some detail, together with the experiences of health reform in several other countries. Post election 1999, the thesis considers the effect of change of political direction consequent upon the election of a Labour Coalition government and concludes that the removal of the neo-liberal ethic by Labour may terminate entrepreneurial opportunities in the nursing profession. The thesis considers the effects of a change to Third Way political direction on national health care policy and on the medical and nursing professions. The data is derived from various texts and transcripts of interviews with 12 health professionals and health commentators. The histories and current relationships between the nursing and medical professions are examined in relation to their claims to be scientific discourses and it is argued that the issue of lack of recognition as a scientific discourse is at the root of nursing's perceived inferiority to medicine. This is further expanded in a discussion at the end of the thesis where the structure of the two professions is compared and critiqued. A conclusion is drawn that a potential for action exists to remedy the deficient structure of nursing. The thesis argues that this is the major issue which maintains nursing in the primary sector in a perceived position of inferiority to medicine. The thesis also concludes that the role of government in this triangular relationship is one of manipulation to bring about necessary fundamental change in the delivery of health services at the lowest possible cost without materially strengthening the autonomy of the nursing or the medical professions.

Abstract: Table of Contents: 1. Background and overview; 2. Research design and method; 3. Literature review; 4. Preparation of the individual for an appointment at the general practice; 5. Care provided by the practice nurse at the general practice; 6. The giving of information; 7. A discussion of the dualities of the contribution of practice nurses to the care of individuals with chronic conditions; 8. Study summary and conclusions.