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The Emergency Nurse Practitioner in Australia
The Emergency Nurse Practitioner in Australia
Jane O'Connell In 1990 a committee of health professionals convened in Sydney to discuss a new pathway for nursing... Nurse Practitioners. As a result of this meeting and the subsequent release of a discussion paper in 1992 a pilot project began in 1994 across 10 sites in NSW,, one of which was Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney's west. Following the completion of the project and much lobbying the Nurses Amendment (Nurse Practitioners) Act 1998 was implemented and in December 2000 the first nurse practitioner was authorised. The Nurses Registration Board of NSW defines nurse practitioners as "registered nurses who practice at an advanced level and who are authorised to use the title". Advanced level practice incorporates the ability to provide care to a range of clients at a level which demands a repertoire of therapeutic responses, insightful sophisticated clinical judgments and clinical decision making justified by application of advanced knowledge. Attributes of nurse practitioners: •
critical thinkers
•
expert clinicians
•
role models and mentors
•
leadership qualities
•
self directed and autonomous
•
work collaboratively
•
articulate
•
research-based practitioners.
Where do we go from here? •
We need champions to support this initiative.
•
We need to collaborate on implementing nurse practitioner positions.
•
We need to realise that health care has changed and we need new models of care.
A partnership model for emergency nursing education - creative ways to train and develop new staff
Lea Johnson, Cynthia Dakin, Elizabeth Munchbach & Rosemary Hathaway Faced with a growing need for skilled emergency department nurses, more and more hospitals are looking for creative ways to train and develop new staff. At Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, the School of Nursing began addressing the problem in 2001, through the development of an 11-week course devoted to the emergency nursing role. Developed at the request of a major teaching hospital, the course was shaped via input from emergency room nursing leaders in the Boston area. With the course now offered for new emergency department employees on an annual basis, other states and communities (greater than 80 miles from Boston) have expressed an interest in sending their personnel to the program. In response to such requests, the School of Nursing has reconfigured the course and now offers it to other areas via videoconferencing. Future plans include the use of streaming video. Students currently meet for one day each week. The session includes 21/2 hours of lecture followed by 2½ hours of emergency room procedures practiced in lab. Student reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and one hospital has used the program as a recruitment tool for new nursing staff. This presentation will provide detailed plans for developing a similar emergency department course offering via a hospital-university partnership.
6
Supplement to AENJVolume 6 Number 2, College of Emergency Nursing Australasia Ltd.
Jane O'Connell In 1990 a committee of health professionals convened in Sydney to discuss a new pathway for nursing... Nurse Practitioners. As a result of this meeting and the subsequent release of a discussion paper in 1992 a pilot project began in 1994 across 10 sites in NSW,, one of which was Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney's west. Following the completion of the project and much lobbying the Nurses Amendment (Nurse Practitioners) Act 1998 was implemented and in December 2000 the first nurse practitioner was authorised. The Nurses Registration Board of NSW defines nurse practitioners as "registered nurses who practice at an advanced level and who are authorised to use the title". Advanced level practice incorporates the ability to provide care to a range of clients at a level which demands a repertoire of therapeutic responses, insightful sophisticated clinical judgments and clinical decision making justified by application of advanced knowledge. Attributes of nurse practitioners: •
critical thinkers
•
expert clinicians
•
role models and mentors
•
leadership qualities
•
self directed and autonomous
•
work collaboratively
•
articulate
•
research-based practitioners.
Where do we go from here? •
We need champions to support this initiative.
•
We need to collaborate on implementing nurse practitioner positions.
•
We need to realise that health care has changed and we need new models of care.
A partnership model for emergency nursing education - creative ways to train and develop new staff
Lea Johnson, Cynthia Dakin, Elizabeth Munchbach & Rosemary Hathaway Faced with a growing need for skilled emergency department nurses, more and more hospitals are looking for creative ways to train and develop new staff. At Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, the School of Nursing began addressing the problem in 2001, through the development of an 11-week course devoted to the emergency nursing role. Developed at the request of a major teaching hospital, the course was shaped via input from emergency room nursing leaders in the Boston area. With the course now offered for new emergency department employees on an annual basis, other states and communities (greater than 80 miles from Boston) have expressed an interest in sending their personnel to the program. In response to such requests, the School of Nursing has reconfigured the course and now offers it to other areas via videoconferencing. Future plans include the use of streaming video. Students currently meet for one day each week. The session includes 21/2 hours of lecture followed by 2½ hours of emergency room procedures practiced in lab. Student reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and one hospital has used the program as a recruitment tool for new nursing staff. This presentation will provide detailed plans for developing a similar emergency department course offering via a hospital-university partnership.
6
Supplement to AENJVolume 6 Number 2, College of Emergency Nursing Australasia Ltd.