Korero Hauora Health Talk - Taranaki District Health Board

Supporting Post Graduate Education andDevelopment in Nursing and Midwifery PracticeIn 2010 an expression of interest was put forward by nurses in Hawera Hospital to‘design a post graduate rural paper for nurses working in Hawera’. This was theinception of the development of a post graduate course to be known as N714/758Nursing Practicum/Advancing Clinical Expertise in Nursing planned to be delivered insemester two 2011 in Taranaki.During the second half of 2011 a group of Registered Nurses from various clinicalsettings embarked upon this 30 point course, full of anticipation, trepidation,excitement and inspiration. Post graduate writing and language is like silken honeyto some and as foreign as Mars and Jupiter to others. Critical thinking and criticalanalysis and reflection were soon to become part of everyday language!An ever present ‘patient-centred care approach’ was crucial to the course.Despite the differing learning styles, clinical backgrounds and stages of post graduatestudy, the group launched onto the course inspired by their lecturer from theUniversity- Mia Carroll, and supported by clinical and academic mentors and coachesfrom within Taranaki.To achieve quality clinical initiatives and projects, as part of an assignment in thecourse, the nurses selected some wonderful assignment topics and ongoing clinicalprojects, which has led directly to changes in clinical practice development. Someof these projects and/or resulting initiatives and innovations are showcased in thisedition of Korero Hauora. Congratulations to all N714/758 students, and gratefulthanks to contributors for sharing their professional stories.“It is the individual patient who we treat, not the disease.It is the patient who recovers or dies, not the illness”- James Peck, MD, Am. Jour. Surg. 2004.2011 Korero Hauora - Health Talk12