DANA News
First Alcohol and other Drug Nurse Practitioner (AOD) in New Zealand!
Congratulations to DANA’s International Vice President, Louise Leonard who has been endorsed as New Zealand’s first Nurse Practitioner with prescribing rights, with Alcohol and Other Drug as the area of practice.
Those of you working towards becoming Nurse Practitioners well know that the pathway remains a long and arduous one and requires an ability to stay motivated and focused over the long term. When asked what helped Louise maintain her motivation she reflected “I wanted to have the extended skill set of a Nurse Practitioner (including prescribing), together with the autonomy of being able to practice independently, as well as working collaboratively with complex cases”. Louise reflected that, “it is quite a lonely pathway and you need to have the vision, commitment and drive to keep going.”
Nurse Practitioners across all areas of practice in New Zealand now number just over 100 and it’s taken more than a decade to reach that number. Louise believes that Nurse Practitioners in New Zealand can make a solid contribution to patient outcomes, particularly in the areas of mental health and addiction services, primary care, chronic disease management and in rural settings.
In New Zealand, addiction and mental health service are closely aligned and as result Nurse Practitioners AOD must also demonstrate competency to work with patients with co-existing mental health problems.
Louise gives these words of advice to anyone contemplating taking on the challenge of becoming a Nurse Practitioner, “It is a big commitment; make sure you have good support both professionally and personally. Be patient and tenacious”.
If you are interested in finding out more about Nurse Practitioners in New Zealand you can follow this link .www.nurse.org.nz/npnz-nurse-practitioners-nz.html and visit the website of Nurse Practitioners New Zealand; a Division of the College of Nurses Aotearoa New Zealand.
You will also be able to seek Louise out at the DANA Annual Conference being held in Melbourne in June 2012.
The next step for Louise is to obtain a position as a Nurse Practitioner and indeed this may yet prove to be the biggest challenge for AOD Nurse Practitioners! Once again to Louise, congratulations and every success for the future.
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More DANA News
DANA Annual General Meeting
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Conferences
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Jobs
Your recruitment ad can reach experienced nurses through out Australasia and beyond
Are you looking for staff? You can advertise positions that you are wanting to fill with people with drug and / or alcohol expertise on the DANA website; free of charge. Your ad will also appear on the DANA Facebook site and be promoted through Twitter. It will reach experienced drug and alcohol nurses through Australasia [...]
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