What is required to provide a primary health care service by a nurse practitioner? Firstly, a deep breath, absolute determination, and genuine belief in the knowledge and advanced skills that the nurse practitioner role offers. A decision right from the outset to “choose” what to listen to. There would be…
My first role as an NP was working as a locum in a very busy town based General practice. This was the first time I had ever worked in an urban practice. This was both daunting and challenging and I appreciated the support of other locums in the practice. Between…
The next chapter in my journey took us to Waimate, in South Canterbury. This was the making of my nurse practitioner career. The experience I gained during my 5 years there was exciting ,challenging, and extremely rewarding. I was PRIME trained and took part on the roster covering 2 nights a week…
The Pitt Island adventure was followed by two years on the Chatham Islands where there was a small community hospital with 2-3 beds, a GP and 3 other RNs. On-call was covered by the nurses who were all PRIME trained and back up was sought from the GP as needed. This…
I spent two years on a remote Island known as Pitt Island (aka “my home”), which offered me a multitude of skills, not only autonomy and advanced nursing skills but also the difficult and often trying skill of how to be a nurse and not a family member when a…
Te Kinga Hill, Lake Brunner For me this started on the South Island’s beautiful West Coast in 1998-My first job was in a town-based General Practice in Greymouth, where my love for Primary Health Care was born. I worked there for 3 years, before leaving to…
A quote from Thich Nhat Hanh “When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our…
Thanks for joining me on my blog. I hope that you can follow my ideas and views on what I write about. You won’t always agree with me and I won’t always be right, but these are just my views and I am happy to hear yours in return. Good…