nurse practitioner facilitation (Npf) Programme
NP NUMBERS.pdf - July 2008: 49 NPs, 28 with prescribing rights.
Background
On 15 May 2001 the Ministry of Health and the Nursing Council of New Zealand launched a new scope of nursing practice, the Nurse Practitioner.
Nurse Practitioner scope of practice.
Nurse Practitioners are expert nurses who work within a specific area of practice incorporating advanced knowledge and skills. They practise both independently and in collaboration with other health care professionals to promote health, prevent disease and to diagnose, assess and manage people’s health needs. They provide a wide range of assessment and treatment interventions, including differential diagnoses, ordering, conducting and interpreting diagnostic and laboratory tests and administering therapies for the management of potential or actual health needs. They work in partnership with individuals, families, whanau and communities across a range of settings. Nurse Practitioners may choose to prescribe medicines within their specific area of practice. Nurse Practitioners also demonstrate leadership as consultants, educators, managers and researchers and actively participate in professional activities and in local and national policy development¹.
The Nursing Council note that the Nurse Practitioner scope provides a clinical career pathway for those nurses who have attained a Master's degree in nursing, and who are expert, advanced practice nurses. Most importantly, the Nurse Practitioner is a highly educated and experienced health professional working to improve health and to reduce inequalities in health. Nurse Practitioners are a key component of the health and disability workforce of the future, with the potential to improve health status and to reduce the national burden of chronic disease. Nurse Practitioners will assist in realising the NZ Disability Strategy’s vision of a non-disabling society.
Great progress has been made over the last six years in the education, training and professional development of the Nurse Practitioner. In response to the identified need to stimulate the sector to recognise the potential of the Nurse Practitioner workforce, the Nurse Practitioner Employment and Development Working Party was established by the Minister of Health in June 2005.
In its September 2006 Report to the Minster of Health, the Nurse Practitioner Employment and Development Working Party identified the need for a Nurse Practitioner Facilitation Programme (NPF Programme). The Ministry of Health and DHBNZ agreed to transition the implementation of the NPF Programme to District Health Boards (DHBs), the DHBNZ Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Strategy Group (“the Strategy Group”) leads implementation of the Programme via the Nurse Practitioner Facilitation Programme Steering Group.
¹Nursing Council of New Zealand (2001). Notice of scopes of practice and related qualifications prescribed by the Nursing Council of New Zealand. Retrieved August 3, 2007, from http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/scopes.html#nps