Otaki’s Lynette Law among MDHB nursing award winners

13/05/2011 | Otaki Winner - Nursing Awards

Otaki’s Lynette Law was among the winners at the MidCentral District Health Board 2011 nursing awards, which coincided with International Nurses Day, on 12 May.

The Central Primary Health Organisation community clinical nurse long term conditions – diabetes nurse took out the clinical excellence expert category in the primary health care award section.

The citation said: “Lynette shows consistent role modelling of safe and effective clinical practice consistently working toward higher outcomes of client care improvement. Within her (diabetes) specialty role Lynette facilitates effective learning and acts as a resource for other team members.”

Nurses within MidCentral District Health Board – primary health care, and hospital setting - celebrated excellence and innovation in nursing practice at the awards ceremony.

The awards occur biennially and this year a rare pre-eminent prize was awarded to Palmerston North’s Helen Snell Nurse Practitioner, PhD Candidate, for her significant impact on the New Zealand health system. Alongside Dr Paul Dixon, Helen is the nurse leader of the Diabetes Service, which is regarded as a centre of excellence nationally. Helen is Chair of the Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee of New Zealand, and a nurse representative on the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes. Helen is leading, and has been instrumental in developing and implementing the RN diabetes nurse prescribing pilot project for Health Workforce New Zealand. This is a significant project that will eventually improve access to care for people with diabetes throughout New Zealand.  Helen is also the only nurse leading one of the 14 Health Workforce New Zealand service reviews.

Helen’s work for diabetes patients has led to the development of the knowledge and skills framework for diabetes that has been adopted nationally for all New Zealand nursing. This framework has now changed how nursing standards are viewed in New Zealand, with the structure of her framework forming the basis of knowledge and skills frameworks of the nine national nursing groups in New Zealand.

Helen has also been instrumental in promoting and developing Nurse Practitioner training programme specifications for the country. This concept has the support of the nursing profession and will inform the Nursing Council review of post graduate education that is to occur later this year.

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