Standing orders, scope of
practice and the proposed
national PRIME Committee
were the hot topics I was asked
to talk about while Jared
Stevenson (NASO, National
Ambulance
Sector
Organisation), Tim Molloy
(Royal New Zealand College of
General Practitioners) and Tony
Smith (St John Ambulance
Medical Director) discussed
issues such as funding, national
governance of PRIME, kits,
syllabus and training, and
where to from here once the
Review was complete.
Like other members of the
PRIME
Review
National
Steering Group I am delighted
that the final report has now
been
submitted
for
consideration by NASO and the
Ministry of Health. We await
the outcome of 6 months work
where a large number of
people have given their
voluntary time over and above
their
normal
work
commitments
to
provide,
consider, discuss and collate
the feedback received from key
rural stakeholders. As is normal
for rural people, a great deal of
voluntary time and good will
has gone into the PRIME
Review and I am grateful to
have been part of it.
June 2017 L.O.G.I.C
Driving to Twizel for my PRIME
weekend on call gives me four
hours to reflect and think about
what it means to be rural. Long
stretches of windy road,
isolation
from
general
amenities such as shops and
even toilets, lack of cell phone
reception makes me ask myself
why I do this! My answer
centred around making a
difference to the health of
communities
who
are
challenged by being rural, and
that without all the usual
amenities at their fingertips.
Being rural makes us different
to that of urban centres. This
also reminded me how as rural
nurses we go the extra mile to
make a difference. We should
applaud what we do and be
proud that the fundamental
factor that underpins our
actions is centred around
caring and providing for our
communities
who
would
otherwise miss out on health
care on many levels.
all that has gone in between to
make nursing what it is today.
I hope you all had the
opportunity
to
somehow
celebrate International Nurses
Day in style in May. It remains
important that we remember
the beginnings of nursing and
the foundation that was laid so
many years ago, upon which
we have built. We have come a
long way and should be proud
of both the then and now, and
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