Nurse practitioner standards : an Australian and New Zealand research collaboration

This paper will report the findings from research conducted in Australia and New Zealand to inform development of standards for nurse practitioner education and practice competencies. In New Zealand and Australia the nurse practitioner is a new and unique level of health-care provider. The shifting boundaries caused by health-care reform have created impetus and demand for development of new models of health-care, but have also created some uncertainty regarding nurse practitioner standards, education and models of care. The title, Nurse Practitioner, is now legislated in New Zealand and most jurisdictions in Australia but there is scant research to inform development of nurse practitioner standards. This research, sponsored by the Australian Nursing Council and the Nursing Council of New Zealand, was conducted to develop generic standards that could be applied for the education, authorisation and practice of nurse practitioners in both countries. The study involved collection and triangulation of data from a range of sources across Australia and New Zealand including: in-depth interviews with 15 nurse practitioners from different geographical and clinical contexts; curriculum survey of all nurse practitioner courses in the two countries and interview with convenors of these courses; collation of the authorisation/registration processes and policies from states and territories in Australia, New Zealand and internationally. These data were analysed within and across the data modalities to provide information on standards for nurse practitioner practice and education. Findings from the study included identification of the core role of the nurse practitioner as it is expressed in New Zealand and Australia and generic standards for nurse practitioner competencies, education and authorisation. These findings will standardise expectations, support mutual recognition of nurse practitioner authorisation across the two countries and make an important contribution to the current international debate on nurse practitioner standards and scope of practice.

Environmental attitudes and their relation to the dominant social paradigm among university students in New Zealand and Australia

This paper develops a causal model of environmental attitudes using measures of the dominant social paradigm of Western industrial societies. Four components of the DSP framework are examined with regard to environmental attitudes and perception of change using a sample of university students from Australia and New Zealand. The results indicate that one’s belief in the DSP has a negative effect on both environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary to ameliorate degradation of the environment. Thus, while public policy favors increasing awareness of and interest in the environment, policy instruments may remain ineffective in producing lasting change if the components of the DSP remain unchanged. It is argued that public policy ought to be directed at changing the DSP so that its negative effects will be minimized.

Environmental attitudes among university students In New Zealand and Australia

This paper develops a causal model of environmental attitudes using measures of the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of western industrial societies. Two components of the DSP framework beliefs in economic growth and anthropocentrism are examined regards to environmental attitudes using a sample of university students from Australia and New Zealand. The results indicate that one’s belief in the DSP has a negative effect on environmental attitudes and perception of change necessary ameliorate degradation of the environment. Thus, while public policy favors increasing awareness of and interest in the environment, policy instruments may remain ineffective in producing lasting change if the components of the DSP remain unchanged. It is argued that public policy ought to be directed at changing the DSP so that its negative
effects will be minimized.

Costs of inflation in Australia and New Zealand.

This paper evaluates the costs of inflation in Australia and New Zealand using a compensated measure calculated by calibrating a general equilibrium search model in the vein of Lagos and Wright (2005). We look at how inflation affects the intensive margin (the quantity traded in each match) by examining the impact of various pricing protocols. We also look at how inflation affects the extensive margin (the number of trades) by making the market composition between buyers and sellers endogenous. We obtain much larger costs of inflation than existing studies, but smaller costs than similar studies conducted on the US economy. Depending on the version of the model the costs of 10% inflation for a $50,000 worker ranges from $250 to $2200 per year in Australia, and from $200 to $1700 in New Zealand, that is between 0.5% and 4.4% of GDP and between 0.4% and 3.4% of GDP respectively. Finally it is calculated that Australia could gain up to 1.6% of GDP per annum--1.2% for New Zealand--by implementing the Friedman rule.

Description of new species of Setosabatieria and Desmolaimus (Nematoda: Monhysterida) and a checklist of New Zealand free-living marine nematode species

Two new marine nematode species are described from intertidal sediments in southern New Zealand. Setosabatieria australis sp. nov. is characterised by an amphideal fovea with 3.5 turns, 7–9 small pre-cloacal supplements, and 2–5 sub-cephalic setae per file. Setosabatieria australis sp. nov. differs from all known species of the genus in having L-shaped spicules with a hollow median region, in contrast to the typical curved shape. Desmolaimus courti sp. nov. is characterised by the presence of four long (15 µm) cephalic setae, two cuticularised rings in the buccal cavity, and a lightly cuticularised pharyngeal lumen. It differs from other species of the genus by having eight sub-cephalic setae. A total of 116 marine species are included in the checklist of New Zealand free-living nematodes, with the majority of records from the coast of Campbell and Auckland islands from the early part of the 20th century. Most records were from habitats such as seaweed or sponge, which may explain the high proportion (>50%) of cosmopolitan species recorded in New Zealand to date. Little is known about the sediment nematode fauna, particularly in deeper waters (>120 m), from where there are no records to date.