SUPPORTING HEALTH WORKFORCE CHALLENGES

Nurse practitioners are an important part of our strategy for meeting the challenges facing the health workforce. 24 Hour Surgery provides supernumerary year-long paid nurse practitioner internships, giving nurses the ability to focus on learning their craft. Sheena McLeod,Nurse Practitioner (NP),recentlyfinished her internship at Pegasus Health 24 Hour Surgery and Akaroa Health Centre. She is now continuing to work in both places as a registered NP. “Being supernumerary to the team removed the time pressures of abusyshift soIcouldfocus on my learning.Thisgavemetimeto access learning materials to read as I came across unfamiliar clinical conditions,” Sheena said. “The team are welcoming of our role as interns and are willing to spend the time teachingandcoaching us throughoutourshifts,”shesaid. Internships at 24HourSurgery arehighly soughtafterbyprospective applicants due to the supportive environment which includes several established NPs.

Sarah Bothamley, Lead Nurse Practitioner, 24 Hour Surgery, said applications open around August for a January start. “The reason we do it so early is the interns need to apply for funding,” she said.

There are two funding streams, Nurse Practitioner Training Programme andHealth Workforce NewZealand. “We are very fortunate Pegasus tops up the funding we receive to provide our interns with a fully supernumerary year, so they can focus on learningtheir craft,” Sarahsaid.