Shannon Muir

The 33-year-old says she has always been interested in nursing and providing care.

“I should have done it years ago but it just wasn’t right for me then,” she says.

Oh how times have changed and despite a busy young family, she says she has the opportunity and support to finally fulfill her dream.

At 33 years old, she says it is a challenge to adjust to studying once again, but one she adores.

“Years ago I did an introduction to community care, but there is an awful lot to adjust to now – it’s daunting having not been at school for 17 years!”

But between her supportive husband Kevin and her tutors at EIT Tairäwhiti, she knows it is possible.

“There’s a real family network at EIT Tairäwhiti and we all help each other through,” says Shannon. “It’s a very nurturing environment to be studying in, and was hugely helpful doing the foundation certificate as it was a chance to learn what was expected for this next challenge.”

The Bachelor of Nursing will take Shannon three years to complete and while she is unsure where her nursing career will take her, she says she is leaning towards working with young children.

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The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society is the largest provider contracted by the Ministry of Health to deliver the Well Child/Tamariki Ora service, which is free to all children in New Zealand from birth to five years of age. 

What the young mothers told Nicky formed the basis of recommendations she took back to Plunket and developed into a business plan for an improved service.

Now, a year on and funded by a $90,000 Vodafone New Zealand Foundation grant, Nicky is leading a pilot extended Well Child/Tamariki Ora service delivered to teenage mothers.  This begins a month prior to the babies’ due date, and the expectant mothers are assigned a specialist nurse whose particular focus is teenagers.   

All this is the rare, direct and immediate outcome from her EIT Master of Nursing thesis research.

 Nicky, who received an EIT-sponsored Hawke’s Bay District Health Board Nurse of the Year Award in 2010, undertook the research for the thesis for her Master of Nursing thesis.  The study is based on the analysis of data derived from discussions with two focus groups of mothers aged 16-19 who attended William Colenso College’s teenage parent unit.

The findings reveal these teenagers weren’t well engaged with the Well Child/Tamariki Ora service and required support specific to their age and circumstances. 

The research identified the need for better facilitation of the transition from their lead maternity carer to a Well Child/Tamariki Ora service provider, better communication and nurse/client relationships, correct and consistent parenting information, including practical demonstrations, and for nurses to be respectful and caring of their clients despite their age.

Professor Bob Marshall, EIT's new Research Director

Well known for his research work as a sport scientist in biomechanics, Professor Bob Marshall has been appointed to EIT’s newly-created position of Research Director for the next two years.

 Research Professor with EIT’s Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Marshall has established a reputation for innovative research in tennis, squash, cricket, softball and yachting – work that has assisted many New Zealand coaches and athletes.    Additionally, Bob’s work in the last decade has involved numerous projects evaluating health initiatives and practices.

EIT Chief Executive Chris Collins says that as a proven researcher with outstanding credentials, Professor Marshall is ideally placed to take on the important new role.

“Bob will take a lead in enhancing the quality of research across EIT,” Mr Collins said. “He will also oversee our participation in the Government’s 2012 Performance-Based Research Funding round and explore strategies to attract external research contracts.”

Originally from Canada, Professor Marshall taught at the University of Otago and the University of Western Australia, and he was Associate Professor and Foundation Head with the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Auckland before being appointed EIT’s first research professor in 2002. 

He has published more than 160 refereed articles and presented 150-plus papers at conferences worldwide.

EIT has substantially developed its research culture since launching its first degree in 1996.  It now offers 11 undergraduate degrees, graduate and postgraduate certificates and diplomas, an honours degree and a master’s degree.

Across faculties, 100 lecturers undertake research as part of their educational role.  Last year, EIT staff garnered over $358,000 in external research contracts.

 Mr Collins said that in employing professors of international repute, EIT signalled its ongoing commitment to research and working alongside the community on applied projects that made a difference across a wide range of services and industries.

Professor Marshall will be working closely with EIT’s three other research professors, deans and senior research staff while continuing in his role as Research Professor with the Faculty of Health Science.

Chris Ball, Master of Nursing graduate and Mental Health Tutor

EIT Tairāwhiti lecturer Chris Ball is to be capped with his Master of Nursing (March 25) and he’s eagerly looking forward to being part of the traditional and formal event.

Chris will work around his lecture schedule so he and wife June can make a “swift day trip” to attend EIT’s graduation ceremony, which was staged at Napier’s Municipal Theatre. 

While completing the degree he started three and a half years ago is a great weight off his mind, Chris says he really enjoyed the study.   As part of his degree, he undertook what EIT Head of School Nursing Susan Jacobs describes as “very interesting and scholarly research about mental health legislation”.

Born and raised on England’s south-east coast, Chris trained as a psychiatric nurse, latterly working in Warrington, Cheshire, a town he says is famous for the Warrington Wolves rugby team.  He and wife June moved to New Zealand in 1999, lived for a time in the Hutt Valley and then relocated to Te Puia Springs in 2001 so he could take up a job with an iwi provider.

 Chris welcomed the opportunity to immerse himself in Māoritanga.

“I’ve always been interested in different cultures,” he says, “and, coming from England, those of the Māori and Pacific Islands were completely new to me.”

Before emigrating, he visited New Zealand twice and our cultural mix was among the reason he and June made the move – along with better weather and the sense of space afforded by a small population.

His job on the East Coast covered a big area, from Tolaga Bay to Potaka, a tiny settlement beyond Hicks Bay.

“Then I had the opportunity for a lecturer’s job through UCOL which formerly ran the nurse training course at Tairāwhiti Polytechnic.  Following the merger with EIT earlier this year, I continue to teach all the mental health areas in the programmes we offer.  The delivery is different – with EIT, the teaching is spread over different papers, but basically the information is the same.”

Having finished his master’s degree, Chris says he isn’t missing having to leave his Gisborne home at 5.30am to get to EIT for morning lectures.  He estimates doing the trip 20 to 30 times – “so that wasn’t too arduous”.  The worst that happened was being ticketed for exceeding the speed limit by 5kph just south of Nukaha.

 Other than that, he thoroughly enjoyed the degree programme.  “I had excellent lecturers and it was a really great experience.  The online component was terrific too.”

Earlier last year, Chelsea completed her Bachelor of Nursing at the Eastern Institute of Technology. Now she’s looking forward to March 25, when she’ll celebrate getting her degree at EIT’s graduation ceremony in Napier.

Raised on the family farm in Tutira, Chelsea was a boarder at Napier Girls’ High School. When it came to career options, she wanted to go farming but her parents told her she should get “a trade” first.

Her mother, Alison Pearse, is a nurse working for a Maori health provider in Napier and her Nan was also a nurse. Chelsea was attracted to nursing because, she says, she knew the training would allow her to “work almost anywhere in the world”.

Nursing is also a flexible qualification, offering job opportunities in hospitals, medical practices, community health services and other areas. And then there’s the option of short-term contracts if the family decides to spend some time travelling overseas.

But right now, Chelsea’s happily settling into her new home. “Growing up on a farm, I love the lifestyle and Wairoa is great – nice and small and close to good beaches.”

It’s just the place, in fact, to raise young Jack, who’s proving an easy baby – “I can put him in the backpack and off I go.”

Now that she’s finished her degree, Chelsea is welcoming opportunities for working on the farm while Jack is young. Eventually, she intends to work as a nurse in the Wairoa area, perhaps in a community nursing role.

So she’s pleased she heeded her parents’ advice and enrolled at EIT.

“I found studying really good. EIT’s campus is really nice and the BN nursing programme covered the theory stages we needed before going out on practicum.”

So although caring for Jack is keeping Chelsea fully occupied, she says being a nurse graduate makes her feel more independent. “I know that eventually I can do my own thing as well.”

Jenny grew up on family farms in OngaOnga and Otane and, after finishing school at Central Hawke’s Bay College, studied for her Bachelor of Nursing at the Eastern Institute of Technology.

She recently moved south to take up a position with the South Canterbury District Health Board at the public hospital in Timaru. Now she’s eagerly anticipating a trip home to take part in EIT’s graduation ceremony on March 25.

“My Mum, Dad, partner and brother will be at graduation. Hopefully it will be warm. I’ve missed the warm weather so much, even though we have had a 40 degree day down here.”

The 21-year-old is also looking forward to catching up with classmates and to meeting her lecturers.

She says she feels very lucky to have gone to EIT – “it’s modern with great resources, a lovely campus, close to home and (as a recipient of a Year 13 Study Grant) the fees for my first year and a half were free”.

After completing her Bachelor of Nursing studies, Jenny accepted a New Graduate Registered Nurse position in Timaru because she wanted a generalised setting to start her career.

“People have said you learn more and get to know the people really well in a small hospital, and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and move away from Hawke’s Bay.”

Flatting with two others, Jenny finds Timaru has plenty going for it.
“It’s a nice town, two hours to Christchurch and two hours to Dunedin and close to the ski fields. It has a lovely beach called Caroline Bay. The weather’s a bit colder than in Hawke’s Bay so hopefully I’ll acclimatise.”

Having spent three weeks assigned to another Registered Nurse for her orientation at Timaru Hospital, she now has a six-month rotation working in a surgical ward where patients have included survivors of the Christchurch earthquake.

“One of them told me she had come here in a 4WD with a family member because the ambulances were too busy.”

Jenny would like to have several years’ hospital experience, preferably in the surgical area, and to then move into practice nursing, community nursing or perhaps mental health.

“I’m not too sure about travelling yet, but I’d maybe look at Australia which is always very tempting for nurses.”

But right now, she’s enjoying Timaru – hanging out with other new graduate nurses, making new friends and picking up interests that were parked while she undertook her nursing education.

Havelock North-based Mogul was selected from a hand-picked field of web developers considered to design the new site. The boutique-sized company previously prepared an online marketing strategy for EIT, which triggered the redevelopment of the website.

EIT emarketing coordinator Leanne Webster says liaising with the local company works out well.  “We have developed a good relationship, and Mogul is well-positioned to understand our role as the East Coast’s leading tertiary educator.”

With the original website launched over five years ago, a redevelopment was considered timely.

Matthew Miller, Mogul’s Managing Director says that Mogul chose the popular WordPress platform for EIT’s new website, to allow easy maintenance by EIT’s staff, excellent social media integration and search engine performance. “A website is only one part of an online strategy, and your website must work in harmony with what you’re doing on Facebook, Twitter, your email newsletters, and your search engine marketing. WordPress is the ideal solution to act as the hub for an integrated online marketing strategy.”

“It’s easier now for visitors to access programme information,” Leanne says.  “That’s an important feature as our monitoring shows that’s the reason most people use the site. And EIT staff are also finding the site more user-friendly – both to edit and maintain.”

The Fulbright programme’s highest award is open to applicants who are New Zealand graduate students, academics, artists and professionals.  Rachael is the first nurse in New Zealand to receive the prestigious scholarship since 1977.

She is now fine-tuning plans to spend four months of next year based at the University of California San Francisco where she will be looking at competence frameworks for nurses in the USA and Canada.

Rachael was lead researcher for a high-profile team of internationally recognised health and research experts commissioned fifteen months ago by the Nursing Council of New Zealand to evaluate the framework to ensure New Zealand nurses are competent to practise.

The research was ‘a nice fit’, she says, with her doctorate work through the University of Sydney, investigating the influence of legislation and policy on nursing practice, including the notion of ‘competence to practice’.

Like New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Canada and the UK have their own competence frameworks for nurses, and Rachael is hoping to develop a consensus model that can accommodate an internationally mobile nursing workforce.

To achieve that, she says, it’s important to understand the different models and the relevant legislation in each country and in particular the various states and territories in the USA and Canada.

“I am interested in issues that surround competence frameworks and the legislation that influences them.  Worldwide, limited analysis has been undertaken to date.”

It’s a significant achievement in a region with a high prevalence of diabetes.  The disorder leads to nearly half the cases of kidney failure in New Zealand.

At 32, Rachael is also the youngest to have gained Nurse Practitioner status since the Nursing Council of New Zealand established the expanded nursing role nine years ago.

Nurse Practitioners are expert nurses who work within a specific area and practice incorporating advanced knowledge and skills.  Rachael’s achievement means she can assess, diagnose and prescribe to patients who have renal dysfunction.

Rachael’s interest in caring for people with impaired kidney function and kidney disease started six years ago when she transferred from the Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s acute medical unit to the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board’s renal service.

It was another step in a steep career path.  Originally from Wairoa, she graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from EIT Hawke’s Bay and went on to work in the hospital’s medical wards.

After a working holiday overseas with husband-to-be Shayne, she returned to nursing in Hawke’s Bay and to further study at EIT, doing a paper a year to complete her Master of Nursing last year.

As if this wasn’t enough to keep her fully occupied, Rachael and Shayne chose this time to start a family.
It helped that EIT was so baby-friendly, Rachael says.  Four-year-old Ariana once accompanied her to a class and son Kahu, born 14 months ago, was just two weeks old when he attended his first lecture.

“I knew what my goal was and EIT supported me in achieving that with a new baby.  They worked the practicum around maternity leave as well.  I couldn’t have done that clinical paper if they hadn’t been so good about supporting me.”

A star student, Rachael was awarded the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board Associate Directors of Nursing Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Nursing Studies at EIT’s graduation ceremony earlier this year.

Dean of Health and Sport Science, Dr Susan Jacobs, says Rachael is one of six EIT Master of Nursing graduates to have become Nurse Practitioners.  Others based in Hawke’s Bay are Maureen Bent (Adult Cardiology), Sharon Payne (Emergency Care), Trish White (Adult Urology) and Pip Rutherford (Wound Care), while Diane Williams works in primary care for the Tairāwhiti District Health Board.

Rachael chose to specialise in renal care because she wanted to work with patients who had long-term conditions.  She particularly wanted to work with people to prevent end-stage kidney failure.

She started working in the haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis units before moving into the role of Pre-dialysis – Clinical Nurse Specialist.

The appointment of Drew Henderson as the renal service’s clinical director was the catalyst for her decision to seek Nurse Practitioner status.

“He’s a good teacher,” she says of the Scottish-trained nephrologist.  “We developed a 10-year plan for the renal service and saw the need and value of having a Nurse Practitioner working in a preventative role.  Drew and the Director of Nursing guided me through the journey, and I’ve also had excellent support from my managers in doing this and in continuing with my postgraduate papers.”

Drew confidently predicts Rachael will add value to the community with the depth of knowledge she has acquired – “I would not have encouraged her to train otherwise.”    Head of a team of 28 nurses, technologists and caregivers, he says the service does much of its work out in the community, making home visits to monitor patients who manage their own dialysis.

“So we have a nurse role model for chronic disease management,” he proudly says of Rachael, whose patients range in age from 18 to 87.  More than half of these have diabetes, which is more prevalent in populations with a large proportion of Māori and Pacific Islanders.

Rachael educates patients on kidney disease and how to manage their health to prevent deterioration in kidney function.

Kidney disease is a ‘silent killer’, she says – most people don’t develop symptoms until their disease is very advanced.

Rachael educates patients on the importance of maintaining good blood pressure, controlling their diabetes, keeping to a healthy diet and weight and stopping smoking.  Not adopting these measures can lead to further kidney damage.

Because prevention is always preferable, the message from Rachael, Drew and the rest of the renal service team is to look after yourself, see your primary care team for regular check-ups and manage your health.  Kidney disease isn’t inevitable, they say.