Abstract: A qualitative framework was used to explore the nature and the quality of interactions between sole on-call primary health care rural nurses and secondary care doctors as a component of rural nursing practice and representative of the primary-secondary care interface. Crucial to patient centred care, the premise was that the quality of this interface would be variable due to multiple influences such as: the historical nurse/doctor relationship that has perpetuated medical dominance and nursing subordination; current policy direction encouraging greater inter-professional collaboration; and changing role boundaries threatening traditional professional positioning. A total of 11 nurses representing 10 separate rural areas participated in semi-structured interviews. Rural nurses typically interact with secondary care doctors for acute clinical presentations with two tiers of interaction identified. The first tier was presented as a default to secondary care doctors for assistance with managing primary care level clinical presentations in the absence of access to a general practitioner or an appropriate Standing Order enabling appropriate management. The second tier presented itself as situations where, in the professional judgement of the nurse, the client status indicated a need for secondary level expertise and/or referral to secondary care. The needs of the rural nurse in these interactions were identified as access to expertise in diagnosis, therapy and management, authorisation to act when intervention would exceed the nurse's scope of practice; the need to refer clients to secondary care; and the need for reassurance, encompassing emotional and professional issues. The quality of the interactions was found to be variable but predominantly positive. Professional outcomes of positive interactions included professional acknowledgement, support and continuing professional development. For the patient, the outcomes included appropriate, timely, safe intervention and patient centred care. The infrequent but less than ideal interactions between the participants and secondary care doctors led to professional outcomes of intraprofessional discord, a sense of invisibility for the nurse, increased professional risk and professional dissatisfaction; and for the client an increased potential for deleterious outcome and suffering. Instead of the proposition of variability arising from interprofessional discord and the current policy direction, the data suggested that variability arose from three interlinking factors; appropriate or inappropriate utilisation of secondary care doctors; familiarity among individuals with professional roles and issues of rurality; and acceptance by the primary care doctor of the sole on-call primary health care rural nurse role and the responsibility to assist with the provision of primary health care. Recommendations for improving interactions at the interface include national, regional and individual professional actions.

Abstract: This article reports the results of a research study undertaken to examine how nurses manage their professional and personal selves while working in small rural communities. The participants were a small group of rural nurses on the West Coast. The rationale for the study was the long-term sustainability and viability of the service to this remote area. The research showed that the rural nurse specialists' role is a complex and challenging one, performed within the communities in which nurses live.

Abstract: Reports a descriptive, exploratory, qualitative study of the perceptions and experiences of nurses who delivered cardiac rehabilitation in a rural health-care setting in Northland. Gathers data from two focus groups of 12 nurses in which five themes relating to cardiac rehabilitation are identified using a general inductive approach.

Abstract: The stories of the women who live and work in rural settings in New Zealand have begun to reveal unique contributions that they have made to their families and community. This research study evolved from a trend the researcher observed as a district nurse providing community palliative care in rural New Zealand; that the majority of carers of those who are terminally in home-settings are in fact women. This qualitative study aimed to explore through guided conversational interviews the experiences of four women who have cared for their terminally ill partners who have subsequently died. The study investigated if these women's experiences were comparable to that of other women in existing palliative care literature. This research project focused particularly on elucidating the women's experience of intertwining the role of partner and caregiver. Heidegger's hermeneutic philosophy informed the methodology because he focused on what it meant to 'be' rather than 'how we know what we know'. The project focused on the meanings the women made of this dual role in their lives. Women already in the role of partner were now faced with the added responsibility of caregiver to meet the complex needs of their loved one. Usually they had no training to prepare them for this experience. The study reveals ways in which the visiting palliative care nurse becomes very important to them. The women's own voices reveal the high level of respect for their partners and address the harsh realities, revealing poignant and striking concerns in their lives. These stories are shared with the intent of enriching nurses' and other health professionals' understanding of the women's experiences. The author notes that understanding these women's experience is not only a way of honouring these remarkable women but more widely it will inform and possibly transform practice through guideline and policy refinement.

Abstract: Examines the impact of innovation funding through the MOH primary health-care nursing innovation funding scheme on Health Reporoa Inc, which offers a first-contact rural nursing service to the village of Reporoa and surrounding districts. Looks at funding impact during the project period of 2003-2006, and in the two years that followed.

Abstract: This chapter explores the concept of islands particularly in relation to rurality, individual and community identities, and nursing. The author argues that all New Zealanders are islanders, and considers the implications of this on personal and community values, when they are shaped by geographic isolation and structural separateness. She explores commonalities between islanders and rural peoples in areas such as identity, isolation, and health, and outlines the impacts this has on rural nursing practice and competencies. A case study of a nurse on Stewart Island is briefly discussed.

Abstract: This chapter reviews some effects of the growth of tourism, including adventure tourism and the numbers of tourists over 50, on rural nursing practice. Tourism contributes to socio-cultural change within a community, and health resources that previously met the needs of the local community may not meet the expectations of growing numbers of tourists. The transient visitor includes both the tourist and the seasonal worker, and has become a feature of rural nursing. Major effects on rural nurses include the increased volume of work, the advanced scope of practice required to meet more complex needs of visitors, and challenges to personal and professional safety.

Abstract: On call emergency health services are becoming routinely provided by some rural nurses, predominantly within the South Island. Rural nurses have been advancing their practice to accommodate the limited availability of general practitioners in rural communities. Although this is becoming routine practice, the author has been providing a service such as this for the past 12 years. This dissertation describes this practice in relationship to the present social-political context, advancing nurse competencies and her experience of rural nursing in a rural town within the South Island. Particular significance for the rural nurse is the required independent practice and overall responsibility when remote from traditional medical oversight. Providing on call emergency care with the possibility of a broad spectrum of emergency situations while maintaining competence for the unpredictable frequency (or lack of frequency) of the rural emergency is the focus of this dissertation. The professional and personal risks are high for rural nurses when placed in situations they are not prepared for or unable to remain competent to manage. Implications resulting from the critique of the health service literature on this subject are identified. Firstly, rural nurses need to be insightful of their own emergency on call expertise and limitations. Secondly, rural nurses require ongoing education and thirdly that appropriate education is available and accessible to rural nurses. Lastly, rural nurses require maintenance of competency so these emergency skills are not lost. This dissertation and the resulting recommendations embrace Nursing Council of New Zealand Nurse Practitioner Competencies. The resulting outcomes fulfilling the rural nurse's need for maintenance of competency for emergency on call care, the community's need for safe appropriate emergency care and national legislation requirements.