Australia/ new zealand

[uk_nurse]

Hi

I am a health visitor ( specialist community public health nurse) and paeds trained. Is there an equivalent in either Australia or new zealand. I love the community work and do not really want to go back to hospital setting. I do health promotion and education and preventative work and work with children from 0-4 yrs. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :)

[talaxandra]

Hi - I work in the adult system, so I can't say for sure about paeds but I'd be surprised if there weren't a number of community and hospital-transition and liaison programs affiliated with the state's major pediatric hospitals as well as the pediatric units at less specilaised hospitals. In the past five years or so there's been a significant increase in the number of hospital in the home type programs aimed at out of hspital support, and an increasing emphasis on prevention and preemptive intervention, and I'd think that would be even more the case for kids. However I can't come up with any specific positions etc, purely because I don't know the area. I hope this helps a little, anyway.

[scarah]

I'm unsure of what your exact role is in the UK but there are definitely roles in Australia that may be comparable.

Things like Maternal and Child Health Nurses - who provide regular infant/mother check ups to monitor growth, health, wellbeing and generally work in clinics.

I'm unsure of what kind of community roles there are in paeds but I'm sure there would be some, like Hospital in the Home where nurses visit patients at home to do things like Iv medications, wound dressings, etc etc I'm sure there'd be a paeds version?

Also there things like the FrontYard Clinic here in Melbourne which runs under the umbrella of the Children's Hosp but is physically separate and provides health services to homeless and "at risk" youths in a clinic setting (co-located with other services the young people may need).

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

This will give an indication on what a health visitor is in the UK

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=807

[scarah]

Having had a look at the above link I think our Child and Maternal Health nurses are very similar.

[uk_nurse]

Thank you for your replies. i will look into it. i want to live and work in either country. :)

[dubstar]

Hi,

equivalent to HV in New Zealand is a Plunkett nurse (yes thats the name!) google them, they are nationwide, are a charitable organisation. Not NHS tied like UK. New Zealand health service is disjointed and not as streamlined as UK

hope this helps