Nurse Educators Conference Opens Doors for Collaboration

Nurse Educators Conference Opens Doors for Collaboration Opportunities

The 2013 Australasian Nurse Educators Conference (ANEC) held recently at Te Papa in Wellington has been hailed as an outstanding success by Whitireia, a key host of the event.

Around 300 clinical and tertiary nurse educators from Australia, Asia, United Kingdom and America attended the three day conference titled ‘Purposeful Partnerships for Practice’.

A number of Whitireia health faculty staff were instrumental in bringing this conference to Wellington. Leanne Pool, Academic Leader, Bachelor of Nursing programme at Whitireia was one of the conference convenors along with Kerri Arcus, Academic Leader, Postgraduate Studies, and Dr Kathy Holloway, Faculty of Health Dean, on the conference committee.

This conference is run every two years in New Zealand said Dr Kathy Holloway. “This is the second time that Whitireia have been a key host for ANEC, the last time being in 2007.” We enjoy being part of the team that pulls this event together; it provides us with a valuable opportunity to strengthen our relationships with industry and international representatives she said.

Whitireia were well represented at ANEC with 25 health faculty staff attending; with many of these in an official capacity either as MC, a keynote speaker or as presenters. Shayola Koperu, Programme Manager, Bachelor of Nursing Māori was awarded a first time presenters award for her presentation ‘Nursing Education in Ethnically Diverse Societies’.

Several international collaboration opportunities have come about for Whitireia as a result of ANEC. Discussions around collaborative opportunities in research with United Kingdom and United States health researchers have begun.

The new Whitireia health training facility at the Porirua campus was showcased to two visiting Professors of Nursing from the United States that attended ANEC, as keynote speakers. “It was wonderful to showcase our facility to them said Dr Holloway. Our visitors were very impressed with the teaching and learning facilities we have for our students and in particular our simulation learning environment, reaffirming that it is world class”. This visit has provided the polytechnic with another wonderful opportunity, an invitation to become part of the Californian Simulation Alliance with the view of providing Whitireia as an international site for Masters in Simulation training.

Whitireia is a leader in health education training in New Zealand. Offering undergraduate and postgraduate nursing, paramedic, foundation and social work programmes. Whitireia is the second largest tertiary provider of postgraduate education for nurses in New Zealand.

ENDS

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