Health check while doing the shopping

Fancy a chance to visit a nurse while doing your weekly shop?

That was one of the many ideas Whitireia dean of health Dr Kathryn Holloway brought back as the only New Zealand nurse at an international symposium.

Holloway was invited to the Global Advanced Practice Nursing Learning symposium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA after being a speaker at an Australian conference.

While there she learnt that in Philadelphia, nursing centres are set up in supermarkets, with no appointments needed and costing just $10 a visit.

‘‘ It’s kind of normalised healthcare, that looking after your healthcare is as normal as shopping,’’ Holloway said.

Nursing since 1980, she has worked in Australia and Britain and completed a doctorate.

She said the symposium had been helpful to see how New Zealand compared countries.

‘‘We are actually quite a way ahead in terms of providing services to our population.

‘‘It was really exciting to talk with other nursing leaders. There are more things that are the same than different in nursing across the world.’’

The purpose of the symposium was to learn how countries have or are developing and using Advanced Practice Nursing to improve access to care.

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