24 hours: Sarah Patrick

KATARINA FILIPE

Sarah Patrick has just become South Canterbury's second nurse practitioner and the first to specialise in youth health. She has big plans for the region, including extending youth health services and setting up a support group for people thinking of following in her footsteps.

I normally wake up about 6.30am. My husband, Jonathan, gets up for work at 6am and he always brings me a Milo and a couple of pieces of toast. He's very good.

Then I feed Lucy, our 10-month-old daughter. She tends to go back for another wee sleep after breakfast. We're normally lucky because she sleeps right through the night; we normally don't hear from her till about 6am or 6.30am, but we've had a few sleepless nights lately because she's been teething.

After brekkie, we tend to go for a walk around the downs with the dog, Wilbur. We come back, have lunch, and Lucy usually has another sleep.

On a hot day, Lucy and I will sit in the paddling pool after lunch. Up until last week, I normally did my study while Lucy had a nap. I'd do a good lot of study then.

On March 4, I had my interview at the New Zealand Nursing Council in Wellington. I flew to Wellington with Sharon [Hansen, South Canterbury's first nurse practitioner].

I had to do a presentation about the South Canterbury community and my work within the community. I also presented case studies and they gave me clinical scenarios I had to work up, what drugs I would prescribe.

I found out the same day that I'd got it. At the time, I was really excited and relieved, after all that anxiety. It was excellent to hear that's what I had achieved. It was a great end to six years of study.

I haven't started work yet because I'm on maternity leave. When I do go back part-time in April, I'll be working with the [South Canterbury] District Health Board.

It will be a lot of work when I go back. Putting together a role proposal is my next thing, looking at where I can fit within the community.

My aim is to extend work on what I've already worked towards. I want to make things a little bit more accessible for youth and more youth-appropriate. The services I have provided are obviously acceptable to them because they're coming back.

I developed school health clinics at three high schools and worked at the Aoraki Polytechnic clinic.

It's been an interest of mine for years. I grew up in Christchurch and came down to Geraldine in 1995.

This came from my sort of initial comparison for youth health services. There was nothing in South Canterbury for youth. Where do youth go for their healthcare services? I started looking at ways to improve healthcare services for them.

The lack of anonymity is a huge thing in a small town – you go to buy condoms and you'll probably run into someone you know.

I had a practice nurse role in Temuka and I offered a free sexual health service from the GP where I worked. It was well used. Police even referred a couple of youth to me.

My dream is to have more time in the schools, because they work. I know the schools are really appreciative of it. We provide contraception and some antibiotics for STIs. We have had some really good, positive results and feedback. There are some youth out there with some significant health problems and they tend to not seek help.

I would really like to see an opportunity for all high schools to be able to offer the same service. I'd like it to be more mobile so I can come out to the rural areas. I want it to be some community-type setting that the students feel they can access.

I'm certainly not out there to take work from the GPs – it's a collaborative process with existing services. There's a real place in the community for nurse practitioners as part of healthcare. If anyone is thinking of becoming a nurse practitioner, speak to us, give me a ring. I'm more than happy to have a word to people, to discuss what their thoughts are.

Sharon and I supported each other through the years in our studies. We're looking at perhaps setting up a support group for people wanting to do that, who want to know what's involved.

We're doing really well in South Canterbury to have two nurse practitioners and hopefully we can get a few more. There's only 68 in New Zealand, including me. I have also been granted prescribing rights and there's only 43 other nurse practitioners who have that in the country.

I also work at the sexual health clinic at Timaru Hospital. I do that Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I usually work from 4.30pm to 7.30pm but it can depend on what comes through the door. It works really well with Lucy because Jonathan's parents have her for a couple of hours before he gets home from work.

Before I had Lucy and before I was doing my master's papers, my weekends were based around study. I would get home from work, have dinner, and do at least two to three hours of study.

One of my hobbies was walking. But last Saturday, Jonathan and I took Lucy for a walk and I rolled my ankle on a bit of sidewalk and down I went. I'm going to be on crutches for a few weeks. Things have been a bit difficult, with Lucy crawling. I can't hobble after her, but luckily my mum, Jenny, has been able to come down from Christchurch. When my mum goes back, I'm lucky I have a very supportive friend who will be around, and Jonathan is excellent.

When he comes home from work, he does bathtime with Lucy while I make dinner. I normally have her fed by the time he gets home. I like trying a lot of new things to cook, not your run-of-the-mill stuff. I do enjoy cooking. I do my own recipes, make my own things up.

Then we have tea. Lucy sits in her highchair, usually, and eats a bit off our plates. We have family playtime after tea.

We have visitors most days, family and friends who come around to see Lucy. They don't come to see me any more!

- © Fairfax NZ News