Nursing Services in the New Zealand Defence Force: A review After 100 Years

This year marks 100 years since the inception of the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps. The centenary provides an opportune time to reflect upon the nature of military nursing in New Zealand today. The past century has seen significant changes in the way in which nursing services are configured as well as to whom care is provided and when. Much of the change has been driven by a political reorientation that has required the New Zealand Defence Force to become more agile and flexible. In turn military nursing services have needed to adapt to meet the challenges of modern Defence employment contexts. Nursing in the contemporary military environment is no longer based exclusively on the Territorial workforce as it had been in the early years. Defence nursing is now comprised of a suite of services provided by civilian and military nurses with military nurses belonging to the Regular Force as well as the Reserves. Unlike their predecessors, uniformed nurses must be prepared to operate across the full continuum of healthcare in a range of garrison, civilian and deployed settings and caring for diverse population groups. What has not changed in the past 100 years is the need for military nurses to remain highly motivated, physically fit and competent in their professional practice. As in the past, Defence nurses today and those of the future will be required to carefully balance the tensions between professional nursing responsibilities and the expectations of their military role.