Health assessment has been an integral component of nursing education in Australia for over a decade. New Zealand has only recently embarked down this path and might benefit from the Australian experience. This article will discuss health assessment in the context of three issues currently topical in nursing in New Zealand. The issues are annual registration based on evidence of competence to practice, a review of undergraduate curricula, and the development of nurse practitioner/advanced nurse practitioner roles. The meaning of the concept 'health assessment' is also clarified in order to provide consistency as new initiatives in nursing are currently being developed.

Over two decades ago the Ministerial Taskforce on Nursing (the Taskforce) (Ministry of Health, 1998) made recommendations to the Minister of Health (the Honourable Bill English) to enable nursing to reach its full potential. The Taskforce was established in response to concerns raised by the College of Nurses to "resolve the complex matrix of barriers impeding the full utilisation of nursing services" (Adams, 2003, p. 303) and achieve what the Minister described as, a "much smarter utilisation of nursing skills" (Ministry of Health, 1998, p. 3). The Minister was seeking a more effective contribution from nursing to respond to challenges of the rapidly changing delivery of health care. Article 3 / Tuhinga 3

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