New Dame Judy Kilpatrick is humbled to have been awarded her honour, paying tribute to the hundreds of "extraordinary people" she has worked with during her nursing career.
Dame Judy Kilpatrick co-founded the University of Auckland School of Nursing. Photo: University of Auckland
Judy Kilpatrick has been made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to nursing education.
She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1998.
Dame Judy said she was most proud co-founding the University of Auckland School of Nursing in 1999, and leading the department to be ranked 32nd within the top 50 nursing schools globally in 2018.
She recently retired after 47 years in nursing education.
"I'm very humbled and embarrassed and very excited. My job has involved working with a huge number of people, some extraordinary people, both nurses, doctors, pharmacists, clinical nurses, educators. I've had hundreds of very good people that I've worked with and I mean then I just get picked out for such a honour," she said.
"I've always loved my job and it's always been exciting."
Dame Judy chaired the Nursing Council of New Zealand from 1996 to 2002. Under her leadership the council began the development of the regulatory framework and negotiated the changes to legislation which enabled Nurse Practitioners to practise in New Zealand.
She was key to the development of the Nurse Practitioner Training Programme that was piloted at the University of Auckland and Massey University in 2016.
Recently she has led a delegation to Tonga to help develop a graduate education package to deliver training to nurses.
She has been a board member of the Cancer Society Auckland Division and the Rural Health Institute.
Internationally Kilpatrick has held leadership roles with the boards of Universitas 21, the Australasian Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery, and the International Association for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.