Rummel, Dr Louise

Jocelyn Peach
Sep 13, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Jan 6

Registered Nurse, RGON, Master of Arts [Massey University], Doctorate

Principal Lecturer Manukau Institute of Technology [MIT]

Louise completed her initial nursing training at Wellington Hospital and registered on 19 August 1960. She worked in a range of clinical fields after registration, including medical, gynaecological, and plastic surgery. She worked as a public health nurse. She set up and managed the first occupational health clinic for New Zealand Railway workers at the railway workshop in Whanganui — five hundred men worked onsite and five hundred outlying staff between 1962 and 1967.

After joining the staff of the Manukau Institute of Technology [MIT] School of Nursing in 1984, Louise first role was as a clinical tutor at Middlemore Hospital. Over the years she has fulfilled roles including tutor, deputy head of department and principal lecturer. Rummel was the catalyst for MIT’s transition from its nursing diploma programme to a Bachelor of Nursing degree. She was key part of the team establishing the undergraduate research papers for MIT nursing students.

Louise completed a Master of Arts [MA] degree at Massey University in 1993 with a thesis titled: The Proving Ground: the lived world of nursing students in their pre-registration clinical experience. She later completed her PhD in nursing in 2001 and held the first research academic lead position at the Manukau Institute of Technology [MIT] nursing school.

Dr Rummel has contributed nationally as a professional. Louise has contributed articles to Kaitiaki Nursing New Zealand and has served as a reviewer for both this publication and Kaitiaki Nursing Research. She previously served on NZNO’s nursing and midwifery advisory committee and was secretary of the nursing research section. She has been an honorary member of NZNO since 2004. She was the lead investigator of the most recent tranche of the longitudinal nursing oral history project, completed in 2023. She was lead author of the book What Jan Began (published in 2015), a history of MIT’s department of nursing and health studies.

Dr Louise Rummel has recognised as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King’s Birthday Honours List, for her services to nursing education. She has been a teacher at Manukau Institute of Technology for forty years. She has contributed to nursing as a clinician and educator for more than 60 years.