Non-urgent patient appointments and elective surgeries are being rescheduled, with affected patients being contacted by phone.
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Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters said in Wellington this morning the strike was "a sad reflection of a decade of underfunding by the previous government''.
About 450 outpatient appointments in the Southern DHB region will have to be postponed. As required by law, the NZNO and the SDHB have developed contingency plans so life preserving services and urgent care are still available during the strike.
Hospitals will remain open during the strike, which will see nurses and other NZ Nurses Organisation members walk off the job at 7am Thursday and not return until 7am Friday.
"Dunedin and Southland hospitals will continue to provide essential and urgent services including emergency departments, acute surgery, intensive care, cancer treatments, maternity services, renal dialysis patient retrievals, and acute wards at reduced capacity,'' SDHB said in a statement late this morning.
"Lakes District Hospital will provide emergency department services for essential and urgent cases.
"Rural hospitals in Gore, Balclutha, Oamaru, Ranfurly, and Clyde, as well as general practices and most other health services across the district will not be directly affected by the strike action.''
However, the strike may still be averted, as the Employment Relations Authority has ordered the NZNO to attend facilitation talks with DHBs.
It has been proposed those talks begin this afternoon and continue tomorrow morning from 7am, if necessary.
About 30,000 health workers represented by the NZ Nurses Organisation have been embroiled in a long-running dispute over the collective employment agreement covering them.
Strike action scheduled for last Thursday was averted by a last minute revision of their offer by DHBs, a change which the NZNO recommended members accept.
However, a second day of industrial action was scheduled for this Thursday - and the threat of only the second nationwide nurses strike ever remained in place while nurses voted on the revised offer.
Results of the voting were announced by NZNO this morning.
"Voter turnout was very high and the result was closer than last time,'' NZNO industrial services manager Cee Payne said.
"The issues faced and reported by our members have arisen from a decade of severe underfunding of our public hospitals which have failed to keep pace with growing community need, the ageing population and workforce, and increased costs.''
Yesterday DHBs attempted to reconvene facilitation talks, which NZNO rejected without knowing the result of the ballot.
The lack of extra money for an improved pay offer lead NZNO to believe facilitation was not the appropriate forum, Ms Payne said.
Strike sad reflection of underfunding: Peters
Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters called the strike "a sad reflection of a decade of underfunding by the previous government''.
Mr Peters said the Labour-lead government had been in power for too short a time to be able to address all the nurse's issues in one pay round.
Their concerns would be addressed but it would take time, Mr Peters said.
He was confident the life preserving services agreement between the NZNO and DHBs would mean any emergencies on Thursday would be properly dealt with.
National health spokesman Michael Woodhouse said the government had "completely lost control of the process'' and left nurses frustrated by starting facilitation talks by saying no more money was available.
"The Government must regain control of the situation and settle with the nurses as soon as possible to minimise the impact of this strike on patients and the sector,'' Mr Woodhouse said.
