From July 1st 2010, a single national registration and accreditation scheme will begin for nurses and nine other health professionals. This will mean that nurses and midwives will only need to hold one license to practice as a nurse or midwife in any state or territory of Australia.
The other health professionals involved in the new registration and accreditation scheme are chiropractors, dental care practitioners, medical pratitioners, optomotrists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and psychologists.
National registration is meant to ensure that the education of nurses and midwives nationally meets specific standards, protects the public by ensuring that all these health professionals are practicing to a set national standard and to ensure that the standards are applied to all nurses including those coming from other countries.
All nurses registered on July 1st 2010 will automatically be enrolled on the new national registration.
As part of the new process, nurses will probably have to keep a log of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points and maintain a portfolio of their nursing practice, as there is discussion of there being yearly audits of randomly selected nurses. Having an up-to-date portfolio will not only ensure that nursing practice remains current but there is a clear record of CPD and recency of practice.
Recency of Practice means just that. Nurses will have to prove that they have worked as a nurse for a specified period of time (probably 3 months EFT). However, there is still some debate about this due to those nurses who have time out from the nursing workforce for maternity leave etc.
There will now be a National Nursing and Midwifery board and their job is to monitor professional standards, education and accreditation, registration, regulation and disciplinary processes. More information can be obtained at the new website www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au . This is where you will find policies, standards, codes and guidelines. the other website that is useful and provides professional information is the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC). There website is www.anmc.org.au . The ANMC provides the Professional Framework for nurses and midwives which includes competency standards, code of ethics, professional boundaries and professional conduct guidelines.
I strongly urge all nurses to visit these sites and become familiar with the new processes being put into place.
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