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Accreditation of Nursing & Midwifery Courses – a national project undertaken by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council

Background

Currently each state and territory nursing and midwifery regulatory authority (NMRA) in Australia have processes in place to accredit courses leading to registration or enrolment as a nurse or midwife. Similar standards are also in place for accreditation of courses leading to registration as a nurse practitioner. ANMC, as part of its commitment to facilitate a national approach to nursing and midwifery regulation, works with state and territory NMRAs in evolving standards for statutory nursing and midwifery regulation.  This commitment led the Council to consider a project to establish nationally consistent processes and standards for the accreditation of courses.

In November 2001, the Council endorsed a project to examine the accreditation of nursing and midwifery courses in line with the then Australian Nursing Council  2001-2004 Strategic Plan.  The project was designed to be conducted in two stages with the development of the second stage informed by the outcomes of the first.  The project outcomes determined at that time included:

In May 2003, the project proposal was revised although the project outcomes remained unchanged and a consultant was contracted to develop the first phase of the project, the discussion paper, 'Action on National Direction for Accreditation of Nursing & Midwifery Courses Conducted in Australia'.  The discussion paper was disseminated widely in January 2004 for comment with submissions received from nursing and midwifery regulatory authorities, federal and state government, the education sector and other key stakeholder groups including peak nursing and midwifery organisations. 

Whilst some concerns were raised about the structure of the discussion paper, the overall analysis of findings revealed support for a national framework for accreditation of course leading to registration with the provision for administration of the framework at a local jurisdiction level.  The need for such a framework was also supported by findings articulated in the National Review of Nursing and Nursing Education report entitled ‘Our Duty of Care' (2002), the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee report ‘The Patient Profession: Time for Action'  (2002) and the Australian Midwifery Action Project (2003.)

The results from the consultation process undertaken as phase one of the project were considered by Council and a briefing paper was developed which articulated the second phase of the project.  A Project Management Committee was established, and met for the first time in January 2006. At that meeting further refinement of the project was discussed in light of the work of the National Nursing and Nursing Education Taskforce (N3ET), formed to implement many of the recommendations of the ‘Our Duty of Care' report, and the release of the Productivity Commission report, which addresses such issues as national registration for health professionals and the establishment of a national accreditation process for health related courses. It was agreed that the new title of the project was to be changed to the ‘Development of a National Framework for the Accreditation of Nursing and Midwifery Courses leading to Initial Registration and Enrolment within Australia'.

2007 – 2008 Update

The second phase of the project was commenced in 2006. A consultant was engaged to undertake a literature review, contextual analysis, and the development of a draft framework. A process of extensive consultation was then undertaken nationally with key stakeholder groups, and feedback incorporated into a series of subsequent drafts.In February 2007, the Council signed off on a National Framework for the Accreditation of Nursing and Midwifery Courses leading to Registration, Enrolment, Endorsement and Authorisation in Australia.

Following completion of this work, it was agreed that the next stage of this project (Phase 3) should be to develop standards and criteria for the national Accreditation Framework. To undertake this work, a consultant will be appointed to review existing standards used by the state and territory nursing and midwifery regulatory authorities, and to develop new standards which reflect existing jurisdictional legislation, but which will also enable the implementation of a national accreditation process.

This phase of the project commenced in August 2007. This phase of the project is expected to be completed in January 2009. The ANMC acknowledges the support for this stage of the project which has been received from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.

Bulletins for the Accreditation Project

Draft Documents

Contextual Analysis

Literature Review

Framework

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Professional Boundaries Project
Phase 1: February 2007 - February 2008
Phase 2: May 2008 - January 2009

Development of ANMC National Guidelines on Boundaries of Professional Practice for Nurses and Midwives

In February 2007 the ANMC embarked on a project to develop Guidelines for nurses and midwives on professional boundaries.

The scope of the project, convened and managed by ANMC, in conjunction with the Nursing Council of New Zealand, involved a full review and update of an existing document: Guidelines for Registered and Enrolled Nurses Regarding the Boundaries of Professional Practice, which was developed in 1999 for the Nurses and Midwives Board of NSW. These original guidelines were developed by Professor Margaret McMillan of the University of Newcastle and the ANMC was able to engage Professor McMillan as the lead consultant.

The project initially used this document as the foundation document from which to develop the proposed ANMC National Guidelines on Boundaries of Professional Practice for Nurses and Midwives. The process of updating and reviewing the NSW guidelines mainly focused on the application of the principles of safe practice in clinical scenarios. Some of the scenarios required revision and there was a need for additional scenarios reflecting developments in nursing and midwifery practice since the existing guidelines were written in 1999.

In addition to updating the scenarios, a review and update of the background and discussion material that underpinned the principles of safe practice, and the principles themselves, was undertaken. A literature review of both national and international research on professional boundaries issues was also conducted.

A first draft of the Guidelines was placed on the ANMC website for comment during November and December 2007. In early 2008 Professor McMillan retired and the ANMC thanks her for her work on the first phase of the project. Based on Prof McMillan’s retirement and feedback received on the first draft of the Guidelines it was decided to take the opportunity to review the project.

The project has now entered Phase 2 with Ms Amanda Adrian engaged as the consultant in May 2008. Ms Adrian was the consultant engaged to work on the final versions of the Codes of Ethics and Codes of Professional Conduct for Nurses and for Midwives.

As the issue of professional boundaries is a key aspect of professional conduct, Ms Adrian has been chosen for this project due to her experience with the Codes and her ability to facilitate consistency between the Codes and the new National Guidelines.

Bulletins for the Professional Boundaries Project