Current Projects

Accreditation of Nursing & Midwifery Courses
Boundaries of Professional Practice for Nurses and Midwives
Continuing Competence for Nurses and Midwives

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:

identification of the key issues, including current legislative requirements, to inform the development of principles, as well as standards and processes, for the accreditation of nursing and midwifery courses in the future;
the development of a discussion paper on the accreditation of nursing and midwifery courses, which incorporates the current standards and processes used by nurse regulatory authorities, key issues and cost analysis of any specific proposals;
endorsement of principles for accreditation of nursing and midwifery courses;
recommendations for the further development of accreditation of nursing and midwifery courses from a national perspective.

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

Context Analysis 2007 (PDF 306 KB)

Literature Review

Accreditation Literature Review (PDF 347KB)

Framework

To view the Framework listed on Professional Standards page

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 proposed 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. Once again the ANMC was fortunate to be able to engage Professor McMillan as the lead consultant.

The project uses 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 will mainly focus on the application of the principles of safe practice in clinical scenarios. Some of the scenarios require revision and there is 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 underpins the principles of safe practice, and the principles themselves, was undertaken. A comprehensive 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

Development of a National Framework for the Demonstration of Continuing Competence for Nurses and Midwives

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) has recently commenced a project to develop a national framework for the demonstration of continuing competence for nurses and midwives. There have been several drivers for this work to be undertaken, including the introduction of continuing competence assessment processes in several states and territories over the last five years. The ANMC has a mandate to lead a national approach with state and territory nursing and midwifery regulatory authorities (NMRAs) in evolving national standards for the regulation of the nursing and midwifery professions that are flexible, effective and responsive to the health care requirements of the Australian population. The introduction of a national framework for the demonstration of continuing competence therefore provides another component of the suite of standards and frameworks developed by the ANMC.

The outcomes of this project will be:

Production of a literature review of national and international competence assessment processes
A national continuing competence framework for the nursing and midwifery professions
A national implementation plan
An evaluation strategy

The project to develop a national continuing competence project commenced in August 2007. Following completion of an extensive literature review, an initial draft framework was developed by the project consultant. This draft was used in the first round of consultation which included a series of forums held in each capital city, and by teleconference with some rural and remote centres during October and November 2007. Following the completion of the forums a second draft was developed. This draft was sent out to key stakeholders and placed on the ANMC website for feedback from any nurse or midwife in Australia and New Zealand. This period of consultation ended on 14 February 2008.

The ANMC was delighted with the excellent feedback received from many nursing and midwifery organisations, and individuals representing a range of clinical and non-clinical settings. A summary of the feedback received is available to view at the link below. The comments received have enabled us to further refine the framework.

We are now seeking general feedback about Draft 3 - in particular, comments relating to its clarity. Once again, we ask that you respond using the attached questionnaire, which is provided in MS Word format for ease of emailing back to us. We suggest that you also read the Literature Review, which continues to be 'work in progress', and provides the evidence base for the framework.

In order to meet the ANMC timeframe for this project, please ensure that we receive your feedback by 8 July 2008. We hope to finalise the framework by August 2008.

Please continue to monitor this site for updates.

Framework Draft 3
Summary of Feedback received
Feedback Form
Literature Review

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Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council