New educational resources - Video series and infographic

Have you ever wondered how the Council works with its partners to process complaints and regulate nursing and midwifery in NSW? The Council has published two new resources for practitioners and educators to easily access and understand the information they need.

Three-part video series

Our new video series is your first stop to learn about the Council, its processes, your professional obligations and the potential outcomes of a complaint. The series is split into three parts for flexible learning:

1. Our business

• Who is appointed to the Council?
• How does the Council manage complaints?
• How does the Council work with partner regulators (the co-regulatory model)?

2. Everyone's business

• Explanation of the professional obligations of NSW nurses and midwives
• How to apply them
• How the obligations can be used to create and maintain cultures of safety

3. Your business

• The importance of professionalism 
• Supervision, delegation and the scope of your practice
• What happens if conditions are placed on registration
• Safe practice and limiting complaints

The videos will also be offered as CPD, which can be claimed after viewing the videos and answering a short quiz. 

Infographic pamphlet 

This 4-page infographic pamphlet quickly explains the Council's core business and processes. It contains useful information for nurses and midwives on:

• the most common complaints against nurses and midwives
• the three pathways complaints may proceed down
• the key stages of a complaint
• the possible outcomes of a complaint
• the amount of complaints that result in cancellation or suspension.

Please share this information with your networks and incorporate them into your induction and education programs. 

The Nightingale Challenge – New leaders emerge!

Fifteen NSW nurses and midwives recently completed professional development and leadership programs with the Council as part of Nursing Now’s International Nightingale Challenge. The purpose of the Nightingale Challenge is to help develop the next generation of young nurses and midwives as leaders, practitioners and advocates in health.

Our first program, the Professional Regulation in Practice Program, gave 13 NSW nurses a three-day learning experience with the Council that focused on the standards that guide professional practice and the NSW complaints process. 

Our longer program, the Regulation in Leadership Program, gave two registered nurses, Kristen Bennie and Andrew Bailey, a three month secondment in our office. Both nurses got hands-on experience of regulation with rotations through each section of the regulation continuum, from the initial intake of a complaint through to its conclusion. Kristen and Andrew have each taken a project back to their substantive workplaces to improve the knowledge and practice of colleagues. 

Click the button below to check out a short video of Andrew and Kristen reflecting on the benefits of the experience, the value of understanding the professional standards and how it has enhanced their leadership skills and capacity. You can also find out more about the PRiPP program outcomes and express your interest for future programs. 

Specialing - Safe practice, advocacy and self regulation

The Council has seen an increase in notifications about unsafe practice when nurses are undertaking specialing roles where their skill level or scope of practice does not match the care required by the patient. 

We understand that specialing can be challenging, especially where patient acuity is high and resources are low. That is why it is critical you raise concerns if you are worried your skills or capacity are inadequate for the care requirements of the patient. When you're allocated to a patient, ask the question:

'Do I have the skills, knowledge and expertise to provide care for this patient?'

If the answer is no or you are unsure, don't hesitate and let you manager know immediately. Self regulation is one your most powerful tools for safe practice and your advocacy can protect the public. A good way to ensure safe practice is to be familiar with your relevant standards for practice and to use them as a benchmark to assess your competency, in a range of settings. 

The NMBA Decisionmaking framework for nursing and midwifery is another important guide related to scope of practice and delegation. It provides guidance for individual practice decisions, expanding scope of practice, and the delegation of care to others such as registered nurses and midwives, enrolled nurses, students and other health workers. 

Revised Nurse practitioner standards for practice now in effect

Nurse practitioner standards framework

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) has published revised Nurse practitioner standards for practice, which came into effect on 1 March 2021.  The Nurse practitioner standards for practice build on the practice standards required of a registered nurse and are the expectations of nurse practitioner (NP) practice in all contexts. The revised standards have been updated to reflect developments in the theory and practice of NPs and the presentation of the standards has been aligned with that of the Registered nurse standards for practice and the Midwife standards for practice.

Make logging your CPD easy - Tips and tools

All nurses and midwives must complete 20 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) per year relevant to their context of practice for each registration they hold. We have put together a list of tips, tools and resources that can make meeting and logging your CPD easy.

Australian College of Nursing

Online and face-to-face courses from the national leader of the nursing profession. 

NSW Nursing and Midwifery Association

Free and reduced online CPD courses - Members have access to 61 online courses.

Guide to Continuing Professional Development - Ensure you meet your CPD requirements with this resource guide.

AUSMED 

Document your CPD online for free - Smart tools help you with all four stages of the CPD Cycle: planning, learning, documenting and reflecting.

NPS Medicinewise

Activities for nurses and midwives to maintain best practice and earn CPD points.

Nursing CPD Institute

An online education platform full of CPD sessions created by nurses, for nurses. 

Nurse CPD online

ELearning programs to help meet the education needs of enrolled nurses and registered nurses in rural and regional healthcare facilities.

Pandemic sub-register extended to 5 April 2022

In April 2020, the National Boards and Ahpra established a temporary pandemic response sub-register for 12 months to help fast track the return to the workforce of experienced and qualified health practitioners in response to COVID-19. 

The sub-register will be extended for up to 12 months (to 5 April 2022) for medical practitioners, nurses, midwives and pharmacists to help with the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. 

Recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety 

The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was tabled in Parliament on March 1 2021. The Report details over 100 wide-ranging recommendations including a new Aged Care Act, equity of access to services and better standards for staff time. The Nursing and Midwifery Council presented a comprehensive submission to the Royal Commission, with recommendations. We have mapped our findings and recommendations to the Final Report outcomes, and note strong agreement in most areas. The Council will continue to monitor further developments, liaise with stakeholders and keep you informed.

Notice of Certain Events (NOCE) and your professional requirements

We are concerned that practitioners and students are not meeting their requirements to report when they are charged with an offence. There have been regulatory actions by the Council this year where reporting has not been done; some practitioners have indicated they were not aware of the requirement, or that they believed it was not relevant to their professional practice.

Under section 130 of the National Law, all registered health practitioners or students must inform the Board (within 7 days) when:

• they have been charged with an offence punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more;
• they have been convicted of, or are the subject of a finding of guilt for, an offence, punishable by imprisonment.

All registered health practitioners are required to uphold professional conduct at all times.

COVID-19 vaccination and your professional obligations

We recently sent you a special edition of this newsletter with helpful information that clarifies your professional obligations around providing vaccination information and includes a range of key facts and resources. If you missed it, make sure you check it out by clicking the button below.