2010 has seen major changes for the health professions. Nursing and midwifery education accreditation has followed registration and gone national. What will this mean for nurses and midwives?

Until very recently, all nursing and midwifery courses have been assessed and accredited in each state and territory, which has created variations in course requirements and levels of education. This in turn has caused some confusion when nurses and midwives have applied to register in other states and territories with different requirements.

That is all set to change as nursing and midwifery education accreditation has been taken over by a national body. This move will ensure that the standards set for nursing and midwifery courses in Australia are of a consistent and high quality, which will turn out nurses and midwives with the skills and competency levels to produce the best possible care, no matter where they work.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council took on the role of accreditation of nursing and midwifery education in July this year to coincide with national registration. It recognises that in order to have safe and competent nurses and midwives, their qualifications, and the education facility that provided them, must meet professional practice standards.

What is the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council?

The ANMC, as it is known, has been around since 1992, but due to these added responsibilities, it has now become a company and a new board has been appointed. The members of the ANMC currently include the Australian College of Midwives, the Australian Nursing Federation, the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses, the Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery and the Royal College of Nursing Australia, as well as two community directors. There may be additional board appointments made and the company, which is based in Canberra, is expanding its staff, many of whom have worked in education accreditation at state and territory level.

The role of the ANMC has been to develop accreditation standards for nursing and midwifery courses, assess internationally-qualified nurses and midwives, and provide policy advice on the accreditation and skilled migration of nurses and midwives.

In late 2009, following two years of research and consultation, the ANMC launched new national standards for nursing and midwifery courses. Some of the over 260,000 nurses and midwives in Australia would have attended workshops held in 2009 across the country, or completed an online tutorial, providing an introduction to the standards and relevant regulation.

It seems a natural progression of the work already being done, that the ANMC has taken on course accreditation. Over the past few years, the ANMC has revised and developed standards that cover numerous areas of nursing and midwifery professional practice. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has a list of accreditation standards and approved programs of study on its website.

All units of study in courses for registration as a nurse or midwife in Australia, come from the national Health Training Package, which is regularly reviewed and updated. Course accreditation is not just about the units of study completed, however. There is a whole range of considerations and requirements to be met, before an education facility can offer nursing or midwifery courses, including the number of practice hours, the quality and availability of facilities, and many others. Once accreditation is granted, it will be reviewed by the ANMC every five years.

How will this affect nurses and midwives?

For nurses and midwives already registered, national accreditation should provide peace of mind that newly-qualified colleagues will all have consistency of ability and practice capability, no matter where they completed their course of study. It will also simplify working across borders within Australia, as variations in qualifications are eventually phased out.

One example is the enrolled or division 2 nursing qualification, which has been either a Diploma in Nursing or a Certificate IV in Nursing, depending on which state or territory they work in. The diploma is now offered in nursing schools across Australia, and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board’s timeframe is for a diploma to become the minimum education requirement around the country in four years, following a period of transition.

Along with national registration, the move to national accreditation of nursing and midwifery education brings nursing and midwifery into line with other health professions, which already have national, independent accreditation bodies.

By Bridget Willett