12 December 2019
Exams to assess whether graduates are fit for registration, extending the length of the Bachelor of Nursing Degree, boosting the minimum number of clinical placement hours, realigning NP education towards primary care and establishing a national campaign to attract under-represented groups to nursing such as men are among 26 recommendations outlined in the Report of the Independent Review of Nursing Education released this week.
The wide-ranging review also calls for the regulation of assistants in nursing (AINs) to protect the public, the accreditation and monitoring of nursing courses undertaken by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) to be made public, formal accreditation and monitoring of clinical placements, and better integration between workforce planning and education so nursing students secure jobs as they enter the profession.
The report,
Educating the Nurse of the Future: Report of the Independent Review of Nursing Education, furthermore pinpoints emerging trends affecting nursing education, listing ageing and mental health as areas educational institutions should focus more on to better prepare nurses for practice and the broader role they play in healthcare.
Other recommendations include developing a national web-based transition-to-practice program (TPP) that all nurses should complete in their first year, specific learning outcomes and assessments to ensure inter-professional learning is not neglected, the development of guidelines about health informatics and digital health technologies, determining the ideal mix of online and face-to-face teaching, and a push to increase the number of nursing academics.
NMBA practice standards should also specify the core knowledge, skills and procedural competence newly registered ENs and RNs require to work in any setting to make nursing education more consistent, according to another recommendation.
The independent review, commissioned by the federal government and undertaken by Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz, set out to examine the current educational preparation of Australian nurses to ensure they are adequately equipped to meet the future needs of the nation’s evolving health system.
Its scope included exploring the effectiveness of educational preparation and articulation between enrolled and registered nurses and nurse practitioners in meeting the needs of health service delivery, factors that affect the choice of nursing as an occupation and the worth of Australian nursing qualifications globally.
The review was shaped by extensive consultations across Australia, with more than 1,100 educators, clinicians, supervisors, policymakers, patient groups, students, managers and unions providing feedback.
“I debated and discussed with a wide range of people and organisations, some of the most controversial questions facing nursing education,” Professor Schwartz says in the report.
“What skills and attitudes do we expect graduate nurses to have, and what is the best way to teach them? How do we widen participation in nursing and meet the needs of the regions?”
Read the full story on
anmj.org.au