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The Enrolled nurse standards for practice are the core practice standards that provide the framework for assessing enrolled nurse (EN) practice. They communicate to the general public the standards that can be expected from ENs and can be used in a number of ways including:
In addition, they may also be used by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) and relevant tribunals or courts to assess professional conduct or matters relating to notifications.
The Enrolled nurse standards for practice replace the National competency standards for the enrolled nurse (2002).
These contemporary standards reflect the role of the EN within the health environment. The standards for practice remain broad and principle-based so that they are sufficiently dynamic for practising nurses to use as a benchmark to assess competence to practise in a range of settings.
The EN works with the registered nurse (RN) as part of the health care team and demonstrates competence in the provision of person-centred care. Core practice generally requires the EN to work under the direct or indirect supervision of the RN. At all times, the EN retains responsibility for his/her actions and remains accountable in providing delegated nursing care. The need for the EN to have a named and accessible RN at all times and in all contexts of care for support and guidance is critical to patient safety.
Although the scope of practice for each EN will vary according to context and education, the EN has a responsibility for ongoing self and professional development to maintain their knowledge base through life-long learning, and continue to demonstrate the types of core nursing activities that an EN would be expected to undertake on entry to practice. Therefore the core standards in this document are the minimum standards that are applicable across diverse practice settings and health care populations for both beginning and experienced ENs. They are based on the Diploma of Nursing being the education standard.
ENs engage in analytical thinking; use information and/or evidence; and skilfully and empathetically communicate with all involved in the provision of care, including the person receiving care and their family and community, and health professional colleagues.
The EN standards are clinically focused and they reflect the ENs capability to:
ENs collaborate and consult with health care recipients, their families and community as well as RNs and other health professionals, to plan, implement and evaluate integrated care that optimises outcomes for recipients and the systems of care. They are responsible for the delegated care they provide and self-monitor their work.
The EN standards for practice are intended to be easily accessible to a variety of groups, including ENs, governments, regulatory agencies, educators, health care professionals and the community. It should be noted that the ‘indicators’ (refer to glossary) written below the statements are indicative of EN behaviours, they are not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, they are examples of activities that demonstrate the specific standard.
The standards should be read in conjunction with the following relevant documentation, including, but not limited to:
They should also be read in conjunction with the attached glossary, which describes the way in which key terms are used in the standards.
There are three domains, namely:
The indicators are expressed through knowledge (capabilities)1, skills2, and attitudes3 inherent within these clinically focused domains. All are variable according to the context of practice.
1 Knowledge (capabilities) refers to information and the understanding of that information to guide practice. 2 Skills refers to technical procedures and competencies 2 Attitudes refers to ways for thinking and behaving
The professional and collaborative practice domain relates to the legal, ethical and professional foundations from which all competent ENs respond to their environment. The domain reflects the responsibilities of the EN to maintain currency and to demonstrate best practice. The standards are:
The provision of care domain relates to the intrinsic care of individuals or groups entrusted to the EN. It encompasses all aspects of care from assessment to engaging in care, and includes health education and evaluation of outcomes. The standards are:
The reflective and analytical practice domain relates to the ability of the EN to reflect on evidence-based practice and ensure currency of essential knowledge and skills, to care for the personal, physical and psychological needs of themselves and others. The standards are:
Indicators:
4 Where an enrolled nurse is working in maternity services setting it is expected that they will be supervised by a midwife.
5 Appropriate others include those in direct association with the person receiving care (with his/her consent) such as family, unpaid and paid carers, volunteers and clergy.
Accountability/accountable: Nurses and midwives must be prepared to answer to others, such as people in receipt of healthcare, their nursing and midwifery regulatory authority, employers and the public for their decisions, actions, behaviours and the responsibilities that are inherent in their roles. Accountability cannot be delegated. The registered nurse or midwife who delegates an activity to another person is accountable, not only for their delegation decision, but also for monitoring the standard of performance of the activity by the other person, and for evaluating the outcomes of the delegation. However, they are not accountable for the performance of the delegated activity.
Best practice: A technique, method, process, activity or incentive which has been proven by evidence to be most effective in providing a certain outcome.
Core practice: The day-to-day or regular activities or policies of a health service provider that fundamentally guide the service as a whole.
Decision-making framework: The NMBA expects all nurses and midwives to practise within the relevant standards for practice and decision-making frameworks.
Delegation/delegate: A delegation relationship exists when one member of the health care team delegates aspects of care, which they are competent to perform and which they would normally perform themselves, to another member of the health care team from a different discipline, or to a less experienced member of the same discipline. Delegations are made to meet people’s needs and to ensure access to health care services — that is, the right person is available at the right time to provide the right service to a person. The delegator retains accountability for the decision to delegate and for monitoring outcomes.
Duty of care/standard of care: A responsibility or relationship recognised in law. For example, it may exist between health professionals and their clients. Associated with this duty is an expectation that the health professional will behave or act in a particular way. This is called the standard of care, which requires that a person act toward others and the public with watchfulness, attention, caution and the prudence that would be made by a reasonable person in those circumstances. If a person's actions do not meet this standard of care, whereby they fall below the acceptable standards, any damages resulting may be pursued in a lawsuit for negligence.
Enrolled nurse (EN, Division 2): A person with appropriate educational preparation and competence for practice, who is registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
Evidence-based practice: Assessing and making judgements to translate the best available evidence, which includes the most current, valid, and available research findings and the individuality of situations and personal preferences as the basis for practice decisions.
Indicators: Key generic examples of competent performance. They are neither comprehensive nor exhaustive. They assist the assessor when using their professional judgement in assessing nursing practice. They further assist curriculum development.
Midwife/midwifery practice: A midwife is a person with appropriate educational preparation and competence for practice who is registered by the NMBA. This term includes endorsed midwives for the purposes of this document. The NMBA has endorsed the ICM definition of a midwife (that includes the statement below on scope of practice) and applied it to the Australian context.
The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) defines a midwife as follows:
A midwife is a person who has successfully completed a midwifery education programme that is duly recognised in the country where it is located and that is based on the ICM essential competencies for basic midwifery practice and the framework of the ICM global standards for midwifery education; who has acquired the requisite qualifications to be registered and/or legally licensed to practise midwifery and use the title ‘midwife’; and who demonstrates competency in the practice of midwifery.
Scope of practice6
The midwife is recognised as a responsible and accountable professional who works in partnership with women to give the necessary support, care and advice during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period, to conduct births on the midwife’s own responsibility and to provide care for the newborn and the infant. This care includes preventative measures, the promotion of normal birth, the detection of complications in mother and child, the accessing of medical care or other appropriate assistance and the carrying out of emergency measures. The midwife has an important task in health counselling and education, not only for the woman, but also within the family and the community. This work should involve antenatal education and preparation for parenthood and may extend to women’s health, sexual or reproductive health and child care.
A midwife may practise in any setting including the home, community, hospitals, clinics or health units (ICM international definition of the midwife 2012).
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA): The national body responsible for the regulation of nurses and midwives in Australia.
Person/people: Refers to those individuals who have entered into a relationship with an enrolled nurse. Person/people encompass patients, clients, consumers and families that fall within the enrolled nurse scope and context of practice.
Person-centred practice: A collaborative and respectful partnership built on mutual trust and understanding. Each person is treated as an individual with the aim of respecting people’s ownership of their health information, rights and preferences while protecting their dignity and empowering choice. Person-centred practice recognises the role of family and community with respect to cultural and religious diversity.
Plan of care: Outlines the care to be provided to an individual/ family/ community and includes the nursing component. It is a set of actions the nurse will implement to resolve/ support nursing diagnoses identified by nursing assessment. The creation of the plan is an intermediate stage of the nursing process. It guides in the ongoing provision of nursing care and assists in the evaluation of that care.
Professional boundaries: Refers to the clear separation that should exist between professional conduct aimed at meeting the health needs of people, and behaviour which serves a nurse’s own personal views, feelings and relationships that are not relevant to the professional relationship.
Quality: Refers to characteristics and grades with respect to excellence.
Refer/referral: Referral is the transfer of primary health care responsibility to another qualified health service provider/health professional. However, the nurse or midwife referring the person for care by another professional or service may need to continue to provide their professional services collaboratively in this period.
Registered nurse (RN, Division 1): A person who has completed the prescribed educational preparation, demonstrated competence to practise, and is registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law as a registered nurse in Australia. For the purposes of this document the term also includes nurse practitioners.
Risk assessment/risk management: An effective risk management system is one incorporating strategies to:
Scope of practice: Is that in which nurses are educated, competent to perform and permitted by law. The actual scope of practice of individual practitioners is influenced by the settings in which they practise, the health needs of people, the level of competence and confidence of the nurse and the policy requirements of the service provider.
Standards for practice: Set the expectations of enrolled nurse practice. They inform the education standards for enrolled nurses; the regulation of nurses and determination of nurses’ fitness for practice; and guide consumers, employers and other stakeholders on what to reasonably expect from an enrolled nurse regardless of the area of nursing practice or years of nursing experience. They replace the previous National competency standards for the enrolled nurse.
Supervision/supervise: Supervision can be either direct or indirect:
For the purpose of this document, supervision includes access, in all contexts of care, at all times, either directly or indirectly to professional and clinically focused supervision to a named and accessible registered nurse for support and guidance of the practice of an enrolled nurse.
6Scope of practice forms a part of the ICM definition of a midwife.