Consultation on proposed standards of competence for enrolled and registered nurses

Including amendments to the registered nurse scope of practice statement

This consultation is now closed. We appreciate the response received from the nursing profession, education sector and wider health agencies. The Council is now considering this feedback which will inform final revisions to the standards of competence. We expect to publish the feedback and final standards of competence on our website later in 2024. We will work with the sector over the next year to implement changes resulting from the new scopes and standards.

We are seeking your views

The Council consulted on proposed enrolled nurse (EN) and registered nurse (RN) competencies between 18 December 2023 and 12 February 2024 [available here]. At the same time, we sought feedback on an amended RN scope of practice statement to align with the newly developed EN scope of practice statement. A summary of the consultation response is available here.

The Council has reviewed all the consultation feedback and, in considering the sector’s response, has revised the EN & RN competencies and RN scope statement.

The Council is now seeking views on revised enrolled nurse and registered nurse standards of competence, and amendments to the registered nurse scope of practice statement.

The consultation document is available here [link].

Consultation will close at 5pm Friday 2 August 2024.

How to provide feedback on these proposals

The consultation is structured into two parts – enrolled nurse and registered nurse. You do not need to complete all questions. Please respond to the questions that are relevant to you.

Submitting as an individual

If you are completing your submission as an individual, you can choose to complete a short anonymous survey [Link] or provide more substantive feedback via our submission template [Link]. We will ask you for some information about yourself to help us understand the impact our proposals have on different groups. We will only use this information for the purposes of understanding responses to this consultation.

Submitting on behalf of an organisation

If you are submitting on behalf of an organisation or group, please use our submission template [Link]. This will help us to better understand your submission and make sure your views are fully considered. Please also include your name and name of your organisation in your submission.

We may publish your submission. Please clearly indicate if you would like your response to be kept confidential to the Nursing Council.

Sending your submission to us

You can send us your submission by emailing it to [email protected]

Please direct any questions you have in relation to the consultation process to [email protected]

We appreciate your time and effort to respond to this consultation.

What has changed

The proposed key changes are:

shifting the language from ‘competencies’ to ‘standards of nursing competence’
retaining the pou as core nursing standards (describing what it required to practise safely) and providing descriptors for each pou which give depth and context to each standard to guide quality practice across all settings
aligning Pou One and Two across the EN and RN standards of competence
removing duplication with more concise descriptors and greater emphasis on the pou.

To meet continuing competence requirements, nurses will not need to provide evidence for each individual descriptor. Instead, evidence of the quality of their practice needs to be sufficient to reflect each pou.

Background

Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the Act), the role of Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa Nursing Council of New Zealand (the Council) is to protect the health and safety of the public by providing mechanisms to ensure that nurses are competent and fit to practise.

These mechanisms include setting scopes of practice and standards of competence for the nursing profession. A scope of practice statement describes the general nature of the nursing role and is broad rather than prescriptive. Standards of competence (also known as competencies) define the combination of skills, knowledge, behaviours, values, and abilities that underpin effective performance as a nurse.

Standards of competence are used to:

inform nursing education curriculums
assess nursing students before registration
assess nurses returning to the workforce
assess overseas nurses looking to work in Aotearoa New Zealand
assess the ongoing competence of nurses.

How the competencies were reviewed

Phase one – proposed EN and RN competencies (and amendments to the RN scope of practice)

We established EN and RN design groups with members drawn from the Council, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation EN section, Te Poari o Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa, Te Kaunihera o Ngā Neehi Māori, Māori and Pacific nursing leaders, Directors of Nursing, educators, and employers. Consultation included a series of wānanga with Māori nurses to guide the review of the cultural safety and kawa whakaruruhau guidelines and their application to nursing competencies. These groups were responsible for developing the proposed changes to the EN and RN scopes of practice and competencies for consultation from December 2023 to February 2024.

Phase two – revision of competencies post consultation

Council project leads, members of the Māori rōpū and some members of the EN and RN design groups, have supported us to develop the proposed revised standards of nursing competence. These proposals have been informed by consultation feedback. Concepts have been tested through wider stakeholder groups.

In addition to the current call for submissions, the Council will continue to seek wider sector engagement to hear a range of views and perspectives on the proposed changes.