Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation: Roles and Standards

This article discusses the roles and standards of Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) for nurses and midwives. It covers the registration standards, continuous professional development, criminal history, English language, professional indemnity, and enrolled nurse standards for practice. Additionally, it explores the skills required for working in a major metropolitan hospital as an enrolled nurse and how to perform a large, infected wound dressing procedure.

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1. a.) Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia(NMBA)
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia(NMBA) is a body that registers nurses and
midwifes in Australia who meets the NMBA’s professional standards before they can start
practising. Fisher, M. (2017) indicates that roles include; registering nurses and mid-wives’
practitioners including students who are training, coming up with professional standards,
codes and guidelines for nurses and midwives, dealing with complaints, investigations,
disciplinary hearings and any concern notifications. It also assesses practitioners who have
been trained overseas and wish to practice in Australia. NMBA also approves standards for
accreditation and course for study ( MacLellan, L., Higgins, I., & Levett‐Jones, T,2015).
b.) Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF)
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is a union that is owned and run by
nurses, midwives and other assistants in nursing to advocate for the political, industrial and
professional status of its members (Birks, M., Davis, J., Smithson, J., & Cant, R,2016). It
achieves this by ensuring that they demand dignity for residents and workers in aged care
workforce in Australia and also demand for employment of graduate midwives and nurses
who deserves a working future. Birks et al. (2016) moreover indicates that ANMF works to
ensure that the government caters for fairer pay for parental leave and funds public hospital
and Medicare adequately which ensures all Australians access affordable health care. It
campaigns also for the penalty rates for midwives and nurses( Nagle, C., Heartfield, M.,
McDonald…2017).
2. Registration standards
a.) Continuous Professional Development

This involves how a nurse and midwife add-up on their scope of knowledge,
competence and expertise, and improve their individual and professional qualities
necessary throughout their professional lives (Turner, C., Keyzer, D., & Rudge,
T. ,2007).. This is essential, since as a future enrolled nurse I have to be up-to date
with the skills, and knowledge in the dynamic health care environment in order to be
very compete and also improves the quality of care given to patients and their safety(
Nagle, C., Heartfield, M., McDonald…2017)
b.) Criminal History
Hannon, G. (2017) elucidated that before granting registration to midwife or a nurse
in Australia, NMBA must go through the applicant criminal history in all countries to
ensure that there is no likelihood of future threat to the patients since only those who
have a clear record of criminal history are licensed. All licensed nurses and midwives
who wish to renew their license must also inform NMBA of any change in their
criminal history status (Turner et al,2007). This will help me as an enrolled in future
to ensure that I provide safe and quality care to patients without being a threat to
them.
c.) English language
In Australia, a nurse or midwive must be able to demonstrate English language skills
before he can be registered under NMBA (Homer, C. S., Passant, L., Brodie…,2009)
This is necessary because even as a future enrolled nurse I must possess such a skill
in order to effective practice nursing, for example, to communicate with patients and
even other health care workers and even documentations.
d.) Professional indemnity

Unless nurses and midwives hold appropriate professional indemnity insurance (PII)
arrangements, they cannot be registered or allowed to practise. This arrangement
secures their professional practice, insurance against civil liability incurred by or loss
due to negligent act during practise( Homer et al,2009). This will enable me as a
future enrolled nurse to work effectively knowing that, I have enough professional
security.
e.) Recency of practice
NMBA regulates the practice of nursing and midwifery so that it can it protect its
citizens. They achieve this by forming standards, professional codes and guidelines
that governs their practice (Hannon, G,2017).). Recent practice in practising their
profession is essential for nurses and midwives and also their professional skills are
up to date. As a future enrolled nurse this will keep me in toes to ensure that I
regularly practice my skills so as to perfect them and also fit under the NMBA union
(Turner et al,2007).
f.) Enrolled Nurse standards for practice.
Enrolled nurse standards for practice provide baseline for assessing an enrolled nurse
practice. This enable communication to public concerning expected standards of
enrolled nurses and also determine registration eligibility of enrolled nurses who have
completed their studies in Australia or elsewhere (MacLellan, L., Higgins, I., &
Levett‐Jones, T,2015).
3. Working in a major metropolitan hospital as an Enrolled nurse requires one to maintain
higher standards of practice and also to be able to portray his/her professional skills
effectively throughout their practice. This is because such a place will likely be busy and

receives several patients ranging from local citizens to even international people. One
must also be able to have a good decision making skills and also be able to think
critically (Turner et al,2007).
In this scenario, where I have been asked to change a large, infected wound dressing on
the patient’s abdomen yet I have never done it elsewhere expect in a simulated skills
laboratory, I will probably be careful in doing it and even the decision I will make. I will
likely request a more experienced enrolled nurse to help me perform it as part of my
continuous professional development as I apply the skills I learnt in the laboratory. My
English language skills must also be good so that I can communicate effectively with the
patient and even other health professionals involved while performing the wound
dressing procedure. This will also assist me in the documentation of the activities I have
done so that other professional who will manage the client will continue the care as
necessary ( Brown, D., Edwards, H., Seaton, L., & Buckley, T,2017).
To safely perform this procedure, I will require several skills such as excellent
assessment skills to help me asses the condition of the wound and its progress. I will also
need excellent documentation skills to write down properly what I have done and
comment on the progress of the wound. Excellent communication skills are as well
important as stated above. Excellent interpersonal skills will also be needed as I will
engage with and collaborate with several departments in management of the wound. I
must also remember the knowledge of wound dressing that I learnt earlier in order to
effectively manage the wound ( Browns et al,2017)
In order to perform this skill successfully in the future, networking would be my weapon.
As much as the basic knowledgebase is significant, further training in seminars, career

fairs and academically accredited refresher courses would foster the quality of my output
in the task ( Nagle, C., Heartfield, M., McDonald…,2017 ). Furthermore, linking up with
the masters of the career through mentorship would enable learning from the experienced
and consultation on dead end situations would match out. The add on from being
mentored would not stay sufficient and that would need further coaching of the juniors to
integrate the rich dynamism and old rigidity of the two spheres.
In conclusion, it is evident that the output of nursing and midwifery requires regulation
and continuous workmanship. The whole scope requires continuous kaizen( Gardner, G.,
Duffield, C., Doubrovsky…,2016)

References
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