Registered Nurses' Scope of Practice in Australia

Registered Nurses' Scope of
Practice in Australia
Student’s Name:
Student’s ID:

As healthcare professionals, nurses make the highest number of employees in the area
of healthcare of Australia. The registered nurses of Australia are responsible for codes
of ethics, code of professional conduct, and practice standards to provide quality care to
the patients. The reflective essay will explain the scope of practice in nursing. It will also
discuss the scope of practice of the registered nurses in health care demands of
Australia. It will identify one area of practice want to pursue after completing the nursing
degree. Moreover, it will reflect the chosen area of practice on the basis of previous
experience of clinical placement.
The scope of practice is a significant professional concept of nursing. This is considered
by Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) which describes scope of practice
as the range of, roles, activities, responsibilities and functions that a registered nurse is
competent, educated and authorizes to perform (McInnes, Peters, Bonney & Halcomb,
2015). Education in nursing also a component in the scope of practice. It ranges from
the IV level of TAFE certificate to university level of post-graduation, which builds a
base for another component of scope of practice that is competence. Competence is a
challenging component that has a broad range of decision-making method and activities
of nursing.
Competency documentation helps to restrict the scope of practice of any person and
need to be practiced in the healthcare settings (Birks, Davis, Smithson & Cant, 2016). It
is significant for the nurses to acquire appropriate competencies and make sure that
their practice is within the scope (Cashin et al., 2017). If a nurse practice outside the
scope of practice, she will face incurred outcomes such as cancellation and suspension
of registration. Authority is another component in the scope of practice gained by
meeting the terms of registration policy. Evidenced-based care must be provided to
patients by the nurses practicing within the scope (Halcomb, Stephens, Bryce, Foley &
Ashley, 2017). Thus, professional practice standards within the scope of practice must
be maintained by the nurses determined by competence, authority, and education
(Jacob, McKenna & D'Amore, 2016).
In Australia, nurses are categorized as an enrolled nurses and registered nurses (RNs)
who is liable under NMBA (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2019). The
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documentation of NMBA has codes of ethics, code of professional conduct, and practice
standards to provide the scope of practice and safe, professional framework to every
nurse. The documentation establishes principles as guide for the nurses to carry on
practices and decisions of nursing properly. But there is still an absence of clarity for
scope of practice for the RNs with different roles and positions (Kelly, Berragan, Husebø
& Orr, 2016). The roles and positions of the nurses have evolved with changing systems
of healthcare. Political aspects continuously meet the issues of growing demands in
healthcare with constant variations and initiatives for meeting the needs of services in
healthcare facilities and hospitals (McInnes, Peters, Bonney & Halcomb, 2017).
Continuous change in the systems of healthcare is contributing to the conflict of whether
the RNs works in their scope of practice or not. So, this is not unexpected that the
scope of practice of the RNs is surrounded by the absence of clarity. But scope of
practice is necessary to implement in patient’s care to recognize the issue that helps to
find the ethical problems and deliver quality patient care to maintain the privacy and
confidentiality of the patients. The nurses need to ensure that the patients are aware of
their care and make them take decisions for effective care with safe nursing practice.
After completing my nursing degree, I wish to pursue a nursing practice in the area of
mental healthcare. I desire to enhance my experience in mental health care system and
look after the mental patients. I have selected this area of healthcare as I want to take
care of mental health patients. These patients need special care, and as a nurse, I will
regularly observe these patients, carry on various assessments regularly and take care
of them. As a nurse, I will deliver evidence-based care by utilizing my decision making
and critical thinking capabilities. As a mental care nurse, I may need to assess various
kind mental patients that can further enhance my knowledge and capabilities in this field
of nursing. I can learn more about the mental patients and implement my scope of
practice to accomplish my desire.
I got my first placement in Schizophrenia Research Institute, where I got the opportunity
to take care of schizophrenia patients. As a first-year student, my scope of practice was
limited, but my placement gave me a chance to gain some clinical skills for taking care
of schizophrenia patients that proved to be helpful in my nursing practice. This clinical
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