The Significance of Nursing Regulation in Australia: An Overview

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the importance of nursing regulation in Australia. It begins by highlighting the role of regulatory bodies in protecting public health and ensuring quality patient care. The essay then delves into the significance of regulations for the nursing profession, emphasizing how they establish standards, guide clinical practices, and define the scope of nursing practice. The essay discusses the Australian context, including the role of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The author reflects on the importance of regulations for their personal practice as a nurse, highlighting how regulations promote ethical behavior, define boundaries, and enhance competence. The essay concludes by reiterating the critical role of regulations in maintaining a safe and competent nursing profession, supported by relevant references.

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Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
All the health professionals of the country of Australia is the part of the National
Registration and Accreditation Scheme which is represented by the National Board (Oskouei,
Nejatian and Parvizy2016). While the key or the primary role of the boards is towards the
protection of the public, the boards of the Australia are furthermore responsible for the
registering of the practitioners and the students in their other functions and their professions.
This essay highlights the essentiality of the regulation for the profession of the regulation in
Australia followed by my personal reflection regarding the standards and the policies that is
required for practising as a nurse in the Australian Health care system.
Importance of regulation in nursing
The regulations play a very essential or important role in the health care industry,
towards the practise of the nursing and the coverage of the health care insurance. The various
regulatory bodies protects the public from the number of the health disparities and the
challenges and intends towards the provision of the programs for the public health and the
welfare.
The nurses and the professional of the nursing includes highly trained professionals
who works for ensuring that the patient receive the best possible care. The nurses work
directly with the patients so that the patients receive the best possible care (Gray, Rowe and
Barnes 2016). The nurses work directly with the patient in variety of the settings of the health
were each of the care is specific towards the need of the patient. It is important for the nurse
to draw upon their knowledge, experiences for the performance of their duties and the
responsibilities in effective and ethical manner.
The professional standards illustrates the competent level of care in each of the phase
of the nursing procedure. These reflects the achievable and the desired level of the

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performance against which the actual performance of the nurse. One of the main purpose of
the professional standards and the regulation in nursing is for the direction and the
maintenance of the safe and the clinically competent practice in nursing. As per the analysis
of DeLaune et al. (2016), the health industry and the correctional health care systems are
subjected to the regulation. Due to the significant effect of the practise of the nursing over the
health care delivery, the patient outcomes and the patient safety, the regulations related to the
individual nursing and the professional practise is necessary. The practise related to the
nursing is regulated to the state level through the administrative rules, the law and the civil
procedures. The regulation, the policies and the standards are important to nursing since they
initiates in the promotion and the guidance to the clinical practises (Hill et al. 2017). The
practise of the nursing provides the tool off the evaluation for the nurses and their colleagues
for the ensure met of the clinical safety and the proficiency.
The primary purpose of the regulations in nursing is the protection of the public
through the defining of the practise of the nursing , the approval of the education in the
nursing, the overseeing of the competencies of the nursing through the disciplinary rules,
licensing and the regulations. The State board of the nursing are the legislatively given the
authority towards the discipline in the professional and nursing.
Nurses of Australia are members of regulated profession
The nursing profession in Australia is widely respected and appreciated because of the
strong regulations it possesses. The Australia government has separate official departments
for the nurses and midwives. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia is one of the
official boards that describe the rules and regulations associated with the profession. In the
year 2014, the nursing board had over 1000 practicing nurses registered with it. Established
in the late 1990s, the Nursing Board now boasts of more than a thousand practicing nurses

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(Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2019). The hard work of many regulators and policy makers
throughout the country led to the formation of the regulatory board. As per the Nursing and
Midwifery Board, there were more than 360,000 registered nursed and midwives in the
country in June 2014 (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2019). The board also had assessment
models for checking the competency of the nurses based on international model. the
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) also stands as an example of
nurses in Australia being members of the regulated profession. Those nurses who are not
registered under the Nursing and Midwifery Board have to register or renew their licenses
with AHPRA. Those using the title of a nurse, registered nurse, enrolled nurse, nurse
practitioner, midwife or midwife practitioner without any proof and that too knowingly are
liable to be punished. According to section 113, 116, 117, 119, and 120 of the National Law,
the above-mentioned titles are protected and could not be used without proper registration.
Those contravening the protected titles under the National Law are liable to be fined $30,000
and employers might face a fine of $60,000 by the court. This further shows that the nurses in
Australia are members of a regulated profession.
It is important for the nurses in Australia to understand and abide by the rules and the
regulations to be sue that they are being responsible carries out via their duties and their
responsibilities (Small et al. 2016). Determined by the board of council, the nursing practise
act includes the educational programs, the standards of the nursing practise, the scope, the
types and the guidelines for the disciplinary actions. The nurses who have been practising
incompetent and unsafe manner are in the violation of a various number of the rules and the
regulations of nursing.
Importance of regulation for me as a nurse

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As a nurse, I am aware that I have to follow certain rules and regulations while at the
practicing as well as professional level. I am also aware that for any discipline to be a
profession, it has to include regulation as a component. This is because it ensures that the
nursing profession and practice is safe and competent. Being a nursing practitioner, I am also
aware that the regulations are important for me because it allows me to express or raise my
voice to a regulating authority whenever I see any injustice or unfair treatment being given to
any of my patients or colleagues. According to the annual honesty and ethics survey
conducted by Gallup International, the nursing profession has consistently bagged the first
position amongst all professions in terms of ethics and competency (Nurse.org, 2019). This
has been possible due to the presence of strong regulation in place for the profession. As a
nursing professional, regulation would help me to understand the boundaries and limitations
within which I have to work. Furthermore, I would be able to increase my competence level
especially in clinical practice at each nursing phase. The regulations are important for me as a
nurse because these are crucial for promoting and guiding my clinical practice. In addition to
that, regulations would help me to evaluate my colleague’s and mine clinical safety and
proficiency. Regulations are important also because these help in managing the entire
healthcare organizations or institute. This is important for me personally as a nurse because
when I go to work in an organization, I would want that the organization have rules for
everything – from staffing, to termination to behaving and so on. Further, the regulations
would help me to understand patient’s requirement and work accordingly. Many a times it
happens that, a nurse fails to understand the patient’s actual need and provides wrong
treatment. To avoid such instances, regulations are there. I feel it is very important for me as
a nurse because I would be able to know what my patient requires. Moreover, nursing is a
profession where engaging in personal relationships with any patient or harassing any patient
is a crime and that has been enlisted in the regulations. Hence, regulations are important for

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me as a nurse because it would keep me within limits and help me improve as a nurse
simultaneously.
Conclusion
To conclude, it could be reiterated that the regulations have great importance in
nursing. In the given essay, the importance of regulation in nursing was analyzed first. In the
analysis, it was found that regulations help make the profession competent and safe for
practice. Then, I explained the reason for addressing nurses of Australia as members of a
regulated profession. The explanation included the various codes and acts of nursing
profession in Australia. The essay found that there are laws that protect the nursing
profession and that any violation of these laws is liable for punishment. This showed that
nurses are the members of a regulated procession. Further, the essay also highlighted the
importance of regulation in nursing that leads to healthcare facilities having highly trained
professional nurses. The essay hence provides an in-depth analysis of the importance of
regulation in nursing, Australian nurses being members of a regulated profession and my
personal views on the importance of nursing being a nurse.

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References
DeLaune, S.C., Ladner, P.K., McTier, L., Tollefson, J. and Lawrence, J., 2016. Fundamentals
of Nursing: Australia & NZ Edition-Revised. Cengage AU.
Gray, M., Rowe, J. and Barnes, M., 2016. Midwifery professionalisation and practice:
Influences of the changed registration standards in Australia. Women and Birth, 29(1), pp.54-
61.
Hill, M.N., Parker, J., Liu, H., Hu, Y. and Guo, G., 2017. Strategic directions and actions for
advanced practice nursing in China. International journal of nursing sciences, 4(1), pp.8-11.
Nurse.org (2019). Nurses Ranked #1 Most Ethical Profession By 2017 Gallup Poll. [online]
Nurse.org. Available at: https://nurse.org/articles/gallup-ethical-standards-poll-nurses-rank-
highest/ [Accessed 1 May 2019].
Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au (2019). Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia -
Internationally qualified nurses and midwives. [online] Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au.
Available at: https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Registration-and-Endorsement/
International.aspx [Accessed 1 May 2019].
Oskouei, F., Nejatian, A. and Parvizy, S., 2016. Registration/licensure: Essential need of
nursing regulation in Iran. International Journal of Medical Research & Health Sciences, 5,
pp.423-8.
Small, K., Sidebotham, M., Fenwick, J. and Gamble, J., 2016. Midwifery prescribing in
Australia. Australian prescriber, 39(6), p.215.