1. Nurses on the nurses’ register will participate in at least 20 hours of continuing nursing professional development per year.

2. Midwives on the midwives’ register will participate in at least 20 hours of continuing midwifery professional development per year.

3. Registered nurses and midwives who hold scheduled medicines endorsements or endorsements as nurse or midwife practitioners under the National Law must complete at least 10 hours per year in education related to their endorsement.

4. One hour of active learning will equal one hour of CPD. It is the nurse or midwife’s responsibility to calculate how many hours of active learning have taken place. If CPD activities are relevant to both nursing and midwifery professions, those activities may be counted in each portfolio of professional development.

5. The CPD must be relevant to the nurse or midwife’s context of practice.

6. Nurses and midwives must keep written documentation of CPD that demonstrates evidence of completion of a minimum of 20 hours of CPD per year.

7. Documentation of self-directed CPD must include dates, a brief description of the outcomes, and the number of hours spent in each activity. All evidence should be verified. It must demonstrate that the nurse or midwife has:

a) identified and prioritised their learning needs, based on an evaluation of their practice against the relevant competency or professional practice standards

b) developed a learning plan based on identified learning needs

c) participated in effective learning activities relevant to their learning needs

d) reflected on the value of the learning activities or the effect that participation will have on their practice.

8. Participation in mandatory skills acquisition may be counted as CPD.

9. The Board’s role includes monitoring the competence of nurses and midwives; the Board will therefore conduct an annual audit of a number of nurses and midwives registered in Australia.

This is not about making life difficult for nurses, midwives and employers. It is about the quality and safety of nursing and midwifery care for people in our community.  Competence is about knowledge, skill, experience, judgement, care and attitude and this takes effort and commitment to sustain and develop.  In answer to my friend's question - yes mandatory eduction can be included in the 20 hours, but I do have some concerns about the professional attitude of nurses who do not have any commitment to their own ongoing comptence, recognising their responsibility to maintain and develop this for the benefit of people dependent on their care.  The Codes of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Nurses and Midwives in Australia and the National Competency Standards are quite explicit about these obligations.

As for the employer?  I hope my friend makes some heavy duty recommendations about the obligations of employers to support and nurture employees in meeting their responsibilites to both these people and the people in their care.