Standing Committee on Employment, Education
and Workplace Relations
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Submission 32
SUBMISSION FROM THE QUEENSLAND NURSING COUNCIL
22 October 1997
to the INQUIRY INTO THE APPROPRIATE ROLES OF INSTITUTES OF TECHNICAL
AND FURTHER EDUCATION
The Queensland Nursing Council
The Queensland Nursing Council, as a statutory authority is responsible
for the regulation of nurse education in the State of Queensland. The
Council has a legislative role to assure the people of Queensland and
the nursing profession that nurse education courses which lead to registration,
enrolment or endorsement have the potential to prepare nurses to engage
in safe and competent practice.
The profession of nursing
Nursing practice is carried out by nurses at two levels in Queensland.
The first professional level of nurses' educational preparation is at
the undergraduate level with the exit qualification of a three year degree.
Undergraduate programs are structured to enable students to link academic
learning with `off campus' clinical experiences. Students are required
to develop technical, -communication, problem-solving, critical independent
thinking and clinical judgment skills in preparation for their practice
role as registered nurses.
The second level nurse, the enrolled nurse is licensed to provide patient-centred
nursing care under the supervision of a registered nurse and as such the
role of the enrolled nurse is complementary to the registered nurse. In
recognition of the enrolled nurse's role, the Queensland Nursing Council
has been supportive of the transfer of enrolled nurse preparatory education
to the tertiary sector in five institutes of technical and further education
in Queensland at the award level of diploma.
Role of institutes of technical and further education in nurse education
The Queensland Nursing Council considers that institutes of technical
and further education are able to provide appropriate educational preparation
for enrolled nurses. It is of paramount importance that technical and
further education institutes be appropriately staffed and resourced to
enable the education that is to be provided to be of a quality standard.
The teachers of students of nursing not only require experience as nurse
practitioners, but appropriate skills and educational qualifications for
the role of an educator within the tertiary sector.
In light of the projected changes to role and functions of the enrolled
nurse and the impact of technological advances on the delivery of health
care and in particular on nursing care; it is essential that enrolled
nurses have access to continuing education post-graduation. Given the
role of the institutes of technical and further education in preparatory
enrolled nurse education, it Would be appropriate that provisions be made
to continue the educational service to enrolled nurses post-graduation.
Extent of overlap between institutes of technical and further education
and university sector
In recognition that enrolled nurses may choose to seek entrance to nurse
education in the university sector; it is appropriate that processes be
established for the acknowledgment of the qualification that was obtained
at the diploma or post-diploma level in the tertiary sector. Similarly,
as nursing students who have undertaken part of a university pre-registration
course may seek enrolment in a diploma course in the institute of technical
and further education sector, processes need to be established to facilitate
recognition of the student's prior -learning and provision of appropriate
credit.
Thus the articulation between the university and institutes of technical
and further education needs to be of a reciprocal nature. All seven universities
conducting pre-registration undergraduate nurse education in Queensland
have policies in place for assessing student's prior learning, it is understood
that prospective nursing students in institutes of technical and further
education must initially enrol in the education program and demonstrate
competency prior to a determination regarding the awarding of any credit
for prior learning.
SUMMARY
The Queensland Nursing Council considers the role of institutes of
technical and further education in the delivery of nurse education to
be:
• as providers of preparatory education for students wishing to register
as enrolled nurses
• as requiring to ensure that staff involved in the education of enrolled
nurses must have appropriate nursing and teaching qualifications
• as requiring appropriate and sufficient resources to enable the preparatory
education to be delivered by flexible mode delivery
• as providers of continuing education for enrolled nurses' needs.
The Queensland Nursing Council considers that the extent of overlap
between institutes of technical and further education should include:
• the establishment of reciprocal processes for granting access
to credit or recognition of prior learning for previous for study undertaken
at both in the University sector and within the technical institutes
of further education.
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