Continuing competence requirements

Every practising nurse must maintain his or her competence to practise by:

• completing 60 days or 450 hours of practice in the last three years
• completing 60 hours of professional development in the last three years
• being able to meet the Council's competencies for their scope of practice.

Individual nurses are expected to retain evidence of their continuing competence.

Practice hours

Practising is defined as using nursing knowledge in a direct relationship with clients or working in nursing management, nursing administration, nursing education, nursing research, nursing professional advice or nursing policy development roles, which impact on public safety. For a full explanation of the definition of practising click here.

Professional development

The Council and the public have an expectation that all nurses will continue to learn and maintain their competence. You are responsible for seeking opportunities to learn and maintain your competence. You need to complete professional development in the context of your area of practice. These activities may be within the work environment or within an educational context. Your professional development may be taken as whole days or hours and include a variety of learning activities such as degree courses, short courses, seminars, conferences, in-service education or online learning and Internet-based courses.

The level of your professional development should be appropriate to your scope of practice and work context.  Mandatory or core training required by your employer should not constitute all of your 60 hours of professional development in three years. Some of your professional development must be relevant to your development as a nurse and to your area of practice.

Journal reading may be considered a professional development activity if it takes place within a formal framework such as a journal club, a presentation to colleagues or to inform an educational or quality improvement process. Meetings may be considered a professional development activity if they have an educational focus and appropriate documentation is supplied, e.g. minutes with the education topic clearly identified.

You are also required to reflect on your professional development and may be required to supply a statement of learning if selected for the recertification audit.

For a template form to record your professional development click here

Meeting the Nursing Council competencies for your scope of practice

Competence is the combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and abilities that underpin effective performance as a nurse.

The Nursing Council has developed competencies that describe the skills and knowledge expected of nurses registered in each scope of practice.

To practise safely you are expected to meet these competencies.  Nurses are expected to reflect on whether they meet these competencies yearly – at the time when they make their annual declaration – and to be assessed against these competencies at least every three years.

• For competencies for your scope of practice click here
• For competence assessment forms for your scope of practice click here
• For information on how to complete a competence assessment click here