Approved Professional Development and Recognition Programmes (PDRPs)

In 2004, the Nursing Council began approving PDRPs as recertification programmes under section 41 of the Act. This was to allow nurses who were already demonstrating continuing competence through PDRPs to be exempt from the recertification audit. PDRPs are developed by employers and professional organisations to recognise and support individual nurses. The assessment processes they use are based on the submission of a practice portfolio.

PDRPs usually have requirements that are different from the recertification audit requirements. This is because these programmes usually look at more than simply competence to practice and they may seek to support individual nurses to develop their practice and also to recognise additional contributions made by nurses to the workplace. They can also use different assessment tools as the nurse usually supplies more evidence in a portfolio than is supplied for audit. The criteria for advancement through these programmes are determined by the organisation and not the Council. Nursing Council approval indicates the programme has met the Nursing Council standards for PDRPs and the Council is satisfied that nurses assessed on these programmes meet the continuing competence requirements (as well as other organisational requirements).

Differences between recertification audit and PDRPs

	Recertification audit	Professional Development and Recognition Programmes (PDRPs)
Purpose	To ensure nurses are meeting the continuing competence requirements	Designed to also develop and recognise the expertise of nurses in clinical practice
Legal basis	Set by the Nursing Council under section 41 of the Act and evidence must be completed before a practising certificate is issued	May be voluntary or compulsory depending on the organisation and employment agreement
Developed by	The Nursing Council following extensive consultation with nurses and the health sector	The organisation in consultation with employees/members
Evidence requirements	Evidence is limited to practice hours, professional development hours and two assessments of competence	Additional evidence may be required and this is determined by the organisation
Support	Nursing Council provides information and assessment tools only	Provide information and tools/workbooks. Education and support are provided by the Coordinator, educators/assessors and other senior nurses
Assessment	Completed by auditors and assessed as met/not met	Completed by assessors who give individual feedback on practice/evidence
Remuneration	There is no link to remuneration	Attainment of some level may be linked to remuneration
Recognition of skill level	Levels are not included in the Council’s requirements	Levels for increasing expertise may be demonstrated and recognised
Timeframe for completion	Nurses selected for audit have six weeks to send their evidence to Council	Participants usually have several months or longer to complete a portfolio
Participation	Approximately 1000 nurses complete the recertification audit every year	12,881 practising nurses were participating in PDRPs and exempt from audit 31 December 2010 (Council database)

The Council supports these programmes to ensure individual continuing competence and has developed standards for programme approval. For further information please click here.

Click here for a list of approved Professional Development and Recognition Programmes.

Links Referenced

click here: http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/index.cfm/3,193,233/fwork-pdrp-june08.pdf
Click here: http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/index.cfm/3,193,233/pdrp-may12.pdf

Location

http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/index.cfm/1,193,html