The College of Nursing

The College of Nursing is one of the nursing school in NSW, Australia. They are catering various kinds of nursing course for both overseas and local nurses.

At the same time, they are known by many overseas registered nurse students for their Assessment of Competence program as per requirement by AHPRA.

For more information you can visitwww.nursing.edu.au

Please note that we are not part of the College of Nursing. For any inquiries contact them directly.

CPD (Continuing Professional Development)

Please be aware that this entry is taken from the Australiah Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

This is intended for registered nurse only, however, if you are interested to find out some other information with regards to the CPD in other profession, you can simply visit their website.

Scope of application

This standard applies to registered and enrolled nurses,

registered nurses endorsed as nurse practitioners,

registered midwives, and registered midwives endorsed

as midwife practitioners. It does not apply to students or

nurses and midwives who have non-practising registration.

Requirements

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.

Definitions

Context of practice refers to the conditions that define an

individual’s nursing or midwifery practice. These include

the type of practice setting (e.g. healthcare agency,

educational organisation, private practice); the location

of the practice setting (e.g. urban, rural, remote); the

characteristics of patients or clients (e.g. health status,

age, learning needs); the focus of nursing and midwifery

activities (e.g. health promotion, research, management);

the complexity of practice; the degree to which practice

is autonomous; and the resources that are available,

including access to other healthcare professionals (ANMC

2009).

Continuing professional development is the means by

which members of the profession maintain, improve and

broaden their knowledge, expertise and competence, and

develop the personal and professional qualities required

throughout their professional lives. The CPD cycle

involves reviewing practice, identifying learning needs,

planning and participating in relevant learning activities,

and reflecting on the value of those activities (ANMC 2009).

Oncology Seminar

The Philippine Oncology Nurses Association, Inc. in cooperation with F.A.C.E.S. Foundation Inc., shall be holding a clinical update for the first time in Bacolod. The update is entitled "ABC's of Chemotherapy". It will be held on MAY 18, 2012 (Friday), from 7am-5pm, at Bar 21, Lacson Street, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.


In connection with this activity , we are inviting you to join us in this one whole day update in oncology, where we learn together and share insights on how we care for our cancer patients and their families undergoing chemotherapy. We invited speakers and officers of PONA to share their knowledge and expertise on chemotherapy.


The registration fee shall include a certificate, program schedule, personalized kit, snacks, and lunch.


For more information you may contact :


Ms. Ma. Encarnacion Dychangco, RN, MAN at 0917-8832802 (globe)
Mr. Bhoy-Ramir Castro, RN at 0949-4264581 (smart)
Ms. Rhea Agustin, RN, MN at 0922-7724430 (sun)


We shall look forward to your presence on this date and hope to have a meaningful interaction with you for a better oncology care.


Thank you.

Changes in the IRON or AOC fees

There will be some increases in the fees for the IRON program or also known as AOC in NSW. Last year, the IHNA in Victoria, already started to increase their fees from AUD 10,000 to AUD 11,000. As of the moment the La Trobe University, Deakin University both in Victoria, and the College of Nursing in NSW,  remained the same. Respectively their fees are AUD 9,900, AUD 10,000 and AUD 10,000.

However, some nursing schools in Australia that caters for the assessment of the overseas nurse in South Australia have the most expensive fees. Usually it ranges from AUD 12,000 up to AUD 16,000.

Some colleges, institutions and universities in Western Australia offers the bridging program for nurses but it is done either twice a year or once a year. 

For more information for the updated fees for the competency program, kindly email or call the institution. 

Endorsement vs Clinical Handover

Now, you wanted to be part of the Australian Nurses community, that is why you seek for registration.

For nurses from overseas, especially from USA, Philippines or any country that uses American standards of nursing practice. You should be aware that in Australia, they do not call the handing in or endorsing of patient from one staff nurse to another as endorsement.

In Australia they refer it to as the clinical handover. This is also the same with the endorsement and there is no difference at all, aside from the settings and each hospital may have their own policy on how to do the handover.

It is important not to be confused with these two words, for they meant the same but use or call in a different term.

Drug calculations 2

Getting the ml/hr or cc/hr

ml in volume / time in hours = ml/hr

Example:

100 ml to run for 2 hours. How many ml per hour?

100ml / 2 hr = 50 ml/hr

Example 2:

100 ml to run for 30 minutes. What is the ml per hour?

100ml x 60 mins
____. ______
30 min. 1hr

100ml x 2/hr = 200 ml/hr

Simple drug calculations

For the tablets an volume:

Desired Dose / Stock on hand x vol = answer

Example:

The doctor ordered 100mg of aspirin to patient A. The available stock is 50 mg. how many tablet will you give?

Desired dose: 100mg
Available stock on hand: 50mg
Looking for: tablet

100mg/50mgx1 = 2 tablets