Academic Staff
Education provider staff who meet the requirements and are engaged in teaching, supervising, supporting and/or assessing students for required skills, knowledge, attitudes and graduate competency outcomes.
Accoucheur
A colloquial term, the midwife who is the primary birth attendant conducting the birth of the baby.
Accountability/accountable
Nurses and midwives must be prepared to answer to others, such as people in receipt of healthcare, their nursing and midwifery regulatory authority, employers and the public for their decisions, actions, behaviours and the responsibilities that are inherent in their roles. Accountability cannot be delegated. The RN or midwife who delegates an activity to another person is accountable, not only for their delegation decision, but also for monitoring the standard of performance of the activity by the other person, and for evaluating the outcomes of the delegation. However, they are not accountable for the performance of the delegated activity.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2016) Registered nurse standards for practice
Retrieved from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Pr…
Accreditation
Form of program evaluation in which the quality of an education program is judged against defined accreditation standards through a combination of self-assessment and external peer review. Accreditation of program ensures that the education and training leading to registration as a health practitioner is rigorous and prepares the graduates to practise the health profession safely.
Health Professions Accreditation Council’s Forum/Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency,(2015) Communication between Accreditation Authorities and National Boards about accreditation and program approval decisions and changes to accreditation standards – a guidance document about good practice
Retrieved from: https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Publications/Accreditation-publications.aspx
Accreditation expiry date
The date the program ceases to be accredited for the purpose of enrolling new students. Accreditation expiry dates are stipulated by ANMAC upon accreditation approval.
Accreditation Standards
A standard used to assess whether a program of study and the education provider that provides the program of study, provide persons who complete the program with the knowledge, skills and professional attributes necessary to practise the profession in Australia.
National Law, Division 3 of Part 6.
Advance care planning
An on-going process of shared planning for current and future healthcare. It allows an individual to make known their values, beliefs and preferences to guide decision-making, even after when the individual cannot make or communicate their preferences and decisions.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2018) Code of conduct for midwives
Retrieved from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Pr…
Advanced nursing practice
A continuum along which nurses develop their professional knowledge, clinical reasoning and judgement, skills and behaviours to higher levels of capability (that is recognisable). Nurses practising at an advanced level incorporate professional leadership, education and research into their clinically based practice. Their practice is effective and safe. They work within a generalist or specialist context and they are responsible and accountable in managing people who have complex healthcare requirements. Advanced nursing practice is a level of practice and not a role. It is acknowledged that advanced nursing practice is individually attributed within a regulated nursing scope (enrolled nurse, registered nurse or nurse practitioner).
Advanced practice nursing (APN)
APN in the Australian nursing context identifies the additional legislative functions of an endorsed nurse practitioner that are outside the contemporary registered nurse scope of practice. Advanced practice nursing as a nurse practitioner is a qualitatively different level of advanced nursing practice to that of the registered nurse due to the additional legislative functions and the regulatory requirements. The requirements include a prescribed educational level, a specified advanced nursing practice experience; and continuing professional development.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2014) Nurse practitioner standards for practice
Retrieved from https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Pr…
Advanced standing
Recognition of prior learning through experience and/or studies.