Guidelines: For nurses applying for endorsement as a nurse practitioner

1. Current general registration as an RN in Australia with no conditions or undertakings on registration relating to unsatisfactory professional performance or unprofessional conduct.

2. The equivalent of three years’ (5,000 hours) full-time experience at an advanced practice level, within the past six years, taken from the date when the complete application seeking endorsement as an NP is received by the NMBA.

You are required to provide evidence of practising at the advanced practice level in accordance with the NMBA definition.

This means you must clearly document examples of the following in your application:

• Leadership
• Education activities
• Research
• Support of systems
• Autonomous practice
• Complex decision making
• Management of, and direct clinical care of people with complex health conditions

You can provide this evidence in your CV or through case studies. If you choose to provide case studies these cannot be the same as case studies used for your Master of Nursing (NP) program.

Statement/s of service

The Statement of service is provided as part of your application to support your 5,000 hours of advanced practice The Statement of service should clearly reflect the evidence you have provided in your CV and:

• be on the employer’s letterhead
• be dated and signed by the Director of Nursing or equivalent
• detail the title of your advanced practice, dates of employment and hours
• detail any periods of extended leave (e.g. long service leave, maternity/paternity or extended sick leave).
• provide a breakdown/percentage of hours of any position that includes indirect or non-clinical components, such as management or education
• be correctly certified – refer to Ahpra’s guidance on certification of documents 

Note: Self-employed nurses may provide a statutory declaration as their proof of service.

Curriculum vitae (CV)

For guidance on CV format refer to the Ahpra guidelines Standard format for curriculum vitae.

The CV must clearly mirror the information provided in the Statement of Service from your employer/s or in the letter of support if this is how evidence of hours is provided:

The CV will include:

• primary qualification/s
• post graduate qualification/s
• education and/or study relevant to specialist area of practice
• a breakdown/percentage of hours that you spend in each role providing both direct clinical care and performing other indirect or non-clinical duties. This will require third-party verification from your employer
• detail that demonstrates responsibility and accountability for the management and direct clinical care of people with complex healthcare requirements
• detail that shows the evidence of the clinical domain of practice that integrates with the other three NP domains of practice of professional leadership, education and research.
  (For example- published research and/or application of research into evidence-based practice and/or policy and procedures at local, state or national level)

Other professional activities

• attendance and/or presentations at forums and conferences
• active participation in a professional organisation
• published articles

Letters of support

Letters of support can be used where the applicant is providing hours of service that cannot be provided by a formal Statement of service.

A letter of support must:

• be provided on letterheaded paper
• be correctly certified
• be from a registered health practitioner from the same practice setting/ place of practice/ same area of practice subtype if they are providing support of advanced practice hours and evidence to support advanced practice

3. Qualification

Pathway 1

Successful completion of a NMBA-approved program of study leading to endorsement as an NP

Evidence to include:

• Education details, such as a certified copy of the relevant (original) masters qualification, and transcript with results key
• My eQuals

You will be contacted by an assessor upon review of your application to provide access details to the My eQuals portal.

You may submit your qualification by:

• sending a secure My eQuals URL by email, or
• downloading a copy of your qualification in PDF format from My eQuals and sending it by email. This copy must have the blue banner at the top of the document stating, "Certified by (issuing university)”. A valid signature is required.

3. Qualification

Pathway 2

a program that is substantially equivalent to an NMBA-approved program of study leading to endorsement as an NP as determined by the NMBA

Evidence to include:

• a postgraduate nursing masters degree that is clinically relevant to the applicant’s context of advanced practice nursing for which they are seeking endorsement as an NP
• evidence of completion of masters level units in advanced health assessment, pharmacology and therapeutics and diagnostics and research, however titled. The evidence required is the unit outlines for the units studied and the year studied.

4. Evidence of meeting the NMBA Nurse practitioner standards for practice.

Applicants who have completed an NMBA-approved NP program of study are generally not required to provide evidence of meeting the Nurse practitioner standards for practice as this is evidenced through the completion of your program of study.

However, on occasion, this may be asked for if further evidence to support your application is required.

An applicant following Pathway 2 is required to provide information about the masters qualification you have provided including:

• Mapping of your units of study to evidence advanced practice as defined by the Nurse practitioner standards for practice. This will assist with establishing a qualification that is substantially equivalent
• Position description/s
• Narratives