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Nursing Council of New Zealand
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Annual Report 2013
32
Nurse practitioners have advanced
qualifcations in areas of practice
such as emergency care, mental
health and primary health.
Table 7
Applications for registration 2012-2013 – nurse practitioners
Total
Nurse practitioners registered with prescribing rights
12
Nurse practitioners registered without prescribing rights
2
Widening of area of practice
0
Declined
4
In various stages of the process
4
Total applications
22
Many of the nurses who held these
diplomas were in New Zealand on RN-BN
(Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Nursing)
upgrade courses. The Council declined
registration for some of these nurses as,
even with the RN-BN qualifcation, the
Council considered that they did not
have educational equivalence.
This was obviously disappointing to the
nurses in this group, but the Council’s
primary role is to protect public safety
by ensuring that nurses registered in
New Zealand are ft, competent and
safe to practise.
Nurse practitioner
registrations
The number of nurses registered in
the nurse practitioner scope of practice
continues to grow, with 117 now
registered and 110 currently practising.
Nurse practitioners have advanced
qualifcations in areas of practice such
as emergency care, mental health and
primary health – the last being the largest
area of practice, with some 30% of nurse
practitioners working in the community
in this role.
Nurse practitioners currently choose
whether they register with or without
prescribing rights. The Medicines
Amendment Bill, introduced into
Parliament in February 2012, proposes
that nurse practitioners who are currently
‘designated prescribers’ become
‘authorised prescribers’ alongside
medical practitioners, dentists and
midwives. In line with this, the Council
is proposing to change the scope
and prescribed qualifcations so that
all nurse practitioners prescribe.
(For more information, see page13
under ‘Strategic goals and projects
2012-2013’.)