Inherent requirements for Nursing and Midwifery courses

These inherent requirements apply to the Bachelor of Science (Nursing), the Master of Nursing Practice (Graduate Entry) , the Bachelor of Science (Midwifery) and the Master of Midwifery (Graduate Entry).

Student nurses practicing with a dummy patient

Why are inherent requirements essential for studying this course?

The Nursing and Midwifery courses at Curtin University are professionally accredited and graduating students will need to meet the requirements of the professional body to register to work in this profession. Students should be familiar with the requirements set out by the following accrediting bodies which may impact their progression throughout their studies and in entering the profession:

View Nursing and Midwifery courses

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) helps protect the health and safety of the Australian Community through its role as the external accreditation entity to assess and accredit nursing and midwifery programs.

Visit the ANMAC website

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia works to ensure that Australia’s nurses and midwives are suitably trained, qualified and safe to practise. Public safety is our priority.

Visit the Nursing and Midwifery Board website

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency works in partnership with the National Boards to ensure that Australia’s registered health practitioners are suitably trained, qualified and safe to practise.

Visit AHPRA website

Inherent requirement statements

How to read the inherent requirements

Ethical behaviour

Nursing and Midwifery are professions governed by codes, guidelines, and policies where practitioners are both accountable and responsible for ensuring professional behaviour in all contexts.
Compliance with the codes, guidelines, and policies facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people with whom they This ensures the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of the individual is not placed at risk.
Examples:
- Adhere to the applicable Codes, Guidelines, and Policies of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and other relevant statutory authorities at all times to enable safe delivery of care.
- Adherence to International Council of Nurses (ICN) Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct for Midwives
- Compliance with the Registered Nurse Standards for Practice, or Midwife Standards for Practice Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics and relevant State and Federal equal opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation (for Nurse Practitioner students).
- Compliance with the Nurse Practitioner Standards for Practice
- Meet the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency – Student Registration conditions of registration in relation to criminal
- Comply with professional conduct, confidentiality, and health organisation policies and procedures.
- Adhere to infection control procedures and testing and immunisation
- Always behave ethically including in times of significant Place patient care above own interests and maintain high ethical standards and professional boundaries.
- Meet infection control requirements, and complete medical screening and immunisation checks. Students should consider and discuss pre-existing medical conditions, or effects of ongoing medication, effects on their ability to fulfil the inherent requirements of the course.
- Apply good judgement and achieve timely completion of all responsibilities for the diagnosis and care of patients.
- Respond appropriately to feedback and have appropriate insight and judgements into own abilities, limitations, and health.
- Dress appropriately and safely in the clinical workplace.
- Be aware and provide evidence of blood-borne virus status at or before entry into the course.
- In cases where a student tests positive to an infection with a blood-borne virus, this may preclude them from being able to undertake some of the requirements for clinical placements.

Sensory ability

This course requires adequate visual, auditory (hearing), tactile (touch), and olfactory (smell) abilities.

The core requirements of the course will require students to demonstrate the sensory ability in the areas of vision, hearing, smell, and touch for the clinical assessment of patients.
Observational skills including vision, hearing, smell, and touch to allow clinical assessment: physical examination, recognising and interpreting sensory stimuli relating to visual colour differentiation, hearing, smell, and touch are core requirements of the course.
Examples:
- Demonstrate sufficient visual acuity to perform safe practice in clinical labs, simulation, and during clinical placements and assessment of patients; including reading medication details, electronic displays, typed and handwritten documents.
- Demonstrate sufficient auditory function in the university and clinical learning environments to monitor, assess and manage an individual’s health and demonstrate safe practice in clinical labs, simulation, and during clinical placements and assessment of patients including performing including auscultation.
- Demonstrate sufficient tactile ability to demonstrate safe practice in clinical labs, simulation, and during clinical placements and assessment of patients including the ability to palpate vessels and organs, and to perform clinical examinations.
- Demonstrate sufficient smelling ability in order demonstrate safe practice in clinical labs, simulation, and during clinical placements and assessment of patients.

Strength and mobility

Demonstrated motor skills for the coordination of gross and fine muscular movements are a core inherent requirement of this course.

Gross motor skills

Nursing and midwifery involve physical demands and requires gross motor function.
Students must demonstrate an ability to perform gross motor skills including positioning, supporting, bending, twisting, pushing, pulling, lifting, and carrying equipment and/or patients, utilising approved manual handling techniques and available aids.
Examples:
- Maintaining balance while safely mobilising (moving) and transferring individuals or resources
- Safely retrieve and utilise stock and equipment.
- Safely perform a physical examination on a patient, including palpation, auscultation (listening with a stethoscope), and percussion so that the important and relevant findings are discovered. The examination must be done in a timely manner.
- Perform actions that require coordination of both gross and fine motor muscular movements, equilibrium, and functional use of the senses of touch and vision.

Fine motor skills

Nursing and midwifery are professions that require manual dexterity and fine motor skills.
Students must demonstrate the ability to use fine motor skills including being able to grasp, press, pull, push, turn, squeeze, and manipulate objects and individual patients using appropriate techniques.
Examples:
- Safely and effectively perform basic and advanced life support on a patient.
- Use common diagnostic aids or instruments either directly or in an adaptive form (e.g. sphygmomanometer, stethoscope, auroscope, otoscope and ophthalmoscope).
- Provide general and emergency clinical care to patients.
- Safely use forceps when attending to aseptic non-touch technique procedures such as dressing wounds.
- Safely perform clinical procedural skills, such as vital signs, physical examinations, phlebotomy, IV fluid administration, catheterisation, ECG, wound care and other clinical procedures within scope of practice.

Cognition

This course requires knowledge of theory and the skills of cognition, literacy, and numeracy.

Knowledge and cognitive skills

Consistent knowledge and effective cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide safe and competent nursing and midwifery care. The acquisition and recall of knowledge, consistent and effective processing of information, attention to detail, theoretical deliberation (comparison of options), and life-long learning behaviours are required for safe practice in nursing and midwifery.
Safe and effective delivery of nursing and midwifery care is based on comprehensive knowledge that must be sourced, understood, and applied appropriately.
Examples:
- Process, recall, and apply appropriate and relevant information in a timely manner.
- Measure, calculate, and reason to analyse and synthesise information.
- Calculate medication dosages accurately.
- Solve complex problems by obtaining, synthesising, and evaluating appropriate and relevant information.
- Engage in scientific and clinical reasoning.
- Locate appropriate and relevant information.
- Integrate and implement knowledge.
- Plan and undertake these plans.
- Organise and manage time and activities.
- The above are consistent with the Registered Nurse Standards for Practice and Midwife Standards for Practice

Communication

This course requires effective, verbal, non-verbal and written communication skills.

Effective and efficient verbal communication, in English language, is an essential requirement to provide safe delivery of care.
Effective communication skills are required including speech, hearing, observation, reading, and writing. These communication skills are necessary for ensuring coordination and continuity of care and building a strong therapeutic relationship.
Examples:
- Communicate accurately and efficiently in English language verbally and in writing, and via electronic devices, with patients and members of health care teams.
- Communicate effectively and efficiently with and observe patients to: elicit information; describe mood, activity and posture; and perceive and respond to non- verbal communication (such as cues including emotional changes and distress); as well as establish rapport and trust with patients and colleagues.
- Communicate effectively and sensitively with others, including patients, families, and any member of the health care team, and display respect, empathy, and compassion irrespective of their sex, age, culture, lifestyle, sexual orientation, spiritual beliefs, or disabilities.
- Provide clinical documentation in an accurate, concise, and timely fashion that meets professional standards.
- Understand and participate effectively in educational and clinical discussions.

Reflective skills

This course requires self-awareness and a capacity for reflection and reflexivity to consider the effect of one’s own issues, actions, values, and behaviours on practice.
Students are required to actively engage in clinical reasoning and critical reflection related to practice and other experiences. They must be able to identify their scope of practice and understand the need to practice within their scope, as well as be able to identify when an issue is outside their scope and how to refer the patient to another member of the multidisciplinary team. Students must be aware of their own beliefs, actions, and values and behave in a manner that reflects professional practice consistent with a Registered Nurse or Midwife.
Examples:
- Students should be able to appropriately give and receive constructive feedback, especially in the clinical setting, and utilise the feedback to improve their practice.
- Students must be able to identify goals and set objectives, particularly for the clinical practice setting, that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely to reflexively improve clinical practice.
- Accurately reflect on their performance, engage in critical reflection, and reflect on their beliefs, actions, and values.
- Accept feedback and respond constructively.

Relational skills

Nursing and Midwifery require the ability to use highly developed interpersonal skills and establish and maintain strong relationships with people.
Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain rapport with health consumers, academic staff, supervisors, and peers. Effectively and empathetically engage with other students. Demonstrated ability to engage and relate appropriately in individual and group settings, including clinical supervision and experiential learning groups in the educational environment.
Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain positive professional relationships with other students, school staff, and others, and be aware of how their behaviour and actions impacts upon others.
Examples:The above are consistent with the Registered Nurse Standards for Practice and Midwife Standards for Practice and may include any or all of the following (and not limited to):
- Build rapport with health consumers to engage with them effectively.
- Use relational and interpersonal skills to manage the therapeutic relationship with health consumers.
- Relate effectively, openly, and sensitively to academic staff, supervisors, peers, patients, and their families.
- Develop mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients.
- Adapt to changing environments, display flexibility and learn to work effectively when faced with the uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients.
- Display personal qualities of compassion, integrity, concern for others, interest, and motivation.
- Respect personal and professional boundaries.

Behavioural stability

Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively to a nursing or midwifery role.
This course requires students to demonstrate behavioural stability to work constructively in diverse and changing academic and professional environments. Students will be exposed to situations that are challenging and unpredictable and will be required to have the behavioural stability to manage these objectively and professionally.
Demonstrate sufficient behavioural stability to work constructively with confronting topics and confronting situations involving patients relevant to the practice of nursing or midwifery including but not limited to illness, trauma, and death.
Monitor their own health and behaviour and to seek help when required.
Examples:The above statement is consistent with the Registered Nurse Standards for Practice and Midwife Standards for Practice and may include any or all of the following (and not limited to):
- Be receptive and respond appropriately to constructive feedback.
- Cope effectively with own emotions and behaviour when dealing with individuals in the clinical setting.
- Tolerate the physical, emotional, and mental demands of the course and function effectively under stress (i.e., effectively manage own physical and mental health).
- Adapt to changing environments and function responsively when faced with the uncertainties that are inherent in the care of patients.

Sustainable performance

Nursing and midwifery practice require both physical and mental performance at consistent and sustained levels. Sufficient physical and mental endurance are essential requirements needed to perform multiple tasks in an assigned period to provide safe and effective care.
Students must demonstrate the levels of physical energy and mental attention required to safely and accurately complete a task(s) and sustain that energy and attention for the duration required until the task(s) is completed.
Functional and sustainable physical, cognitive, and psychosocial performance is required to complete complex and extended practice tasks safely and effectively in time-constrained environments. Interruptions to a student’s consciousness (e.g., from uncontrolled neurological or endocrine condition causing loss of consciousness) present significant risks to their own and others’ safety in university and clinical learning environments.
Examples:
- Participate and complete required tasks in workshops and practicums.
- Demonstrate sustained physical and mental resilience during clinical assessments.
- Demonstrate consistent clinical practice over a negotiated time frame.
- Maintain a level of concentration to focus on an activity to completion.
- Sustain study practices and clinical performance to ensure effective learning and application of that learning.

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