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A competency framework has been developed in response to a need identified by nurses working in the addiction treatment sector.
The draft Addiction Specialty Nursing Knowledge and Skills Competency Framework was developed for Matua Raki, the National Addiction Workforce Centre, by Dr Daryle Deering.
The Framework is a professional nursing framework designed to provide, in the addiction specialty context:
- Guidance on the clinical career pathway for nurses from Foundation to Advanced Specialist.
- A description of the levels of practice of nurses.
- Clarification of the Specialist level nursing practice for nurses, other professionals, peer support workers, consumers, consumer advisors, employers, funding and planning personnel.
- Guidance for education providers in designing curricula.
- Information for effective nursing workforce development.
- The potential to develop a process for endorsement.
Dr Deering says the Framework will stand alongside relevant nursing and other professional codes of ethics, legislative and policy frameworks and accepted best practice guidelines. It will also complement the Standards of Practice for Mental Health Nursing (Te Ao Māramatanga). It is expected that a Specialist level nurse would be at the level of Proficient or Expert on a Professional Development and Recognition Programme (PDRP) and an Advanced Specialist level nurse would be at the level of Expert or above.
The Foundation level nurse is likely to enter the addiction specialty via two main pathways:
1. New Zealand new graduate nurses who are completing or who have completed a postgraduate entry to specialty practice programme in mental health and addiction.
2. Registered nurses who have varying levels of experience in other areas of nursing, but who are new to working in the addiction specialty.
Nurses who choose to become Specialist level nurses will develop specialist capabilities through clinically focused addiction related postgraduate programmes of study combined with formal/informal experiential learning.
Nurses who are Advanced Specialist level nurses will have completed clinically focused Masters level programmes (or be on the Pathway) together with formal/informal experiential learning. The advanced level competencies will correspond with Nursing Council of New Zealand advanced competencies and provide guidance for nurses on the Nurse Practitioner pathway.
The Framework has been developed in conjunction with a National Nursing Reference Group and the Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia (DANA) Standards and Competencies Expert Reference Group. DANA is the professional nursing body which will maintain the Framework.
The next step is to develop competency indicators (examples), which is likely to result in further streamlining of the Framework. |
