FOI 24/25-0189 DOCUMENT 2
- 3.8 Provides support and supervision to assistants in nursing (however titled) and to others8 providing care, such as EN students, to ensure care is provided as outlined within the plan of care and according to institutional policies, protocols and guidelines.
- EN’s can, where appropriate, educate and support other (unregulated) health care workers (however titled) related to the provision of care
Delegation and Supervision of non-nurses
A non-nurse is any person who is not registered to practise as an enrolled or registered nurses (or midwife) and could include any of the following occupations:
- Support workers also known as unregulated/unlicensed health care workers
- Disability support workers will fit in this category
- Assistants in nursing, personal care assistants, orderlies and ward attendants
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health worker,
- Carer, family member, volunteer or other person involved with the person receiving health care.
‘Support workers may have a care-worker qualification, or not, but they are not bound by professional standards or professional regulation. These support are individually accountable for their own actions and accountable to the RN for delegated actions.
The safe delegation of aspects of nursing to this classification of staff is limited to non- complex components of personal care and routine, client-specific activities that require a narrow range of skill or knowledge.’9
The decision-making framework also states that ‘in some jurisdictions, legislation specifically prohibits the delegation of nursing care to non-nurses’.10
8 Enrolled Nurse standards for practice https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/FAQ/Enrolled-nurse-standards-for- practice.aspx 9 A national framework for the development of decision-making tools for nursing and midwifery practice https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Frameworks.aspx 10 Ibid pg. 16
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