Awareness boosts registered nurse numbers

National

The number of registered nurses and midwives in the country has increased over the past 10 years, according to a health adviser.
The regulation adviser to the recently launched Health Practitioners’ Registration System (HPRS), Michele Rumsey, said that in 2004, there were 1964 nurses and midwives with provisional registrations but only 881 of them became fully registered.
In 2016, however, there were 362 with provisional registrations of which 263 became fully registered.
Rumsey said that the improvements in the statistics were due to roadshows and other activities run by the PNG Nursing Council to improve awareness among nursing officers and midwifes that it was important for them to be fully registered to practice.
According to the PNG Nursing Council, under the Medical Registrations Act 1980, health practitioners are required to have full registration to practise.
The council said registration was important as it guided professional standards which were in turn crucial to safe and clinically competent nursing practice.
The council said that graduates from approved educational institutes must first become provisional registrants for the first six months before applying for full registration to practise.
Rumsey also stated that in 2014-2015 a total of 6271 nurses, midwives, nurse aids, maternal and child health officers and enrolled nurses reviewed their registrations form provisional to full registration.
She said that this figures meant that more graduates were coming out of nursing institutes but were either not registering or did not enter the workforce after graduating.