Nursing as a career

Under the HPCA Act, every nurse has a scope of practice. The scopes of practice and qualifications are listed below. The three scopes of practice are: Registered Nurse; Nurse Practitioner and Enrolled Nurse.

There are also three levels of prescribing authority for nurses and each level has its own educational requirements:

  • Nurse practitioners are authorised to prescribe any prescription medicine
  • Registered nurse prescribing in primary health and specialty teams -prescribe from a schedule of common medicines for common and long-term condition
  • Registered nurse prescribing in community health -prescribe from a limited schedule of medicines. This is being trialed in 2017