Professional Perspectives
Maintaining recency of practice
I am taking a career break, what do I need to do to ensure I maintain my registration?
Nurses and midwives are required to maintain recency of practice by ensuring they have completed a minimum of 450 hours of practice within the last five years for each registration they hold. These hours of practice do not need to be continuous, as long as the hours are accumulated over the previous five-year period.
As per the NMBA’s definition of practice, this applies to both clinical and non-clinical practice roles for nurses and midwives: “Practice means any role, whether remunerated or not, in which the individual uses their skills and knowledge as a health practitioner in their profession. Practice in this context is not restricted to the provision of direct clinical care. It also includes using professional knowledge (working) in a direct non-clinical relationship with clients, working in management, administration, education, research, advisory, regulatory or policy development roles, and any other roles that impact on the safe, effective delivery of services in the profession”.
You are also required to maintain a minimum of 20 hours of CPD for each current registration you hold, annually, for the registration period of 1 June to 31 May.