The World Health Organisation in its publication Health for All Nursing Series: Mission and Functions of the Nurse (1991) states:
The mission of nursing in society is to help individuals, families and groups to determine and achieve physical, mental and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work. This requires nurses to develop and perform functions that relate to the promotion and maintenance of health as well as to the prevention of ill health. Nursing also includes the planning and implementation of care during illness and rehabilitation, and encompasses the physical, mental and social aspects of life as they affect health, illness, disability and dying.
Nursing is the provision of care for individuals, families and groups throughout the entire life span - from conception to death.
Nursing is both an art and a science that requires the understanding and application of the knowledge and skills specific to the discipline. It also draws on knowledge and techniques derived from the humanities and the physical, social, medical and biological sciences.
Statement by Board on current challenges faced by Registered Nurses and Midwives
At its final meeting for 2014, the Board of NMBI discussed its role in the context of the current challenges being faced by registered nurses and midwives. It is a key objective of the Board to utilise the framework of statutory regulation to strongly support nurses and midwives in the clinical environment.
This is done by providing registrants with the tools to enable them to practise to the best of their ability and to ensure the obligation to be registered is also associated with real value in terms of professional practice. The Board believes that the clinical environment should be underpinned by the highest standards of professional decision-making that ultimately supports patient safety.
The NMBI is doing this by progressing a number of initiatives. The new NMBI Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Nurses and Registered Midwives comes into effect this week and is a keystone of the NMBI’s professional guidance. It will help every nurse and midwife to uphold the highest standards of ethical practice and simultaneously protects the public. NMBI will also consult with the professions in early 2015 regarding an enhanced Scope of Nursing and Midwifery Practice.
The Board is also in the process of reviewing the standards and requirements for nursing and midwifery registration programmes, practice standards for midwives as well as the framework relating to advanced practice in the professions. A new competency assurance scheme is required under the new legislation and its potential value has been acknowledged by all stakeholders. NMBI is currently designing this scheme, with cost containment an absolute priority.
The NMBI is a regulator that is committed to meeting its mandate with regard to regulation, registration, education and standard-setting. Resourcing issues, staffing numbers and management structures in the clinical environment are legally outside the NMBI’s statutory remit, but it is through the initiatives mentioned above that the Board supports and enhances the nurse and midwife professions in day-to-day practice. These tools are not intended to be restrictive, but are designed to be supportive and as a platform for best practise and professional guidance.
The Annual Retention Fee 2015 increase has been deemed a necessary step to ensure NMBI can continue to perform these regulatory functions effectively. We are a self-funding body, our associated costs have increased and it is important that registrants understand the breakdown of these costs.
The most significant costs for NMBI are:
- Fitness To Practise - €2.7m
- Education & Standards - €1.9m, including:
- Review of the Code of Professional Conduct
- Review of Scope of Practice
- Professional Competence Scheme
- Corporate Services - €3.3m, including:
- Facilities management, services framework & ongoing maintenance
- Information Communications Technology
- Finance & Human Resource functions
- New Board & legislation support systems/infrastructure
- New committees & governance structures
- Registration & CEO office - €2.33m, including:- Maintenance & management of register
- Administration & clerical activitie