Nursing competencies: the artistry of nursing

Victoria Hird is a Nurse Educator at the Department of Nursing Inservice Education, St. Vincent's Hospital Sydney. The Australian Nurse Registering Authorities developed the Australian Nursing Competencies that describe the attributes and performance required by newly qualified Registered and Enrolled Nurses in the clinical setting. A description of what constitutes nursing competence, the importance of identifying and developing competencies in the profession, and various ways in which nursing competencies may be used to recognise, value and reward nursing are described. If you were to ask a member of your family or a friend 'What do nurses do?', you might be very surprised at the vague nature of their reply. 'They look after people who are sick.' they are most likely to say, or 'They give medicines and injections', 'they help deliver babies.' The nature of nurses' work, like that of all the professions, is complex, often mysterious and frequently highly specialised. Although many nursing theorists spend their lives trying to describe and define nursing, no one definitive and succinct statement exists that suits all nurses, in all circumstances and all specialties, in all societies. Although it is a complex, mysterious and elusive occupation to classify, nursing as a profession does exist. People choose nursing as an occupation, and undergo educational preparation to qualify for the role and title of a nurse. In Australia, to represent oneself as a nurse requires not only education, but also recognition by a licensing authority; therefore, it is important that consensus exists, at some levels,