Abstract
Advanced practice nurse (APN) roles have been implemented across all areas of the Australian health service and have extended into the perioperative environment in the form of the perioperative nurse surgical assistant (PNSA) or non-medical surgical assistant (NMSA). With a growing and ageing population, Australia will see an increased demand for acute care nurses. For the PNSA role to expand to meet this demand, the role requires recognition and regulation in Australia. Education programs also need to meet the increasing demand for acute care nursing and provide quality, accessible and collaborative education programs to meet the needs of all nurses in Australia, including those in rural and remote areas.
Highlights
The Australian health service is constantly evolving to meet the needs of a growing and ageing population
Advanced practice nurse (APN) roles have been implemented across all areas of the Australian health service and have extended into the perioperative environment mainly in the form of the perioperative nurse surgical assistant (PNSA)[1]
Despite over 20 years of research articles in Australia reporting the benefits of the PNSA role there continues to be a lack of recognition of PNSAs and limitations to the broader implementation and uptake of PNSA practice[2,3,4]
Summary
AANSA continues to lobby the health care authorities and health departments to recognise and remunerate the PNSA role, with submissions to the MBS Review Taskforce as part of this endeavour[11]. The extensive and eminent research undertaken by Toni Hains and other authors regarding the PNSA (or NMSA) role in Australia continues to augment the progress towards recognition and regulation of the NMSA role[3,5,6,7,8,9,10,13,14]
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