Frustrating delays in Australian certification

As hospital admittance numbers grow in NSW and Victoria as both states battle to contain outbreaks of the Delta variant, the need to bolster nursing numbers has again been thrust into the spotlight. According to the official list of qualified occupations for priority migration, Australia needs more nurses to join a number of health sectors, including critical and emergency care, among other areas. However, an open letter with more than 23,000 signatories argues that there is already a cohort of health professionals in Australia that can be called upon.

But delays in the evaluation process for nursing certification has left scores of overseas qualified health professionals in administrative “limbo”, preventing them from joining an industry that desperately needs them.

A single location to take the exam

In January 2020, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) implemented a new assessment model to grant certification to nurses with relevant qualifications obtained abroad. Under the model, candidates are evaluated in two phases, the first being an online multiple-choice exam. Once a candidate passes the theory exam, they move on to the Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE), which is carried out at a health simulation facility in Adelaide, where real-life medical scenarios are recreated to assess how a candidate responds. But lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed by state authorities are preventing many nurses from advancing to the second phase, after completing the first.

The “bureaucratic barrier” leading to limbo

For the overseas-trained nurses, the decision to offer candidates just one location in which to complete the second exam is a “bureaucratic barrier” that is hindering their progress and leaving many in limbo, as bans on travel have prevented them from reaching the testing destination.

The open letter is calling on the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, state health ministers and the Australian Health Professionals’ Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to find a temporary alternative “urgently” in order to allow candidates to advance towards the completion of their certification processes. The signatories of this letter claim there are more than a thousand nurses ready to take the second exam, and while they are not asking to eliminate testing, they are demanding more location options to proceed to the second exam.