A time for international standards?: comparing the Emergency Nurse Practitioner role in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

The aim of this paper is to compare the Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) role in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Whilst geographically distant, the role of the ENP within these three countries shares fundamental similarities, causing us to question, is this a time to implement international standards for the role? The ENP role in all three countries is gradually establishing itself, yet there are shared concerns over how the role is regulated and deficits in standardisation of scope of practice and educational level. Together these issues generate confusion over what the ENP role embodies.

The safety of nurse clearance of the cervical spine using the National Emergency X-radiography Utilization Study low-risk criteria.

Objectives: To determine the level of agreement between trained ED nursing staff and senior ED medical staff in the application and interpretation of the National Emergency X-radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) low-risk criteria (NLC).

Methods: A NEXUS training and accreditation package was developed. It was successfully undertaken by 22 senior ED nursing staff and 26 senior ED medical staff.