Gerontological Nursing Competencies (GNCs)

The GNCs Program implements the GNCs in the workplace through five steps, including the development of a portfolio of evidence. Completing these steps and developing a portfolio helps Registered Nurses (RNs) demonstrate their competence as specialist gerontological nurses.

ESSENTIAL GNCs COURSE

Module 1: Mentoring Ageement

Module 2: Self-Assessment

Module 3: Action Plan

Module 4: Generating Evidence

Module 5: Portfolio

ENHANCED LEADERSHIP GNCs COURSE

Module 1: Leadership Attributes

Module 2: Clinical Governance 1

Module 3: Clinical Governance 2

Module 4: Clinical Leadership

Module 5: Leading Change

Participants in the program should be:

1. New to working in the aged care sector as a Registered Nurse. That is, have worked no longer than 2 years for an aged care provider in Australia.
2. Employed by an aged care provider that has been approved by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission under the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 to provide services under the Aged Care Act 1997.

The GNCs team offer an online course for RNs to support the implementation of the GNCs course. Through facilitation and ongoing support, participating RNs are guided through the course to successful completion of the program. Organisations who implement the GNCs program are supported along the way. Through the online course, the GNCs team provide the following activities to organisations and their participants:

ORIENTATION EVENT (VIRUTAL)

An overview of the GNCs program and expectations of participants and mentors. Access to the online learning platform. Q&A session.

WORKSHOP 1 (VIRTUAL)

A preparation activity that focuses on explaining the program, outlining the Five Steps and providing interactive activities to develop new knowledge and skills to successfully complete the GNCs program and equip participants to develop a portfolio of evidence demonstrating their specialist gerontological nursing practice.

WORKSHOP 2 (VIRTUAL)

A collaborative experience where participants are provided with specific feedback on their action plans and the evidence generated to demonstrate their specialist gerontological nursing practice.

CELEBRATION EVENT (VIRTUAL)

Participants showcase their portfolios and share their learnings from participating in the GNCs program. Mentors share their highlights.

ONGOING SUPPORT

Via an online learning platform participants will be provided with ongoing support to complete learning activities, answer questions and maintain momentum to progress through the Five Steps.

There are a few options for identifying and selecting participants:

DIRECT NOMINATION BY MANAGER

The most successful model for selecting participants is through a direct nomination process by managers of practitioners who have the potential to be future leaders work towards essential level of practice or those who are already in leadership positions work towards the enhanced level of practice.

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (EOI)

An additional strategy is to call for ‘expressions of interest’ so that practitioners who have the capacity to complete the GNCs program self-nominate.

NEW GRADS OR EXISTING LEARNERS

New graduates, practitioners who have postgraduate degrees or currently undertaking further study have the skills required to successfully complete the GNCs program. Those willing to undertake further study have the motivation to learn the new skills required to successfully complete the GNCs program.

Importantly, participants who successfully complete the GNCs program become the future mentors for the GNCs program. Embedded in the GNCs program is a capacity building strategy to sustain the momentum created from each cohort of participants successfully completing their portfolio of evidence demonstrating their specialist gerontological nursing practice.

YES – The GNCs team are happy to discuss access to the GNCs program to those not eligible for an ACTPP Department of Health, Disability and Ageing fully funded place.

SIX MONTHS – The program is designed to take participants on a six-month learning journey, via the online course. Some flexibility may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

During the GNCs program, we imagine that individual participants will need to commit an average of 2 hours a fortnight to move through Steps One to Five and move forward to successful completion.

Importantly, some of this time will be part of individual practitioner CPD time that is required for their re-registration. We encourage participants to consider their involvement in the GNCs program as one way of meeting these requirements.

Participants also need to find additional CPD time to complete the GNCs program because the NMB compulsory CPD hours is 20 hours which is less than half an hour per fortnight.

Practitioners who engage in the GNCs program make a commitment to extend their knowledge and skills while they complete the GNCs program and by the end they achieve their goal of generating a portfolio of evidence that demonstrates their specialist gerontological nursing practice.

Portfolio assessment is a two-stage process:

1. The mentor of the participant approves that the portfolio of evidence reflects specialist gerontological nursing practice at the Essential or Enhanced Level of Practice.
2. A GNCs course facilitator confirms the endorsement and approves the issue of a certificate of completion for the participant.

YES – RNs who complete a portfolio at either the essential or enhanced level will be eligible for 6 credit points towards a postgraduate degree. Those who complete essential and enhanced will be eligible for 12 credit points. All participants who successfully complete their portfolio will receive a certificate demonstrating completion of prior learning equivalent to a postgraduate subject.

All organisations who implement the GNCs program are asked to support their RNs to complete the program. Integral to the success of the GNCs program is the support of mentors.

Organisations are asked to nominate mentors to support their participants. The main role of mentors is to motivate and guide participating practitioners through the Five Steps of the GNCs program. The GNCs can also provide mentors if organisations require this as well.

SUPPORT FROM ORGANISATIONS

Practically, organisations are expected to provide the following support when implementing the GNCs program:

Work time for participants to meet with their mentors every six weeks, for group and one-to-two meetings for 1-2 hours for the six-month duration of the GNCs program until the participating RNs submit their portfolios.

Allocate a relevant staff member to become a mentor for each group of 3-5 practitioners completing the GNCs program and support a GNCs mentor to provide this role.

Work time for the participants and ‘in-house’ mentors to attend the Orientation Event (1 hour for participants and 2 hours for mentors), Workshop 1 (4 hours), Workshop 2 (4 hours) and a celebration Event (2 hours).

Work time for the participants and mentors to engage with the GNCs team support offered through the online course, during the implementation of the GNCs program. This support includes undertaking online learning activities and completing assessment tasks for each of the 5 steps to ensure the participants successfully complete the GNCs program.

Work time for ‘in-house’ mentors to engage the participants in the GNCs program, for example, communicating reminders to the participants about using the GNCs team support available to them through the online course and other resources, along with administrative time to organise the mentor meetings. through the online course and other resources, along with administrative time to organise the mentor meetings.

Individual practitioners who participate in the GNCs program also need to make their own personal and professional commitment to actively engage with the online course.

YES - the GNCs match clearly with the aged care standards. Having RNs in your organisation who demonstrate their specialist gerontological nursing practice will provide you with the capacity to more easily meet the aged care standards. This is because, during the GNCs program, these RNs will develop the knowledge and skills to demonstrate how your organisation is already meeting the aged care standards, identify any gaps and most importantly develop action plans to address gaps and evaluation strategies to monitor their implementation.

YES - The GNCs program can help RNs make a successful transition into aged care following a career break from nursing or a career change to aged care. The GNCs team are happy to discuss access to the GNCs program to those not eligible for a Department of Health, Disability and Ageing fully funded ACTPP place.

YES - The GNCs are designed to provide organisations with resources that can easily be used to structure a new graduate year. The 11 Core Competencies and the Essential Level of Practice could be used to inform all content for a New Graduate Year.

YES – the GNCs can be used by an organisation to structure a learning and development program.

The 11 Core Competencies were derived from a rigorous research study using an e-Delphi consensus survey method where over 400 aged care colleagues agreed that these 11 Core Competencies reflect the work of Registered Nurses working with older people and their family carers. The 33 Domains of Practice that are used to explain in detail the work of Registered Nurses across the 11 Core Competencies were created by and agreed upon by these 400+ aged care colleagues.

We provide these Core Competencies and Domains of Practice to organisations as a strategy to inform their learning and development program over the next three years.

Some organisations adopt each of the 11 Core Competencies as a ‘topic of the month’ when they design their learning and development strategy. This can be repeated annually or spread across a three-year program.

These Core Competencies are priority areas that are evidence based and therefore you can be sure that by using the Core Competencies to structure your learning and development strategy the content of your learning and development plan is evidence based.