The history of credentialing in Australia can be traced back to the introduction of nursing competency standards in the late 1980s, when there was recognition of the need to identify specialist or advanced practice.  

 

Since that time, a few organisations have developed their own credentialing programs, and efforts were made by Royal College of Nursing, Australia in the late 1990s to introduce a national credentialing scheme, but without success. The various individual programs which have emerged since the 1990s, are not consistent in their approach to educational requirements, specialist practice standards and processes for meeting credentialing criteria.

 

In 2011, the Coalition of National Nursing Organisations (CoNNO) produced a National Nurse Credentialing Framework. 

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