ASEAN MRA on Nursing Practitioners

What is AJCCN?

The ASEAN Joint Coordinating Committee on Nursing (AJCCN) is the committee under the Healthcare Services Sectoral Working Group (HSSWG) that discusses matters pertaining to facilitation of cooperation on Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) on Nursing Services. Since the signing date, the following revision on Professional Nursing Regulatory Authority was made:

The Nursing MRA was signed on December 9, 2006. This Arrangement will facilitate the mobility of nursing services professionals within ASEAN, enhance exchange of information and expertise on standards and qualifications, promote adoption of best practices for professional nursing services and provide opportunities for capacity building and training of nurses. Summary of the AJCCN Achievements 2007-2015 both at regional and national level can be downloaded here.

This MRA is also in accordance with the efforts of the ASEAN Member States in recognizing the ASEAN Vision 2020 on Partnership in Dynamic Development geared towards the creation of a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN Economic Region.

ASEAN NURSING COMMON CORE COMPETENCIES

At its 6th Meeting held on 10-11 November 2009 in Vientiane Loa-PDR, the AJCCN agreed on 5 domains of the ASEAN Nursing Common Core Competencies as follows:

  1. Ethics  and Legal Practice
  2. Professional Nursing Practice
  3. Leadership and management
  4. Education and Research
  5. Professional, Personal and Quality Development

MOBILITY MECHANISM

The mobility mechanism for ASEAN nurses varies among the ten countries. The following links provide the mobility mechanism of the respective countries:

EXCHANGE INFORMATION

The AJCCN also regularly exchange information on the policies related to nursing services. Among others:

  1. Temporary Licensing for Foreign Nurses
  2. Requirements for Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
  3. Registration Licensing Requirements
  4. Licensing Period and Extension 
  5. Language Requirements for Licensing & Registration
  6. Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism

Following are useful information provided by relevant Professional Nursing Regulatory Authorities of ASEAN Member States:

Core Competencies

Statistics

Nurses Midwifery Act

Recognised Institutions

Guidelines on Accreditations Programmes / Curriculum

Standards of Practice/ Code of Professional Conduct