• Anne-Marie Brady, Gerard Fealy, Mary Casey, Josephine Hegarty, Catriona Kennedy, Martin McNamara, Pauline O'Reilly, Geraldine Prizeman, and Daniela Rohde.
• School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
• J Adv Nurs. 2015 Oct 1; 71 (10): 2402-12.

AimAnalysis of a national database of enquiries to a professional body pertaining to the scope of nursing and midwifery practice.BackgroundAgainst a backdrop of healthcare reform is a demand for flexibility in nursing and midwifery roles with unprecedented redefinition of role boundaries and/or expansion. Guidance from professional regulatory bodies is being sought around issues of concern that are arising in practice.DesignQualitative thematic analysis.MethodThe database of telephone enquiries (n = 9818) made by Registered Nurses and midwives to a national regulatory body (2001-2013) was subjected to a cleaning process and examined to detect those concerns that pertained to scope of practice. A total of 978 enquiries were subjected to thematic analysis.FindingsEnquiries were concerned with three main areas: medication management, changing and evolving scope of practice and professional role boundaries. The context was service developments, staff shortages and uncertainty about role expansion and professional accountability. Other concerns related to expectations around responsibility and accountability for other support staff.ConclusionEfforts by employers to maximize the skill mix of their staff and optimally deploy staff to meet service needs and/or address gaps in service represented the primary service context from which many enquiries arose. The greatest concern for nurses arises around medication management but innovation in healthcare delivery and the demands of service are also creating challenges for nurses and midwives. Maintaining and developing competence is a concern among nurses and midwives particularly in an environment of limited resources and where re-deployment is common.© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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