Nursing Council notification · Written to Code of Conduct
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Nurses for Nurses facing a Nursing Council investigation, complaint or allegation
The allegation concerns your professionalism, behaviour or conduct as a nurse.
- Manner — dismissive, rough or disrespectful to a patient or their whānau
- Colleagues — behaviour towards a colleague or student that crossed a line
- Dishonesty — a chart, drug register, timesheet or reference that is not true
- Unsafe practice — a second check skipped or an observation not taken
- Boundaries — a boundaries breach with a patient, whānau or colleague
- Social media — a post or message that identified a patient or crossed a line
- Cultural safety — whānau left out of care or karakia dismissed
- Any other — professional concern or allegation of unprofessional conduct
Facing an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or misconduct like these — from the Nursing Council, a Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal?
Help with a Nursing Council investigation, complaint or allegation starts here. This CPD course helps you remediate — and demonstrate the remediation, with a dated certificate for your written response, your portfolio or a Committee or Tribunal direction.
Immediate access · certificate on completion · twelve months' access
- 2 CPD hours
- Self-paced
- Written for New Zealand
- CPD certificate
- Bulk buy: any 5 for NZ$850 · any 10 for NZ$1,400
At a glance
- Who it is for
- Any nurse facing a Nursing Council notification, complaint or allegation, a Professional Conduct Committee investigation or a competence review about professional behaviour or conduct — an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct
- Authorities covered
- The Nursing Council of New Zealand, its Professional Conduct Committees and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal
- Length
- 10 sections, 58 lessons, 2 CPD hours
- Format
- Self-paced, online, immediate access, twelve months from purchase
- Certificate
- Issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses on completion, dated, with the course title and 2 CPD hours
- Price
- NZ$200 · any 5 for NZ$850 · any 10 for NZ$1,400
Certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics CoursesRemediation courses for regulatory processes.
Who this course is for
Facing an allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct
The Council’s letter says your manner on the ward, a remark to a patient or a colleague, or a shortcut fell short of the Code of Conduct. This course is how you account for it — and show you have remediated.
Dealing with a Nursing Council notification or complaint
A patient, whānau, a colleague or your employer has raised a concern — employers notify the Council more than anyone else — and the Council has asked for your account. Most professionalism concerns are decided on it; this course gives it the structure the Council reads for.
Under investigation by a Professional Conduct Committee
Two nurses and a layperson have the file and want your response before they decide what to recommend. They read for the difference between an account and a defence — and for dated, targeted remediation alongside your reflection.
Facing a misconduct charge or hearing before the Tribunal
A charge of professional misconduct has been laid, or a penalty is being decided. Remediation completed before the hearing — dated, documented — is weighed every time.
In a competence review, under conditions or directed to complete CPD
The Council has asked for your practice hours and a practice profile, set a competence programme or imposed conditions, or you are returning after time away. Professionalism is one of the competencies assessed; the certificate records two dated CPD hours written to the Code of Conduct.
Expecting a complaint to reach the Council
A complaint to your manager, the Health and Disability Commissioner or ACC, or an employment investigation, can become a Nursing Council notification. Remediation done now is documented before it does.
The concerns this course speaks to
Communication, manner and dignity
A request for pain relief brushed off, a patient told they are overreacting, rough handling of someone frail. Respect for the dignity of health consumers is the Code’s first principle, and the pressure of the shift is context the Council reads, not a defence it accepts.
Behaviour towards colleagues
A colleague, a student or a carer spoken to in a way the ward remembers; conduct towards a colleague that crossed a line. Working respectfully with colleagues is a principle of the Code, and workplace notifications often describe exactly this.
Probity and an allegation of dishonesty
A medication signed for and not given, a chart altered to hide a missed dose, a vaccination backdated, a timesheet or reference that is not true. The Code’s value of integrity makes honesty the condition of everything else, and the Council treats dishonesty as misconduct whatever the outcome.
Unsafe practice under pressure
A second check skipped, an IV given without the double signature, an observation not taken on a short-staffed night, a task beyond your scope. The Code requires nurses to promote patient safety; the Council reads carefully for a nurse who names the system failure and their own part in it.
Professional and ethical boundaries
Friendship with a patient or their family that outlasts the care, messages after discharge, gifts, a relationship with a patient or a colleague. The Council’s Professional Boundaries guideline places the responsibility with the nurse; the course treats the first drift as the moment the standard is engaged.
Social media, privacy and the screen
A case posted online that a small town can identify, a diagnosis discussed where others can hear, records opened without a clinical reason. The Council’s Social Media and Electronic Communication guideline applies the Code online without change.
Cultural safety and Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Karakia dismissed, whānau left out of care planning, a Māori patient treated the same as everyone else and therefore not as themselves. Cultural safety is a competency the Council assesses and partnership a value of the Code; the course gives it a section of its own.
Interests, competence and any other concern
A private arrangement with a patient or family, a relative nursed without saying so, a practising certificate renewed without the hours behind it. Any allegation of unprofessional behaviour or conduct is measured against a principle of the Code — the course shows you how to find it and answer it.
Facing a Nursing Council investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200What the course covers
Ten sections and 58 lessons, with a reflective quiz closing each of the first nine and a post-course assessment at the end.
Introduction — Professionalism in New Zealand Nursing
Five lessons
The Eight Principles of the Code as Behaviour
Eight lessons
Communication and Respect — Where Concerns Begin
Six lessons
Documentation, Medication Records and Honesty
Six lessons
Professional Boundaries
Six lessons
Working Safely Under Pressure
Six lessons
Digital Professionalism
Five lessons
Cultural Safety and Partnership as Professional Conduct
Six lessons
The Concern, the Competence Review and the Professional Conduct Committee
Seven lessons
Conclusion and Key Takeaways
Three lessons
Show every lesson title
- Section 01 · Introduction — Professionalism in New Zealand Nursing
- What Professionalism Means for Nurses and Why the Council Treats It as Conduct; The Code of Conduct, the Competencies and Recertification; Why Professionalism Matters to Patients and Whānau; Why It Matters to the Council and the Profession; Consequences of Professional Lapses — Conditions, Programmes, Suspension, Cancellation.
- Section 02 · The Eight Principles of the Code as Behaviour
- Respect the Dignity and Individuality of Health Consumers; Respect Cultural Needs and Values; Work in Partnership With Health Consumers; Work Respectfully With Colleagues; Act With Honesty and Integrity; Maintain Public Trust and Confidence in the Profession; Keep to Professional Boundaries; Promote and Maintain Patient Safety.
- Section 03 · Communication and Respect — Where Concerns Begin
- What Disrespect Looks Like on a Ward and in a Home; Pain, Fear and the Dismissive Remark; Speaking to Colleagues, Students and Carers; Communication With Whānau and Interpreters; Repairing a Communication Failure the Same Day; Case Study — a Request for Pain Relief Brushed Off.
- Section 04 · Documentation, Medication Records and Honesty
- What a Nursing Record Is For and Who Reads It Afterwards; Late Entries, Corrections and the Line Into Falsification; Medication Charts, Signatures and Controlled-Drug Counts; Incident Reporting and Open Disclosure as Professional Duties; Honesty in Timesheets, References and Statements; Case Study — a Vaccination Backdated.
- Section 05 · Professional Boundaries
- The Council’s Guideline — the Continuum From Under- to Over-Involvement; Warning Signs — Gifts, Messaging, Friendship, Favouritism; Boundaries With Families in Long-Term and Aged Care; Sexual Boundaries and the Absolute Rule; Ending Drift Kindly and Recording It; Case Study — Messages After Discharge.
- Section 06 · Working Safely Under Pressure
- Scope of Practice and Working Within It; The Second Check, the Observation and the Shortcut; Escalation — Recognising When the Decision Is Not Yours Alone; Fatigue, Double Shifts and Saying No; Separating the System’s Failure From Your Own in an Account; Case Study — an IV Medication Without a Second Check.
- Section 07 · Digital Professionalism
- The Social Media and Electronic Communication Guideline; De-identified Is Not Anonymous — the Small-Community Problem; Telehealth, Shared Offices and Devices; Photographs, Messaging Apps and the Patient Record; Case Study — an Educational Post.
- Section 08 · Cultural Safety and Partnership as Professional Conduct
- Cultural Safety as a Competency the Council Assesses; Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Nursing Practice; Whānau in Care Planning and Discharge; Tikanga, Karakia and Everyday Respect; Māori-Led Cultural Safety Education as Remediation; Case Study — Karakia Refused in Aged Care.
- Section 09 · The Concern, the Competence Review and the Professional Conduct Committee
- What Happens When a Concern Reaches the Nursing Council; The Competence Review Process and What Assessors Read; The Health Process and the Professional Conduct Committee; Reflection, Insight and Remediation — Defined and Evidenced; Weak vs Strong Responses — Patterns Across the Cases; Building a Remediation Portfolio; Taking Advice Before You Respond.
- Section 10 · Conclusion and Key Takeaways
- Professionalism as Identity, Not Compliance; Habits That Hold on the Worst Shift; Your Personal Professionalism Plan.
How to respond to a Nursing Council notification, complaint or allegation
The Nursing Council, a Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal all read the same written account. It has to do four things, and the course teaches each one.
Many concerns about nurses are decided on the first account.
- DescribeThe events in order, in plain words — the shift as context, not as a defence.Weak and strong accounts of the same events show the tone that works.
- OwnThe principle of the Code the conduct fell short of — dignity, respect for colleagues, integrity, boundaries, safety, partnership — named by you before the Council names it.The course takes the Code’s eight principles as behaviour, so you can name the one that applies.
- The effectWhat the conduct meant for the patient, their whānau or your colleagues, in their terms rather than yours.Reflection and insight are defined and evidenced in a section of their own.
- ShowDated evidence that something has changed, which someone other than you can check.This course is the dated item you attach — and it tells you how to build the rest.
Apologise for the conduct, not for the concern — and do not send the first draft.
Take advice from your indemnity insurer, your union or a lawyer before you respond to anyone.
Facing a Nursing Council investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200How this course helps with a Nursing Council investigation
The Council asks whether you can be trusted to practise safely, and reads your response for the answer
The Council’s purpose is public safety, so it asks whether the nurse will behave differently, and answers from three things: reflection specific to the event, insight that accepts the seriousness without qualification, and remediation someone else can verify. Paired weak and strong responses — the altered chart, the gift, the corridor conversation, the dismissive remark, the online post — and six case studies from hospital, community, telehealth and aged care make the difference visible before you write.
Remediation a competence programme or a Committee can check
This course records two dated CPD hours on the standard itself. It also sets out the rest of a nursing remediation portfolio: a preceptor’s or supervisor’s reports, a documentation or medication audit repeated after an interval, patient or whānau feedback gathered on purpose, Māori-led cultural safety training where the concern engages it, and reflective writing that cites the Code. For the stages from the first letter to the Tribunal, see the Council investigation process, explained.
Read the primary sources
Who wrote it
Dr Shehzad Iqbal
Course author and facilitator, Healthcare Ethics New Zealand
Dr Iqbal has designed and delivered ethics, probity and professionalism training for healthcare professionals since 2020, working with registrants across regulated health professions, online and face to face. He combines clinical practice with formal postgraduate training in healthcare law and ethics.
MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics, University of Dundee
Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed .
In short
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Nurses is a two-hour, self-paced remediation course for nurses registered with the Nursing Council of New Zealand facing a notification, investigation, complaint or allegation, written to the Council’s Code of Conduct. It sets out what the Council means by professionalism — four values, eight principles — the lapses concerns about nurses often describe — communication, honesty in records, boundaries, unsafe practice under pressure, confidentiality online and off, cultural safety — and what a credible response to a concern, a competence review, a Professional Conduct Committee or the Tribunal contains. Ten sections, the first nine closing with a reflective quiz, a post-course assessment, and a dated certificate from Healthcare Ethics Courses for your recertification portfolio. It is remediation and dated evidence of it; it decides no matter, and it is not a substitute for advice from your indemnity insurer, your union or a lawyer.
What the Nursing Council means by professionalism
The Code of Conduct does not describe professionalism as a quality a nurse has; it describes conduct a nurse shows — four values (respect, trust, partnership, integrity) and eight principles: dignity, cultural needs, partnership with health consumers, respect for colleagues, honesty and integrity, public trust, professional boundaries and patient safety. A concern about a nurse is a claim that one of the eight was not met, and the course takes each in turn: what the Council expects, what concerns describe, and how it weighs the gap.
Two features run through it. Partnership: nursing in Aotearoa is practised under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and cultural safety is a competency, not a courtesy. Pressure: professionalism is judged in the conditions nurses work in — the short-staffed night, the aged-care facility, the video call — and the Council reads an account of a lapse under pressure for whether the nurse can separate the system’s failure from their own.
What these words mean
The three terms that decide where a matter goes, and the other words the course uses.
- Professional Conduct Committee
- A committee of two nurses and a layperson, with a legal adviser and an investigator, appointed where a concern is about conduct. It investigates, hears from the nurse and recommends: no further action, counselling, a competence review, conditions, or a charge before the Tribunal.
- Professional misconduct
- The Tribunal’s ground under s 100 of the Act: malpractice or negligence in your scope of practice, or conduct that has brought or was likely to bring discredit to the profession. Dishonesty, a boundary breach and a breach of confidence are among the findings made under it.
- The three routes under the HPCA Act
- Fitness to practise is the phrase practitioners use for the whole process. Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 the Council or Board takes one of three routes: a competence review (your practice against the required standard); the health process — the Act’s fitness to practise provisions, for impairment by a mental or physical condition; or a referral of your conduct to a Professional Conduct Committee, which can lay a charge of professional misconduct before the Tribunal. Which route your letter names tells you how the matter is being treated.
The Code, reflection, insight, remediation and the other terms the course uses
- Code of Conduct
- The Nursing Council’s statement of the standards of behaviour expected of every nurse, set under the Act: four values and eight principles, each with the conduct that meets it and the conduct that does not. The document a concern about a nurse is measured against, and the one a response should cite by principle.
- Concern
- The Council’s own word for a notification about a nurse, from a patient or whānau, a colleague, an employer or another practitioner. A concern is not a finding; it opens a process in which the Council first asks the nurse for their account.
- Competence review
- The Council’s process where a concern suggests a nurse may be practising below the required standard: first a request for evidence — practice hours, professional development, a practice profile — then, if needed, a review by assessors against the competencies for the scope, and a competence programme where a gap is found.
- Professional boundary
- The line between the therapeutic relationship and any other. The Council’s guideline describes a continuum from under-involvement to over-involvement and places the responsibility for staying within it with the nurse, whatever the patient or family initiates.
- Reflection
- A structured written account of what happened, why, which principle of the Code it fell short of and what has changed. Distinguished from an apology by specificity, and from an explanation by not arguing that the conduct was reasonable.
- Insight
- Acceptance of the seriousness of a lapse and of its effect on the patient, the whānau, colleagues and public trust, without minimising it or shifting responsibility to the shift, the system or the patient. The Council treats limited insight as the strongest predictor of recurrence.
- Remediation
- Corrective action targeted to the lapse and verifiable by someone else: CPD on the standard concerned, preceptorship or supervision with reports, audits repeated over time, feedback gathered on purpose. Generic professional development hours count for little on their own.
The provisions a professionalism concern about a nurse engages
Professionalism is conduct, and the Nursing Council’s standards say what professional conduct is for the profession. These are the standard itself and the provisions of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 a professionalism notification about a nurse runs under.
Nursing Council — Code of Conduct
The Council’s Code (2012) with its guidelines on Professional Boundaries and on Social Media and Electronic Communication. Every professionalism concern about a nurse names a part of it. Read it.
For this course: The course takes the Code’s eight principles as behaviours the Council can observe, so that a response names the principle the conduct fell short of.
Section 71 — referral to a Professional Conduct Committee
A conduct concern — behaviour towards patients or colleagues, honesty, respect — is referred to a Professional Conduct Committee of two nurses and a layperson, which investigates independently and asks for your written response. Read it.
For this course: A professionalism concern is a conduct concern and is referred here; the course explains what the Committee will ask for and how it meets you.
Section 100 — the grounds of discipline
The Tribunal may discipline for professional misconduct — malpractice or negligence, or conduct likely to bring discredit to the profession — among other grounds. Discredit is judged by what the public and the profession would make of the conduct. Read it.
For this course: Conduct that brings discredit to the profession is a ground of discipline, and the course explains how it has been applied to nurses.
Section 101 — the penalties
Censure, conditions, suspension for up to three years, cancellation of registration, a fine of up to NZ$30,000 and costs. Censure is the least of the penalties; insight, remediation and conduct since the events are weighed every time. Read it.
For this course: The Tribunal’s penalties in nursing conduct cases weigh pattern and insight; the course teaches the evidence for the second.
Also engaged: Section 118 — the Council sets the standards a concern is measured against · Section 34 — colleagues and employers must notify a risk of harm, and employers a resignation or dismissal for competence reasons · Section 80 — what a Professional Conduct Committee may recommend, from counselling to a charge · Section 36 — a competence review where professionalism and competence overlap: records, communication, scope.
What happens after a notification reaches the Nursing Council
The stages a concern about a nurse can pass through. At every one the same evidence is read: a specific reflection, insight that does not qualify itself, and remediation someone else can verify — the earlier it exists, the earlier the matter ends.
The concern is received and you are asked for your account
A patient or whānau member, a colleague, an employer or another practitioner writes to the Council, which assesses the concern and writes to you. Many professionalism concerns end here — with no further action or educational guidance — and which depends on the account.
The competence review process
Where the concern suggests practice below the required standard, the Council asks for practice hours, professional development and a practice profile; if that does not resolve it, assessors review your practice and the Council may set a competence programme with conditions.
The health process
Where illness, fatigue or substance use may be affecting your practice, the Health Committee takes the matter under the Act’s fitness to practise provisions, usually after an independent assessment — supportive, confidential, with conditions where needed.
A Professional Conduct Committee
Where the concern is about conduct, a Committee of two nurses and a layperson investigates, reads your response, may interview you, and recommends anything from no further action, through counselling and a competence review, to a charge before the Tribunal.
The Tribunal
The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hears the charge, usually in public. Penalties run from censure to cancellation; insight, remediation and conduct since the events are weighed every time, and any order is reviewed against what has changed.
Interim suspension or conditions
Where patients are at serious risk the Council may suspend your practising certificate or impose interim conditions at any stage, and the Tribunal may once a charge is laid. An interim order is a precaution, not a finding, and is reviewed.
Facing a Nursing Council investigation, complaint or allegation? This course helps you remediate — and demonstrate it.
Buy this course — NZ$200Not a nurse? New Zealand regulates 18 professions under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and the process is the same for all — courses for every registered profession →
Frequently asked questions
What does the Council want to see in my written account?
The events in order and in plain words; the principle of the Code you fell short of, named by you first; the effect on the patient, whānau or colleagues in their terms; what you have done since, with dates; and what would be different next time.
Should I take advice before I respond to the Council?
Yes — before anything is written to the Council, a Professional Conduct Committee, the Tribunal or your employer. Your indemnity insurer, your union or professional body, or a lawyer should read an account before it is sent. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and no course determines the outcome of a matter.
Does completing this course count as remediation?
It is one dated item. Remediation the Council recognises is targeted to the lapse and checkable by someone else — CPD on the standard, a preceptor’s or supervisor’s reports, an audit repeated after an interval, feedback gathered on purpose, and reflection that cites the Code. No provider is accredited by the Council and no course decides a matter; check the wording of any direction with your indemnity insurer, union or lawyer.
The complaint is about how I spoke to a patient on a very busy shift. Will the Council take that seriously?
Yes. Respect for the dignity of health consumers is the Code’s first principle, and the pressure of the shift is context the Council reads, not a defence it accepts. A single exchange usually ends with your account and perhaps educational guidance; a pattern, or an exchange a patient found humiliating, can go to a Professional Conduct Committee.
I signed for a medication I did not give, and corrected it later. Is that dishonesty?
A correction made openly, dated as a correction and reported through the incident process is an error handled properly. A chart altered so the omission cannot be seen turns a medication-safety concern into one about integrity, which the Council treats as misconduct whatever the harm.
A patient’s family have become friends and message me. Is that a boundary problem?
It can be. The Council’s Professional Boundaries guideline places the responsibility with you: contact that outlasts the episode of care, gifts of value and messaging outside the clinical relationship are the early signs it names. The course covers recognising drift, ending it kindly and recording it.
Is cultural safety really a conduct matter?
Yes. The Code requires nurses to respect cultural needs and values and to practise in partnership under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the Council assesses cultural safety as a competency. A concern about karakia dismissed or whānau excluded is a professionalism concern, with its own section and remediation pathway in the course.
How is this course different from the Ethics course for nurses?
The Ethics course is about the reasoning behind a decision and what to do when principles conflict. This course is about conduct — the behaviours the Code requires and the lapses that produce concerns. A nurse whose concern describes how they behaved usually starts here.
I am a midwife. Is this course for me?
Midwives have their own page, written to the Midwifery Council’s Code of Conduct and processes. A nurse who also holds midwifery registration should take the page that matches the authority that has written to them.
How long does it take, and how long do I have access?
The course is 2 CPD hours, self-paced, with twelve months’ access from purchase. The certificate is issued on completion, dated, with the course title and the CPD hours, for your recertification portfolio, a competence programme or a response.
Courses that work alongside this one
Notifications rarely raise one issue. These are the courses that pair with this one.
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Nurses
Ethics course for NZ nurses facing a Nursing Council notification or competence review. Written to the Code of Conduct and its guidelines. 2 CPD hours.
Documentation for Healthcare Professionals
Clinical documentation and health records course for NZ health practitioners facing a notification about records, late entries or amendments. 2 CPD hours.
Ensuring Teamwork and Collaboration
Teamwork and collaboration course for NZ health practitioners facing a handover, escalation or team-conflict concern raised with a Council or Board. 2 hrs.
Professional Boundaries Course
A boundary notification in NZ: where the risk comes from, dual relationships, another person in the room, colleagues and online conduct. 2 CPD hours.
Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation Professionally
Responding to a complaint, notification, competence review or conduct committee in NZ: the first letter, the meeting, what to write. 2 CPD hours.
Insight for Fitness to Practise
Asked to show insight after a notification? The staged model, the four components a Council or Tribunal assesses, and what undermines it. 2 CPD hours.
Remediation for Fitness to Practise
Remediation after a Council or Board notification: root cause not symptom, SMART goals, the seven parts of a written plan, evidence of change. 2 CPD hours.
See all CPD courses for nurses and midwives in New Zealand →
Start today, finish at your own pace
Immediate access on purchase. Twelve months' access, a dated certificate on completion, and 2 CPD hours issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses.