User guide for the National Health Workforce Data Set 
Nurses and Midwives 2011
June 2012
Contents
1	Background	1
1.1	The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme and National Health 
Workforce Data Set	1
1.2	Purpose of this guide	1
2	National Health Workforce Data Set: nurses and midwives	2
3	National Registration and Accreditation Scheme registration data	3
3.1	Scope and coverage	3
3.2	Data issues	5
4	Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey	6
4.1	Scope and coverage	6
4.2	Estimation procedures	6
4.3	Response rate	8
4.4	Data issues	9
5	Data inconsistencies between survey and registration data	11
6	Comparison with previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey
data	13
6.1	Differences between the 2011 questionnaire and surveys in previous years	13
7	Remoteness areas of Australia	16
8	List of Data items	17
9	Symbols	18
Glossary	19
Appendix A	Data items in detail	22
Appendix B	National Registration and Accreditation Scheme registration form	59
Appendix C	Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey forms	60
1	Background
1.1	The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme and National Health Workforce Data Set
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) at its meeting of 26 March 2008 signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on the Australian health workforce, for the first time creating the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS). Ten health professions were included in the initial national system implemented on 1 July 2010. These were: chiropractors; dental practitioners; medical practitioners; nurses and midwives; optometrists; osteopaths; pharmacists; physiotherapists; podiatrists; and psychologists. 
The National Health Workforce Data Set (NHWDS) is a nationally agreed data set that is collected by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as part of the operation of the NRAS. The AHPRA has ownership of data collected through the NRAS as prescribed in the Health Practitioner Regulation (Administrative Arrangements) National Law Act 2008.
The NHWDS comprises of a mandatory and a voluntary component. The mandatory component comprises of information collected as part of the registration and registration renewal process (NRAS registration data). The voluntary component comprises of information collected by workforce surveys run in tandem with the registration renewal process (NHWDS workforce survey data).
1.2	Purpose of this guide
This guide aims to assist in the understanding of nurse and midwife data collected from the NRAS and NHWDS Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey. Nurses include those who are also registered as midwives.
2	National Health Workforce Data Set: nurses and midwives
Nurses and midwives are required by law to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to practise as nurses and midwives in Australia. 
The National Health Workforce Data Set (NHWDS): nurses and midwives is a combination of data collected through the registration renewal process for nurses and midwives. Nurses and midwives can renew their registration either online via the AHPRA website or by using a paper form provided by the AHPRA. For initial registration, nurses and midwives must use a paper form and provide supplementary supporting documentation. Registration data collected include demographic information such as age, sex, country of birth, and details of health qualification(s) and registration status (see <http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.
gov.au/Registration-and-Endorsement/Forms.aspx>).
When nurses and midwives renew their registration online, they are also asked to complete an online version of the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 questionnaire. The questionnaire collects information on the employment characteristics, primary work location and work activity of nurses and midwives (see <http://www.aihw.gov.au/workforce-publications/>). The AHPRA stores both the online registration data and the survey information in separate databases, and then send these two data sets to the AIHW, where they are merged into a de-identified national data set.
When nurses and midwives renew their registration on a paper form, they are also asked to complete a paper version of the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 questionnaire. The paper registration and survey forms are sent back to the AHPRA, where the paper registration forms are scanned and the data added to the registration data obtained from those who renew online. The AHPRA sends the paper survey forms to Health Workforce Australia (HWA) to be scanned into a data set. HWA then sends this data set to the AIHW for merging with the registration data for all registrants and the survey data for those who have completed it online.
The AIHW then undertakes cleansing and adjustment for non-response to form a nationally consistent data set. The final data set is then known as the National Health Workforce Data Set: nurses and midwives. The AIHW produces and releases reports and data tables based on the NHWDS: nurses and midwives. These reports and data tables are available from the AIHW website at <http://www.aihw.gov.au/workforce-publications/> (select link to Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011).
3	National Registration and Accreditation Scheme registration data
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) at its meeting of 26 March 2008 signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on the Australian health workforce, for the first time creating the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) (see <http://www.coag.gov.au
/coag_meeting_outcomes/2008-03-26/docs/iga_health_workforce.rtf>). Ten health professions were included in the initial national system implemented on 1 July 2010: chiropractors, dental practitioners, medical practitioners, nurses and midwives, optometrists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, and psychologists. 
For these professions, practitioners need to be registered with their respective professional boards to practise in Australia. As part of the initial registration and registration renewal process, the AHPRA collects information on the registration details and demographic characteristics of practitioners. The information is collectively referred to as the 'registration data'. 
In 2011, nurses and midwives were the second profession, after medical practitioners in 2010, to be included in the NRAS reporting cycle.
3.1	Scope and coverage
The AHPRA provides the AIHW with an extract of registration data at the end of the annual nursing and midwife registration renewal process in May. The extract contains details of nurses and midwives who, at the end of the renewal process, have a registration status of:
•	cancelled
•	failed to renew 
•	registered 
•	suppressed 
•	surrendered
•	suspended
•	void.
In 2011, a subset of this extract was created to include only nurses and midwives with a registration status of 'Registered'. Data for this subset of registered nurses and midwives was merged with the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 data to create a national data set, the NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011. 

In the first year, registration of nurses and midwives in Queensland and Western Australia was extended after the official AHPRA closing date of 31 May 2011 to ensure registrations for these states were complete. Data for those nurses and midwives who failed to register by 30 June 2011 for Queensland and by 31 December 2011 for Western Australia were migrated from the respective state nursing board or council registration system. In addition, nurses and midwives in Western Australia had previously been able to register for up to a 3-year period; hence, those who re-registered for 3 years in 2010 are not required to re-register again until 2013. Therefore, registered nurse and midwife numbers for Queensland and Western Australia can be assumed to be complete. However, some differences exist between the migrated data and the historical record. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of nurses and midwives registered in Queensland and Western Australia increased by 4,672 (8.2%) and 1,356 (4.4%), respectively (Table 1). 
Table 1: Registered nurses and midwives: state and territory, 2007 to 2009(a) and 2011(b)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Australia	
2007(a)	96,783	84,047	54,959	27,620	26,374	7,658	4,796	3,597	305,834	
2008(a)	97,863	83,230	54,747	30,738	28,487	7,916	5,040	4,808	312,828	
2009(a)	99,493	85,237	57,108	30,870	30,421	7,992	5,069	4,791	320,982	
2011(b)	90,512	86,933	61,780	32,226	29,634	8,037	5,351	3,913	326,669	
Change between 2009 and 2011	–8,981	1,696	4,672	1,356	–787	45	282	–878	5,687	
Percentage change between 2009 and 2011	–9.0	2.0	8.2	4.4	–2.6	0.6	5.6	–18.3	1.8	
(a)	Before 2011, the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey collected state and territory of registration and reported in this table. The survey was administered by individual state and territory health departments or authorities; therefore the estimates above include a factor to remove the effect of nurses and midwives who were registered in more than one jurisdiction. 
(b)	Derived from state and territory of main job where available; otherwise, state and territory of principal practice is used as a proxy. If principal practice details unavailable, state and territory of residence is used. For records with no information on all three locations, they are coded to 'Not stated'.
Sources: AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey, 2007 to 2009; NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011.

3.2	Data issues
The following data issues need to be considered when interpreting registration data from the NRAS in the NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011 (see the Data Quality Statement at Appendix E of the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report, available from the AIHW website at <http://www.aihw.gov.au/workforce-publications/> (select link to Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011)). 
•	Incomplete registration data—(for example, due to migrated data from state and territory nursing and midwifery boards/councils). In particular, some records had some or all of date of birth, sex, and state and territory of principal practice missing. This is an issue because these data items are required for weighting and imputation purposes. Also, country of birth and country of initial nursing or midwifery qualification were incomplete for many records.
•	Issues with overseas residents—many nurses and midwives who reside overseas could not be identified by the registration process. They have been included with those whose state or territory of principal practice could not be determined. Therefore, the missing values of state and territory of principal practice cannot be imputed, and thus affected the calculation of survey weights.
•	Inconsistency between citizenship and residency status responses—data are not consistent in a number of records; that is, some nurses and midwives were reported as being both Australian citizens and permanent residents. 
•	Issues with multiple divisions of registration—nurses and midwives may be registered in multiple categories such as registered nurse and midwife, registered and enrolled nurse, enrolled nurse and midwife, or registered and enrolled nurse and midwife (see '6 Comparison with previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey data'). The category 'Registered nurse' includes those registered only as midwives but not as nurses. Midwives appear as a subset of the registered and enrolled nurses categories. Those registered as midwives only were also included in persons registered as a midwife (see 'Glossary').
•	Invalid country formats—for a number of records, the country of birth and country of initial qualification fields contained 3-character codes rather than the names of countries. Most of the codes were successfully mapped to a country, but there were some for which a country could not be determined.
•	Invalid postcode formats—postcode of principal practice and residence contained text strings, such as invalid postcodes, suburb names and overseas postal codes. Therefore, after cleaning and recoding, many of these were still coded to the 'Not stated' category. As a result, the derivation of Australian Standard Geographic Classification Remoteness Area (ASGC RA) categories for these records was not possible.
•	Incomplete date of death—date of death was not completed for any nurse or midwife.
•	Invalid year formats—invalid values entered in data fields relating to years may have affected data items such as year of initial qualification and date of birth.
4	Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey
The Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 collected information on the employment characteristics, primary work location and work activity of nurses and midwives in Australia who renewed their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia via the NRAS. This survey data was then combined with the NRAS registration data to form the NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011.
The estimates published in the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report are not always directly comparable with estimates derived from the earlier AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey data. This is due to a change in the data collection methodology; including the survey design and questionnaire (see '6 Comparison with previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey data'). For further information, refer to the Data Quality Statement, available from the AIHW website at <http://www.aihw.gov.au/
workforce-publications/> (select link to Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011).
4.1	Scope and coverage
The survey is undertaken in association with the NRAS registration renewal process. As such, only nurses and midwives who are on the register at the time of the survey, and who are required to renew their registration, receive a questionnaire for completion. Typically, new registrants registering outside the registration renewal period will not receive a survey form. These nurses and midwives will receive a survey form when they first renew their registration.
4.2	Estimation procedures
The AIHW uses the NRAS registration data collected in tandem with that from the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 to derive estimates of the total nursing and midwifery workforce. Not all nurses and midwives who receive a survey instrument respond, because it is not mandatory. In deriving the estimates, two sources of non-response to the survey are accounted for:
•	item non-response— which occurs as some respondents return partially completed questionnaires. Some survey records were so incomplete that it was decided to omit them from the reported survey data.
•	population non-response—which occurs because not all registered nurses and midwives who receive a questionnaire respond.
A separate estimation procedure is used for each. Imputation is used to account for item   non-response, and weighting for population non-response. 
Both of these procedures are described below.
Imputation: estimation for item non-response
The imputation process involves an initial examination of all information provided by a respondent. If possible, a reasonable assumption is made about any missing information based on responses to other survey questions. For example, if a respondent provides information on hours worked and the area in which they work, but leaves the workforce question blank, it is reasonable to assume that they were employed. 
Missing values remaining after this process are considered for their suitability for further imputation. Suitability is based on the level of non-response to that item. Imputation is usually applied only in cases where the proportion of missing values is less than 5% of the total.
In imputation, the known probabilities of particular responses occurring are used to assign a response category value to each record using a random number generator. Imputed values are based on the distribution of responses occurring in the responding sample. Therefore, fundamental to imputing missing values for survey respondents who returned partially completed questionnaires is the assumption that respondents who answer various questions are similar to those who do not.
Age and sex values within each state and territory of principal practice are first imputed to account for missing values. Other variables deemed suitable for this process, including total hours worked in nursing or midwifery the week before the survey and principal role of main job, were then imputed.
Weighting: estimation for population non-response
Each survey record (or respondent) is assigned a weight that is calibrated to align with independent data on the population of interest, referred to as 'benchmarks'. In principle, this weight is based on the population number (the benchmark) divided by the number in the responding sample. The resulting fraction becomes the expansion factor applied to the record, referred to as the 'weight', providing an estimate of the population when aggregate output is generated. Therefore, the weight for each record is based on particular characteristics that are known for the whole population.
The total number of registered nurses and midwives in Australia is used to benchmark the survey (see 'Data issues' section below).
The calculation of weights is usually part of the data processing for a sample survey in which the sample is selected before the survey is done. In the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011, all renewing registrants were sent a workforce survey questionnaire when registration renewal was due. Therefore, technically, it was a census of nurses and midwives. However, because not all renewing registrants in scope respond to the survey, there is a very large 'self-selecting sample' bias in the data. Since the group of respondents in the data set is not random, standard errors are not a suitable means of gauging variability.
The benchmark data used for weighting are the number of registered practitioners in each state/territory (based on the location of principal practice) disaggregated by division of registration, age group and sex within the NRAS registration data supplied by the AHPRA. 

Producing estimates for the population by weighting the data from respondents does adjust for bias in the responding group of practitioners, but only for known population characteristics (such as age and sex, where provided, in the case of the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011). If information for a variable is not known for the whole population, the variable cannot be used in the calculation of weights and cannot be used in the adjustment process.
For variables not used in the calculation of weights (for the NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011, that is all variables other than state and territory of principal practice, division of registration, age and sex), it is assumed, for estimation purposes, that respondents and 
non-respondents have the same characteristics. If the assumption is incorrect, and 
non-respondents are different from respondents, then the estimates will have some bias. The extent of this cannot be measured without obtaining more detailed information about non-respondents. Therefore, there may be some unquantifiable level of bias in the estimates.
4.3	Response rate
The overall response rate to the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 was 86.2%; that is, the number of responses to the survey represented 86.2% of registered nurses and midwives (Table 2). Of these responses, 86.7% completed the survey online and 13.3% used the paper form. 
Table 2: Survey response rate: state and territory, 2007 to 2009(a) and 2011(b) 
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas(c)	ACT(c)	NT(d)	Overseas/
Not stated	Australia	
2007(a)	65.5	39.9	33.9	36.7	65.4	59.3	60.0	28.7	. .	49.6	
2008(a)	63.4	33.2	32.9	34.4	65.8	56.9	46.9	34.9	. .	46.5	
2009(a)	64.0	31.6	28.2	35.4	61.4	33.2	45.1	32.8	. .	44.4	
2011(b)	87.7	90.4	91.5	62.1	89.2	74.8	76.7	89.6	82.7	86.2	
(a)	Before 2011, the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey collected state and territory of registration and reported in this table. The survey was administered by individual state and territory boards and councils; therefore, some nurses and midwives were registered in more than one jurisdiction.
(b)	Derived from state and territory of principal practice where available; otherwise, state and territory of main job is used as a proxy. If main job details unavailable, state and territory of residence is used. For records with no information on all three locations, they are coded to 'Not stated'.
(c)	Benchmark data for the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania were not available for 2008 and were estimated from the average of 2007 and 2009 data for both jurisdictions.
(d)	The response rate for the Northern Territory is affected by the transient nature of the nursing work force in that jurisdiction. According to the Nursing Board Annual Report 2009, approximately one-third of all nurses do not re-register each year, primarily because they no longer practise in the jurisdiction. There has been some variation across years in the degree to which nurses who are interstate have been removed from the renewal process and hence the survey. Benchmark data for the Northern Territory in 2009 was estimated by using the total from the Nursing Board quarterly bulletin report prorated to the 2008 age distribution.
Sources: AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey, 2007, 2008 and 2009; NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011.
As previously stated, the jurisdiction-based data collection of information on the workforce characteristics of nurses and midwives was replaced with a single data collection as part of the national registration scheme introduced on 1 July 2010. As a result, the response rates are not directly comparable due to differences in survey design and methodology.
Survey response rates rose substantially in 2011, by 41.8 percentage points from 44.4% in 2009 to 86.2% in 2011. This increase was seen in all states and territories, with some states and territories doubling or tripling their 2009 rates. Queensland showed the largest rate increase, with its response more than trebling, from 28.2% to 91.5% between 2009 and 2011.
4.4	Data issues
A number of data issues need to be considered when interpreting nursing and midwifery workforce survey data in the NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011. These issues are outlined in this section. 
Sample
The national deadline, set by the AHPRA, for nurses and midwives to renew their registration was extended from 31 May 2011 to 30 June for those whose principal state of practice was Queensland, and to 31 December 2011 for Western Australia. As stated above, nurses and midwives in these states who did not renew by the close of the extended period had their registration details migrated from their respective state board/council. Therefore, while registered numbers of nurses and midwives in Queensland and Western Australia can be assumed to be complete, those whose details were migrated did not receive the workforce survey form. The Queensland, Western Australia and national response rates (Table 2) were high (91.5%, 62.1% and 86.2%, respectively) and, as a result, the data would support detailed analysis without a significant increase in the variability of survey estimates. The Western Australia rate of 62.1% was deemed to be acceptable as there are a number of nurses and midwives who did not complete the survey because they were not required to register in 2011 due to registration renewals lasting 3 years.
Survey design
The Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 used separate survey forms for nurses and midwives. The same questions were asked on both survey forms; however, questions relating to the principal area of main job and work setting of main job had different response categories.
In 2011, the online survey questionnaire did not include electronic sequencing of questions to automatically guide the respondent to the next appropriate question based on previous responses to questions.
The order of the response categories to the 'reason not working in nursing/midwifery in Australia' question appeared to be an issue. The question has 'Retired from regular work' after 'Not working in paid employment at all', which may not be logical as nurses and midwives may be retired but may still work irregularly (for example, as an occasional locum). On this basis, the category 'Retired from regular work' should appear before 'Not working in paid employment at all'. The issue with the order in the 2011 survey questionnaire is that it may lead to an undercount of those retired from regular work and an over-representation of those not working in paid employment.
A number of survey questions have allowed invalid responses to be recorded. A number of these responses could not be recoded to a valid category—for example, text entered as responses to the 'hours worked' questions. 

Variation between the online and paper surveys has resulted in additional data quality issues for a number of questions. For example, the state and territory of main job question included the category 'Other territories' on the paper form while the same response category in the online form was labelled 'Other'. The data showed a large number in the 'Other' category captured in the online method, which was not similarly found in the paper responses. In addition, both state and territory of principal practice and residence data items do not include the category 'Other territories' or 'Other'. Another issue is that the 'temporary resident status' question is explicitly asked only on the paper survey form (see '6 Comparison with previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey data'). 
It is expected that the online and paper versions of the survey questionnaire will be harmonised in future iterations.
Data structure
Due to unstructured data entry formats, a number of questions that required a numeric value contained text string responses. Where possible, these were recoded to the appropriate numeric value, but this was not possible in all instances. For example, for a number of records, the postcodes of main job information contained values other than valid postcodes, such as text strings and overseas postal identifiers. Conversely, suburb of main job information contained invalid suburb names, 4-digit codes resembling postcodes and even complete street addresses. These issues are complicated where people reported inconsistent combinations of working in particular Australian states, postcodes similar to Australian postcodes, and suburbs that were clearly not in Australia—for example, in Auckland, New Zealand.
Issues with the online survey such as sequencing and allowing invalid values will be corrected in future iterations of the data collection.
5	Data inconsistencies between survey and registration data
There were a number of inconsistencies between the data sourced from the NRAS registration data and the workforce survey data. It is not known if these are due to differences in the time of the survey compared with the time the registration data was extracted from former systems, or if they are due to other sources of error.
There were a number of records where the response to question 2 on the survey regarding temporary residency visa data was inconsistent with registration data for citizenship and residency status (which were themselves occasionally inconsistent (see the 'Data issues' section in '3 National Registration and Accreditation Scheme registration data'). For example, some citizens and permanent residents reported temporary visas, and vice versa. 
State and territory, and location (postcode and suburb) of principal practice recorded in the registration data, were in some instances different from the corresponding details of the main job recorded in the survey. Although this is valid for states and territories with common borders, there were some records where the state or territory of the principal practice did not adjoin the state or territory of the main job. It was apparent from this that the principal practice address was not accurately reflecting the current location of people in some cases. 
The registration data also contains residential addresses which have been migrated from state/territory systems and may be a number of years out of date. As a result, the derivation of ASGC RA categories for place of residence may not be current.
Overall, in spite of the high number of not stated records in the state or territory of main job, the comparison of the number of people within states and territories aligns reasonably between main job and principal practice. The state or territory with the poorest alignment is the Northern Territory, where it appears that 10.7% more nurses and midwives have the Northern Territory as their state of main job in the week before the survey than have it as their principal practice location. This may reflect temporary assignments to nursing and midwifery posts in the Northern Territory.
The decision was therefore taken to use a derived location, based firstly on main job information and then on principal practice location (if the main job location was missing) and subsequently on residential address if the principal practice location was also missing. This derived state was used in all tables in the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report except where otherwise stated. As a consequence of this methodology, nurses and midwives who were working overseas but maintained an Australian contact address have been allocated in state/territory tables to the state of that contact address (Table 3). 
For generating weights, the principal state was derived using principal practice location, residential address and main job location in that order.

Table 3: Nurses and midwives: comparison of different location variables, state and territory, 2011
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT(a)	Other(a)	Australia	
Employed in Australia	
Derived
(used in tables unless specified otherwise)	79,351	78,159	55,128	28,431	26,920	7,365	4,701	3,470	52	283,577	
Principal practice
(derived for weighting)	79,824	78,438	55,066	28,281	26,969	7,366	4,505	3,075	52	283,577	
Principal practice (original)	79,242	78,048	54,710	27,465	26,843	7,325	4,465	3,033	2,446	283,577	
Main job(b)	76,781	75,438	53,300	27,545	25,938	7,103	4,569	3,357	9,546	283,577	
Residence	80,330	78,419	54,952	27,642	27,000	7,368	4,015	2,941	910	283,577	
Registered	
Derived
(used in tables unless specified otherwise)	90,512	86,933	61,780	32,227	29,635	8,037	5,352	3,913	8,282	326,669	
Principal practice
(derived for weighting)	91,011	87,212	61,717	32,095	29,679	8,046	5,135	3,492	8,282	326,669	
Principal practice (original)	90,177	86,654	61,189	31,121	29,459	7,986	5,073	3,436	11,575	326,669	
Main job(b)	79,721	78,864	55,680	28,834	26,880	7,358	4,774	3,528	41,032	326,669	
Residence	91,415	87,111	61,490	31,382	29,623	8,029	4,595	3,330	9,693	326,669	
(a)	Other includes 'Other territories', overseas, not stated, invalid and, for state or territory of main job, people without a main job.
(b)	Data for main job may differ slightly from post-processed data. In the post-processed data, the state/territory of main job was set to blank for records with notionally discarded workforce survey forms.
Source: NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011.
6	Comparison with previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey data 
Nursing and midwifery labour force data published by the AIHW before the NRAS was established were the result of collated jurisdiction-level occupation-specific surveys. The Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 collects similar data items, but the survey methodology has changed, as has the method of obtaining benchmark data on which the numbers of total registrations are based. With the establishment of the AHPRA, there is one source of benchmark data instead of eight, and there is less chance of inconsistency between jurisdictions and years in the scope of benchmark data. 
In 2011, nurses and midwives renewing their registration could either complete the non-mandatory Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 online (at the end of the formal registration process) or complete the paper form sent to their postal address with their registration form. The use of online and/or paper surveys varied between jurisdictions and between years with the previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey. 
Some data items previously collected as part of the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey—such as date of birth, country of first qualification and sex—are now collected as part of the registration and renewal process. However, the data for some of these items are either incomplete, or the data migrated from previous jurisdictional registration systems are inaccurate. 
The 2011 Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey questionnaire also collects a limited range of workforce information compared with that collected in previous years.
Due to the differences in data collection methods, it is recommended that comparisons between data from the NHWDS: nurses and midwives 2011 and previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey data be made with caution. 
6.1	Differences between the 2011 questionnaire and surveys in previous years
The following data items collected in the 2011 Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey questionnaire were either not collected previously in the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey or were collected using different questions or response categories.
Question 2—Temporary resident status and visa category number
This question was not collected on a national basis before 2011 in the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey. Some jurisdictions collected temporary resident status, but not visa category number.
The Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 collected temporary resident status and visa category number from nurses and midwives in both the online and paper form. However, the online question does not ask respondents to answer whether or not they are a temporary resident, but only to enter their visa category number if they self-identify as a temporary resident. The paper form, however, asks respondents to check 'Yes' or 'No' to the temporary resident question, and if 'No' to move on to question 3, or if 'Yes' to provide the visa category number. This may have created some variation in the data between the online and paper respondent groups. 
Questions 3 to 5—Employment
The three employment-related questions in the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 questionnaire are nationally consistent. This is an improvement on the previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey where the questionnaire varied across jurisdictions, including the questions and definitions of data items collected.
The 2011 questions have been grouped/sequenced logically; the first question relates to the working status of the nurse or midwife, followed by the reason why they are not working in nursing or midwifery in Australia, and then whether or not they are looking for work.
The new questions in the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 were designed based on a combination of the questions previously used by jurisdictions in the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey. The redesigned question on working status no longer includes in its explanation of 'Working in nursing' or 'Working in midwifery' a description of work activity/hours (that is, 'worked for a total of 1 hour or more last week in a job or business (including own business) for pay, commission, payment in kind or profit; or hours usually worked but away from work on leave, or rostered off last week'). The inclusion of this additional explanation may have avoided confusion for nurses and midwives who worked in nursing and midwifery, respectively, during the survey reference week but in a voluntary capacity.
Question 10—Principal area of main job in nursing/midwifery
The question response categories used before 2011 in the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey were different from those used in the 2011 Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey. 
Question 11—Work setting of main job in nursing/midwifery
Work setting response categories in the 2011 survey are similar to those in previous years. The 2011 response categories are slightly more detailed and directed towards service provision; for example, the 2011 survey has three categories of private practice ('General practitioner (GP) practice', 'Locum private practice' and 'Other private practice') compared with two ('General practitioner's practice' and 'Specialist's rooms/practice') in the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey. Another example of improvement is the option to collect three educational workplaces ('Tertiary educational facility', 'School' and 'Other educational facility') in the 2011 survey compared with two ('School' and 'Tertiary institution') in past surveys.
Question 12—Number of years worked in nursing/midwifery in Australia
Number of years worked in medicine in Australia was not previously collected by the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey on a national basis. A small number of jurisdictions collected this information previously as part of their survey questionnaire, but it is now included for all respondents.
Question 13—Number of years practitioner intends to remain in the nursing/midwifery workforce
Number of years nurse or midwife intends to remain in the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce was not previously collected by the AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force Survey on a national basis. A small number of jurisdictions collected this information previously as part of their survey questionnaire, but it is now included for all respondents.
7	Remoteness areas of Australia
The Remoteness Area Structure within the Australian Standard Geographical Classification, produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has been used to present regional data for nurses and midwives.
The Remoteness Area Structure of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification is based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia, where the remoteness index value of a point is based on the physical road distance to the nearest town or service in each of six population size categories based on the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. These categories are:
•	Major cities 
•	Inner regional 
•	Outer regional 
•	Remote 
•	Very remote 
•	Migratory.
Very remote category includes Migratory.
8	List of Data items
The data items are listed in three distinct groups: registration data items, survey data items and derived data items. The details for each item appear in tables A1, A2 and A3.
Registration data items

BIRTH_COUNTRY
BIRTH_DATE_TXT
CITIZEN_STATUS
DEATH_DATE_TXT
DIVISION_TXT1 to 4
ENDORSEMENT_TXT1 to _TXT4
INITIAL_QUAL
INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY
INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY_NUM
INITIAL_QUAL_STATE
INITIAL_QUAL_YEAR
PERSON_ID
PRACTICE_PCODE
PRACTICE_STATE
PRACTICE_SUBURB
REG_END_DATE1 to _DATE4
REG_END_REASON_1 to _4
REG_FIRST_YEAR_1 to _4
REG_PROFESSION_1 to _4
REG_START_DATE1 to _DATE4
REG_STATUS_1 to _4
REG_SUBTYPE_1 to _4
REG_TYPE_1 to _4
RESIDENT_PCODE
RESIDENT_STATE
RESIDENT_STATUS
RESIDENT_SUBURB
SEX
STUDENT_ID

Survey data items

ACTIVE_LOOK_WORK
EMPLOYMENT
HRS_CLINICAL
HRS_NONCLINICAL
HRS_PRIVATE
HRS_PUBLIC
HRS_TOTAL
INDIGENOUS_STATUS
JOB1_AREA_MIDWIFE
JOB1_AREA_NURS
JOB1_PCODE
JOB1_ROLE
JOB1_SETTING_MIDWIFE
JOB1_SETTING_NURS
JOB1_STATE
JOB1_SUBURB
PERSON_ID
REASON_NOT_WORKING
SURVEY_ID
SURVEY_YEAR
TEMP_RESIDENT_STATUS
VISA_TYPE
YRS_INTENDED 
YRS_WORKED

Derived data items

AGE
AGE_GRP
AGE_IMPUTE_FLAG
BIRTH_COUNTRY_GRP
BIRTH_COUNTRY_OS
CLINICIAN_STATUS
COUNTRY_EMPLOYED
DIVISION_FLAG
DIVISION_GRP
EMPLOYED_STATUS
HRS_CLINICAL_GRP
HRS_NONCLINICAL_GRP
HRS_PRIVATE_GRP
HRS_PUBLIC_GRP
HRS_TOTAL_GRP
HRS_TOTAL_IMPUTE_FLAG
INDIGENOUS_GRP
INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY_GRP
INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY_OS 
INITIAL_QUAL_FLAG 
JOB1_REMOTE_AREA
JOB1_REMOTE_AREA_GRP
JOB1_ROLE_IMPUTE_FLAG
JOB1_SECTOR
JOB1_SECTOR_MAIN
LEAVE_STATUS
PART_TIME_STATUS
POSTCODE
PRACTICE_REMOTE_AREA
PRACTICE_REMOTE_AREA_GRP
PRACTICE_STATE_FLAG
REG_PROFESSION_FLAG
REG_STATUS_GRP_1 to _4
REG_TYPE_GRP_1 to _4
REMOTE_AREA
REMOTE_AREA_GRP
RESIDENT_REMOTE_AREA
RESIDENT_REMOTE_AREA_GRP
RETIRE_STATUS
SEX_IMPUTE_FLAG
STATE
VISA_TYPE_GRP
WF_STATUS
WF_STATUS_AGG
WF_SURVEY_FLAG
WF_WEIGHT

9	Symbols
<	less than	
+	and over	
. .	not applicable	
n.a.	not available	
n.p.	not published (data cannot be released due to quality issues, confidentiality or permission not granted).	
Glossary
Aboriginal: A person of Aboriginal descent who identifies as an Aboriginal and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives.
Benchmark data: For the Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011, responses were weighted to the number of registered nurses and midwives in each state and territory by sex and age group to take account of survey questionnaire non-response. These numbers are referred to as 'benchmarks' throughout the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report.
Clinical area of nursing activity: The area where nurses in a clinical role were working the most hours in the week before the survey. The major categories include medical, surgical, mixed medical/surgical, peri-operative, midwifery, critical care/emergency, family and child health, community health, aged care, mental health and rehabilitation/disability.
Employed: An employed nurse is one who either:
•	worked for a total of 1 hour or more in the week before the survey in a job or business for pay, commission, payment in kind or profit, mainly or only in a particular state or territory 
•	usually worked, but was away on leave (with some pay) for less than 3 months, on strike or locked out, or rostered off.
Enrolled nurse: A nurse who is registered on the NRAS roll, which is maintained by the AHPRA, with a registration division of 'enrolled nurse'. Before the NRAS was introduced, registration (or enrolment) was by the nursing and midwifery registration board in each state and territory. The minimum educational requirement for an enrolled nurse is a Certificate IV or Diploma from a VET provider, or equivalent from a recognised hospital-based program. To maintain enrolment, nurses must have practised for a specified minimum period in the previous 5 years (this is referred to as 'recency of practice', with the requirements depending on the registration board). Enrolled nurses include mothercraft and dental nurses where the educational course requirements are less than a 3-year degree course or equivalent. Enrolled nurses usually work with registered nurses to provide patients with basic nursing care, doing less complex procedures than registered nurses.
Hours worked: The total number of weekly hours worked is self-reported by nurses and midwives, and relates to the number of hours worked in nursing or midwifery jobs in the week before the survey. In editing survey responses, maximum hours worked accepted were 125 hours per week. Reported hours of greater than 125 are considered unreliable and therefore not be included in the analysis of total hours worked by nurses or midwives in the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report.
In the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report, the ABS definition has been used for the cut-off for full-time and part-time work:
•	full-time work: 35 hours or more per week
•	part-time work: less than 35 hours per week.
For data prior to 2011, average weekly hours worked are calculated only where hours are greater than zero (0). That is, employed respondents with 'Not stated' hours worked are excluded from the calculation.
For 2011, data average weekly hours worked was imputed where missing or invalid.
Indigenous: A person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives.
Midwife: Midwives are recognised as a separate profession; to practise as a midwife, a person must have appropriate qualifications in midwifery. There are two paths to these qualifications. Traditionally (and still most commonly), midwives first qualify as registered nurses, and then do additional midwifery training to qualify and register as midwives. Also, midwives may now qualify through direct entry midwifery undergraduate programs—that is, they are not required to first qualify as a registered nurse. Direct entry midwives, as with other midwives, must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to practise. Direct entry midwives are restricted to practising midwifery only, whereas other midwives are also able to practise general nursing.
In the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report, where a registered and enrolled nurse breakdown is provided, people with a midwife registration only are included in the category of 'Registered nurse', irrespective of the training path they have followed. Although direct entry midwives are not registered to practise in general nursing, they are included as registered nurses in broad breakdowns of registered and enrolled nurses to ensure that all nurses are represented in these results. This is consistent with previous AIHW Nursing and Midwifery Labour Force reports.
Nursing and midwifery labour force: The nursing and midwifery labour force is defined for the Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011 report as:
•	registered and enrolled nurses employed in nursing or midwifery in the week before the survey
•	registered and enrolled nurses not employed in nursing or midwifery but looking for work in nursing in the week before the survey 
•	registered and enrolled nurses who, at the time of the survey, were on maternity or other extended leave.
That is, those working overseas and those not working in nursing but not looking for work in nursing in the week before the survey are excluded.

Nursing role: The role of the nurse refers to the main role (that is, the core nursing role with the most number of hours worked in the week before the survey) in the nurse's main job (that is, the job with the most number of hours worked in the week before the survey). Core nursing roles are divided into two main groups, with several categories in each group, as follows:
•	Clinical role: Prior to 2011, a registered or enrolled nurse who is mainly involved in the care and treatment of patients, as well as in the supervision and management of clinical nurses. Categories include clinical nurses (direct patient care) and clinical nurse managers and/ or administrators (managing clinical nurses and midwives).
For 2011, only clinical nurses are included
•	Non-clinical role: a registered or enrolled nurse other than a clinician. For data prior to 2011, this includes:
–	lecturer, nurse/midwifery educator, supervisor of new nurses/midwives: a person who teaches or trains persons in nursing for their initial qualification or in advanced skills after initial qualification
–	researcher: a person engaged in nursing research
–	other: a job function in nursing which is not one of the above—for example, industrial relations or public health activities in nursing.
For 2011 data, this includes: 
–	administrators
–	teacher/educator
–	researcher
–	other.
Remoteness area: The Remoteness Area Structure within the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC, produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has been used in this report to present regional data for nurses and midwives.
The Remoteness Area Structure of the ASGC is based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia, where the remoteness index value of a point is based on the physical road distance to the nearest town or service in each of six population size classes based on the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. These classes are:
•	Major cities 
•	Inner regional 
•	Outer regional 
•	Remote 
•	Very remote 
•	Migratory
Due to the small numbers in the Migratory class, they have been combined and reported as Very remote in this report.
Torres Strait Islander: A person of Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as a Torres Strait Islander and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives.
Appendix A	Data items in detail
A.1	Registration data items
Variable Name	BIRTH_COUNTRY	
Variable Label	Country of birth	
Description	The country in which the health professional was born, as represented by a code	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC)	
Coding Notes	Majority unknown	

Variable Name	BIRTH_DATE_TXT	
Variable Label	Date of birth	
Description	The birthdate of the health professional; day, month and year of birth	
Code Format - data type	Date (DDMMMYYYY)	
Code Format - width	9	
Coding Details	 e.g. 01JAN1900	
Coding Notes	Required by health professionals for logging on to AHPRA systems and identifying themselves to AHPRA staff. Data quality is assumed to be good.	

Variable Name	CITIZEN_STATUS	
Variable Label	Residency status—Australian citizen	
Description	Whether the health professional is an Australian citizen	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Yes 
2 = No
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown	
Coding Notes	Largely migrated data from state/territory systems. There appears to have been little updating of this item.
86% unknown, remainder reported 'Yes'.	

Variable Name	DEATH_DATE_TXT	
Variable Label	Date of death	
Description	The day, month and year of death of the health professional	
Code Format - data type	Date (DDMMMYYYY)	
Code Format - width	9	
Coding Details	DDMMMYYYY ( e.g. 01JAN1900)
Supplementary codes:
99999999 = Unknown	
Coding Notes	100% unknown.
On the extract provided all records are registered, hence should not be dead	

Variable Name	DIVISION_TXT1 to DIVISION_TXT4	
Variable Label		
Description	Division of registration	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Division 1(Registered Nurse) 	
2 = Division 2 (Enrolled Nurse)
Supplementary codes:
Blank = Midwife registration or no further registration details.
	
Coding Notes	Valid codes only apply to nurse registrations.	

Variable Name	ENDORSEMENT_TXT1 TO ENDORSEMENT_TXT4	
Variable Label	Endorsement	
Description	Endorsement field 	
Code Format - data type	Text	
Code Format - width	Wide 	
Coding Details	Semi-free text	
Coding Notes	Data is free-text but usually reflects: 
—Nurse practitioner
—Scheduled medicines rural and isolated practice
—Endorsed to prescribe medications in accordance with
relevant state or territory legislation.

Combinations are usually recorded in one field i.e.
ENDORSEMENT_TXT1 contains a single string of text
indicating Nurse practitioner and Scheduled medicines rural
and isolated practice.	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL	
Variable Label	First qualification in health profession	
Description	Textual description of the title of a health professional’s first
post-secondary qualification that enabled him or her to register
within the given health profession	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	40	
Coding Details	Coding Details	
Coding Notes		An eclectic mix of places, abbreviations and detailed
 descriptions.	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY	
Variable Label	Country of first qualification	
Description	The country in which the health professional was first awarded
the post-secondary qualification that enabled him or her to
register within the given health profession.	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	50	
Coding Details		
Coding Notes	Must be associated with the qualification
17% reported 'Australia', remainder unknown.	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY_NUM	
Variable Label		
Description	The SACC code of the country in which the health professional
 was first awarded post-secondary qualification that enabled
him or her to register within the given health profession	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC)	
Coding Notes	see INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL_STATE	
Variable Label	State or territory of first qualification	
Description	The Australian state or territory in which the health
 professional was first awarded a post-secondary qualification
that enabled him or her to register within the given health
profession. 	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = NSW
2 = VIC
3 = QLD
4 = SA
5 = WA
6 = TAS
7 = NT
8 = ACT
Supplementary codes:
99 = Unknown	
		
Coding Notes	100% unknown	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL_YEAR	
Variable Label	Year of first qualification	
Description	The year a health professional was first awarded a post-
secondary qualification that enabled him or her to register
within the given health profession.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	YYYY = Year
Supplementary codes:
9999 = Unknown	
Coding Notes	Data outside of 70-year range to present, set to 9999.
35% unknown.	

Variable Name	PERSON_ID	
Variable Label		
Description	Unique identifier that links a health professional’s workforce
 information with their registration details	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	8	
Coding Details		
Coding Notes	On both registration and workforce survey data	

Variable Name	PRACTICE_PCODE	
Variable Label	Practice address postcode	
Description	The numeric descriptor for a postal delivery area, aligned with
 locality, suburb or place for the practice address of the health
professional.
	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	Australian postcodes
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Overseas postcodes 	
Coding Notes	Evidence points to this variable being a primary contact
 address—see Data Quality Statement in the Nursing and
midwifery workforce 2011 report.
Overseas postcodes manually set to 9998.	

Variable Name	PRACTICE_STATE	
Variable Label	Practice address state	
Description	Australian state or territory of place of principal practice	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = NSW
2 = VIC
3 = QLD
4 = SA
5 = WA
6 = TAS
7 = NT	
8 = ACT
Supplementary codes:
99 = Unknown	
		
Coding Notes	Evidence points to this variable being based on a primary
contact address. For example, around 10% more nurses and
midwives estimated to work in the Northern Territory using
the main job in last week variable than have it as their practice
state/territory.	

Variable Name	PRACTICE_SUBURB	
Variable Label	Practice address suburb	
Description	Australian suburb of place of principal practice	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	50	
Coding Details		
Coding Notes	Evidence points to this variable being based on a primary contact address.	

Variable Name	REG_END_DATE1 to REG_END_DATE4	
Variable Label		
Description	Date on which a health professional’s registration period concludes	
Code Format - data type	Date	
Code Format - width	10	
Coding Details	DD/MM/YYYY	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	REG_END_REASON_1 to REG_END_REASON_4	
Variable Label		
Description	Reason for end of registration	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Cancelled registration
2 = Practitioner has surrendered registration
4 = Suspended registration
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not known	
Coding Notes	All records on current extract should registration type of Registered'. 	

Variable Name	REG_FIRST_YEAR_1 to REG_FIRST_YEAR_4	
Variable Label		
Description	The year a health professional first registered within Australia in the given health profession	
Code Format - data type	Date	
Code Format - width	10	
Coding Details	DD-MM-YYYY	
Coding Notes	For a majority of records is the same as REG_START_DATE. 
This variable does not appear to not contain the date of first registration as it appears on the register of practitioners (see <http://www.ahpra.gov.au/Registration/Registers-of-Practitioners.aspx>). On that register we have found migrated data where it related to migration source state data only. For example, a person with a recent ACT registration and many years prior in NSW has the ACT registration recognised. 	

Variable Name	REG_PROFESSION_1 to REG_PROFESSION_4	
Variable Label		
Description	Health profession for which a health professional is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 =	Nurse
2 =	Midwife
3 =	Chiropractor
4 =	Dental practitioner
5 =	Medical practitioner
6 =	Osteopath
7 =	Optometrist
8 =	Pharmacist	
9 =	Physiotherapist
10 =	Podiatrist
11 =	Psychologist
Supplementary codes:
99=	Not stated/Inadequately described	
		
Coding Notes	'Nurse' or 'Midwife' (1 or 2) on Nursing and midwifery file	

Variable Name	REG_START_DATE1 to REG_START_DATE4	
Variable Label		
Description	Date on which a health professional’s registration period commenced	
Code Format - data type	Date	
Code Format - width	10	
Coding Details	DD-MM-YYYY	
Coding Notes	Coding Notes	

Variable Name	REG_STATUS_1 to REG_STATUS_4	
Variable Label	Variable Label	
Description	Current status of a health professional’s registration	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Registered
2 = Failure to renew
3 = Cancelled
4 = Suppressed
5 = Surrendered
6 = Suspended
7 = Void	
Coding Notes	All records on the extract are 'Registered'.	

Variable Name	REG_SUBTYPE_1 to REG_SUBTYPE_4	
Variable Label		
Description	Registration subtype	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1= Postgraduate supervised practice/training
2 = Area of need
3 = Public interest 	
4 = Teaching/research 	
5 = Recognised specialties
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not known/Not applicable	
Coding Notes	Applicable only to registration type of 'Limited'.
No records affected.	

Variable Name	REG_TYPE_1 to REG_TYPE_4	
Variable Label		
Description	Assigned category of a health professional’s registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = General
2 =Specialist
3 = General and specialist
4 = Provisional
5 = Limited
6 = Non-practising
7 = Student
Supplementary codes:
9 = Null	
		
Coding Notes	Only 'General'. 'Limited' and 'Non-practising' can theoretically
occur for nurses and midwives.	

Variable Name	RESIDENT_PCODE	
Variable Label	Residential address postcode	
Description	The numeric descriptor for a postal delivery area, aligned with
locality, suburb or place for the residential address of the health
professional. 	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	Australian postcodes
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Overseas postcodes	
Coding Notes	AHPRA documentation states—Must only refer to address marked with an Address Type of 'Private'.
Based on residential addresses which were largely migrated from state/territory registration systems, and therefore may be a number of years out of date.
Overseas postcodes manually set to 9998	

Variable Name	RESIDENT_STATE	
Variable Label	Residential address state	
Description	Australian state or territory of the locality contained within the specific residential address of the health professional.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = NSW
2 = VIC
3 = QLD
4 = SA
5 = WA
6 = TAS
7 = NT
8 = ACT
Supplementary codes:
99 = Unknown	
		
Coding Notes	Based on residential addresses which were largely migrated from state/territory systems, and may be a number of years out of date.	

Variable Name	RESIDENT_STATUS	
Variable Label	Residency status—Australian permanent resident	
Description	Whether the health professional is a permanent resident of Australia	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Yes 
2 = No	
Supplementary codes:
 9 = Unknown	
		
Coding Notes	A small number of records reported 'Yes', remainder unknown.	

Variable Name	  RESIDENT_SUBURB	
Variable Label	Residential address suburb/locality	
Description	The full name of the locality contained within the specific residential address of the health professional.	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	50	
Coding Details		
Coding Notes	AHPRA documentation states—“Must only refer to address
marked with an Address Type of 'Private'”
Based on residential addresses which were largely migrated 
from state/territory systems, and may be a number of years out
 of date. 	

Variable Name	SEX	
Variable Label	Sex 	
Description	The sex of the health professional, as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Male
2 = Female
3 = Indeterminate
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown 	
Coding Notes	Provided separately by AHPRA for about 26,000 records using 
name lookup imputation.
Imputed randomly for 359 records using 90% female
proportion.	

Variable Name	 STUDENT_ID	
Variable Label	Student number	
Description	Last student number assigned during completion of first qualification.	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	20	
Coding Details		
Coding Notes
	Only for recent students. It is preferable to track people by PERSON_ID rather than student ID as student ID is not unique for a small number of records.	

A.2	Survey data items
Variable Name	ACTIVE_LOOK_WORK	
Variable Label	Variable Label	
Description	Whether a health professional who is not working in the registered profession in Australia is looking for work in their registered profession in Australia	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Yes 	2 = No	
	Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Not applicable 
Blank  = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	EMPLOYMENT	
Variable Label	Variable Label	
Description	Work status of health professional if working in Australia during last week	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Working in nursing or midwifery in Australia (including on leave for less than three months) 
2 = Working in nursing or midwifery in Australia but currently
 on leave for three months or more
3 = Not working in nursing or midwifery in Australia
Supplementary codes:
Blank  = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	HRS_CLINICAL	
Variable Label	Weekly hours worked clinical	
Description	The total number of hours a health professional worked in their registered profession undertaking diagnosis, care and treatment of patients.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	0 = Logical zero—i.e. HRS_NONCLINICAL = HRS_TOTAL.
These logical zeroes are frequently omitted from averages so
that the average hours will be for people working clinical hours
only.
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9999 = Unknown
Blank  = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Numeric value used for 'Unknown'.	

Variable Name	HRS_NONCLINICAL	
Variable Label	Weekly hours worked non-clinical	
Description	The total number of hours a health professional worked in a non-clinical role in their registered profession.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	0 = Logical zero—i.e. HRS_CLINICAL = HRS_TOTAL. These
logical zeroes are frequently omitted from averages so that the
average hours will be for people working non-clinical hours
only. 
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9999 = Unknown
Blank  = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Numeric value used for 'Unknown'.	

Variable Name	HRS_PRIVATE	
Variable Label	Weekly hours worked private	
Description

	The total number of hours a health professional worked in
non-government sector employment in their registered
profession.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	0 = Logical zero – i.e. HRS_PUBLIC = HRS_TOTAL. These
logical zeroes are frequently omitted from averages so that the
average hours will be for people working private hours only.
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9999 = Unknown
Blank  = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Numeric value used for 'Unknown'.	

Variable Name	HRS_PUBLIC	
Variable Label	Weekly hours worked public	
Description	The total number of hours a health professional worked in government sector employment in their registered profession.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	3	
Coding Details	0 = Logical zero—i.e. HRS_PRIVATE = HRS_TOTAL These logical zeroes are frequently omitted from averages so that the average hours will be for people working public hours only.
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9999 = Unknown 
Blank  = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Numeric value used for 'Unknown'.	

Variable Name	HRS_TOTAL	
Variable Label	Weekly hours worked total	
Description	The total number of hours a health professional worked in their registered profession.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	3	
Coding Details	Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
Blank  = No or discarded survey
	
Coding Notes	Imputed for 6% of survey records as average of strata (state/territory, sex, age group and division of registration)	

Variable Name	INDIGENOUS_STATUS	
Variable Label	Indigenous status	
Description	Whether the health professional identifies as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Aboriginal
2 = Torres Strait Islander but not Aboriginal origin
3 = Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
4 = Non-indigenous
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Unknown 
Blank = No or discarded survey
	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	JOB1_AREA_MIDWIFE	
Variable Label		
Description	The area of midwifery in which a midwife spent the most hours in the week before registration	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = Antenatal
2 = Care during labour and birth
3 = Continuum of midwifery care
4 = Maternal and child health
5 = Midwifery education
6 = Midwifery management
7 = Midwifery research
8 = Neonatal care
9 = Postnatal care
10 = Other
Supplementary codes:
97 = Not applicable—midwife survey
98 = Not applicable—not employed in midwifery
99 = Not stated/Inadequately described 
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Midwife data for nursing and midwifery extract only	

Variable Name	JOB1_AREA_NURS	
Variable Label		
Description	The area of nursing in which a nurse spent the most hours in the week before registration	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = Aged care
2 = Community health
3 = Critical care and emergency
4 = Education
5 = Family, maternal and child health
6 = General practice/medical practice
7 = Management
8 = Medical
9 = Mental health
10 = Midwifery
11 = Mixed medical/surgical
12 = Paediatrics
13 = Peri-operative
14 = Rehabilitation and disability
15 = Research
16 = Surgical
17 = Other
Supplementary codes:
97 = Not applicable—midwife survey
98 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing
99 = Not stated/Inadequately described
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Nursing data for nursing and midwifery extract only	

Variable Name	JOB1_PCODE	
Variable Label	Main job address postcode	
Description	The numeric descriptor for a postal delivery area, aligned with locality, suburb or place for the address of a workplace, as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	Australian postcodes
Supplementary codes:
9997 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9998 = Overseas
9999 = Not stated/Unknown
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	JOB1_ROLE	
Variable Label	Main job principal role	
Description	The role in which the registered health professional spent the most time in the profession, in the week before registration, as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Clinician
2 = Administrator	
3 = Teacher or educator		4 = Researcher 	
5 = Other
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes	Imputed on random basis (based on strata of state/territory, sex and age group) for 6% of employed records	

Variable Name	JOB1_SETTING_MIDWIFE	
Variable Label		
Description	Type of health service setting or other organisation arrangement in which health care was delivered by the nurse	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	A03 = Locum private practice
A06 = Other private practice
B00 = Aboriginal health service
C00 = Community health care services
D00 = Hospital
D01 = Outpatient services
D02 = Other hospital service
E00 = Residential health care facility
F00 = Commercial/business service
J00 = Other government department or agency
G01 = Tertiary educational facility
Y00 = Other
Supplementary codes:
Z97 = Not applicable—answered nursing survey
Z98 = Not applicable—not employed in midwifery
Z99 = Unknown/Inadequately described/Not stated
Blank = No or discarded survey.
	
Coding Notes	Midwife data for nursing and midwifery extract only	

Variable Name	JOB1_SETTING_NURS	
Variable Label		
Description	Type of health service setting or other organisation arrangement in which health care was delivered by the nurse	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	A03 = Locum private practice
A05 = General practitioner (GP) practice
A06 = Other private practice
B00 = Aboriginal health service
C02 = Community mental health service
C03 = Community drug and alcohol service
C07 = Other community health care service
D00 = Hospital
D01 = Outpatient services
D02 = Other hospital service
E01 = Residential aged care facility
E02 = Residential mental health care service
E04 = Hospice
E05 = Other residential health care facility
F00 = Commercial/business service
G01 = Tertiary educational facility
G02 = School
G03 = Other educational facility
H00 = Correctional service
I00 = Defence forces
J00 = Other government department or agency
Y00 = Other
Supplementary codes:
Z97 = Not applicable—answered midwife survey
Z98 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing
Z99 = Unknown/Inadequately described/Not stated
other values = 'Invalid Code'
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes	Nursing data for nursing and midwifery extract only	

Variable Name	JOB1_STATE	
Variable Label	Main job address state	
Description	The Australian state or territory aligned with locality, suburb or place for the address of a workplace, as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = NSW			2 = VIC
3 = QLD			4 = SA
5 = WA			6 = TAS		
7 = NT			8 = ACT
9 = OT (Other territories)
Supplementary codes:
98 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
99 = Unknown
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes	9 = OT (Other territories) not used. 
Other territories (code 9) was frequently used by respondents
supplying overseas addresses in the survey as well as Other
territory and a few others as well. As a consequence, it was
treated as a missing/overseas category and not used. The
postcode assignment used groups that did not incorporate other
territories postcodes separate from NSW and WA. Jervis Bay is
the only ‘other territory’ that cannot be separately identified by
postcode (it is part of South Nowra postcode).
There are some Norfolk Island postcode records, which is a self-
overning territory (not an Other territory).
The consequence of this is that Jervis Bay and Norfolk Island are
part of NSW and Christmas and Cocos Keeling islands are part
of WA, unless they had already ticked a different state box—for
example Jervis Bay is also considered part of the ACT by many.
In the future this treatment of these territories may be revised.

Variable Name	JOB1_SUBURB	
Variable Label	Main job address locality/suburb	
Description	The full name of the general locality containing the specific address of a workplace, as represented by text.	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	50	
Coding Details	Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9999 = Not stated
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	PERSON_ID	
Variable Label		
Description	Unique identifier that links a health professional’s workforce information with their registration details	
Code Format - data type	Alphanumeric	
Code Format - width	8	
Coding Details	Coding Details	
Coding Notes	On both registration and workforce survey data	

Variable Name	REASON_NOT_WORKING	
Variable Label		
Description	A health professional's reason for not working in registered profession in Australia during last week	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Working in registered profession overseas
2 = Working, but not in registered profession
3 = Retired from regular work
4 = Not working in paid employment at all
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	SURVEY_ID	
Variable Label		
Description	Survey identification number	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	4 = Nurses and midwives
Supplementary codes:
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	SURVEY_YEAR	
Variable Label		
Description	Year survey conducted	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	2011 = year of 2011
Supplementary codes:
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	TEMP_RESIDENT_STATUS	
Variable Label	Temporary resident status	
Description	Whether the health professional is a temporary resident of Australia	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Yes 
2 = No
Supplementary codes:
8 = Invalid code
9 = Not stated/Not applicable
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes		Collected on paper form, derived for electronic form.
On electronic data:
Data has been derived as 'No' if the Visa type was not a valid
temporary visa number, and 'Yes' if there was a valid temporary
visa number supplied.
For paper form data:
The TEMP_RESIDENT_STATUS was recoded to No if the
respondent entered Yes to the first part of the question, but
supplied a valid permanent visa type.
If the visa type was a valid temporary visa type or invalid or
unknown or not stated then the TEMP_RESIDENT_STATUS was
not changed.
A known systematic bias in the data is that persons do not get a
survey form on first application, only on renewal, so the survey
under represents temporary visa holders.	

Variable Name	VISA_TYPE	
Variable Label	Type of visa category	
Description	The category of visa (or travel authority) granted by Australia for foreign nationals who are registered as health professionals in Australia, to travel to, enter and remain in Australia, as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	3	
Coding Details	Supplementary codes:
999 = Not stated/Not applicable
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes	In addition to valid codes, respondents supplied a number of invalid and permanent visa codes. The survey question only asked for temporary visa information so data for permanent visas is not scalable. See also notes on TEMP_RESIDENT_STATUS as some health professionals reported that they were a temporary resident but did not supply a valid VISA_TYPE.
A known systematic bias in the data is that health professionals do not get a survey form on first application, only on renewal, so the survey under represents temporary visa holders.	

Variable Name	YRS_INTENDED	
Variable Label	Years intended to remain working in the health profession	
Description	The total number of years a health professional expects to remain practising in the registered profession.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	0–70
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery 
9999 = Not stated/Not applicable
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes	Values greater than 70 set to 9999
Given that for some respondents the sum of age and intended
years remaining is far greater than 100, respondents may have
reported intended age at retirement in this field rather than
intended years remaining.	

Variable Name	YRS_WORKED	
Variable Label	Years worked in the health profession	
Description	The total number of years a health professional has been employed in the registered profession in Australia.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	0–70
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery 
9999 = Not stated/Not applicable
Blank = No or discarded survey.	
Coding Notes	Values greater than 70 set to 9999	

A.3	Derived data items
Variable Name	AGE	
Variable Label		
Description	Age of person in (completed) years at close of registration (31 July 2011)	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	3	
Coding Details	Supplementary codes:
999 = Not stated/Not known	
Coding Notes	Imputed for a small number of records	

Variable Name	AGE_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Age group of person in (completed) years at close of registration (31 July 2011) 	
Code Format - data type	Text	
Code Format - width	3	
Coding Details	20–34
35–44
45–54
55–64
65–74
75–99	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	AGE_IMPUTE_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether value of Age was imputed or not	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Age not imputed 		2 = Age imputed	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	BIRTH_COUNTRY_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Country of birth with high level grouping incorporating SACC 2008 major groups	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Australia
2 = New Zealand/Pacific 	
3 = Europe
4 = Asia
5 = Americas
6 = Africa and Middle East
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Not known	
Coding Notes 	Majority unknown	
Variable Name	BIRTH_COUNTRY_OS	
Variable Label		
Description	Country of birth categorised as overseas or Australia	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Australia
2 = Other country
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes	Majority unknown	

Variable Name	CLINICIAN_STATUS	
Variable Label		
Description	Principal role in registered profession grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	Code Format - width	
Coding Details	1 = Clinician
2 = Non-clinician
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from JOB1_ROLE	

Variable Name	COUNTRY_EMPLOYED	
Variable Label		
Description	Country of employment in registered profession in the week before registration categorised as either Australia or overseas	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Australia
2 = Other country
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery 
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	DIVISION_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Division of registration flag 	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Division 1 (Registered Nurse)
2 = Division 2 (Enrolled Nurse)
3 = Both Division 1 (Registered Nurse) and Division 2 (Enrolled
Nurse)
4 = No division—implies records are registered as a Midwife only	
Coding Notes	Derived from DIVISION_TXT1 to DIVISION_TXT4	

Variable Name	DIVISION_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Division of registration grouped 	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Division 1 (Registered Nurse)—includes 'Midwife only' and 'Both Division 1 (Registered Nurse) and Division 2 (Enrolled Nurse)'
2 = Division 2 (Enrolled Nurse)	
Coding Notes	Used to identify the Registered (including direct entry midwives) and Enrolled nurses. 
Derived from DIVISION_FLAG	

Variable Name	EMPLOYED_STATUS	
Variable Label		
Description	Currently employed in registered profession status	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Employed 
2 = Other
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Inadequately described
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	HRS_CLINICAL_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Total number of hours a registered health professional spent in the diagnosis, care and treatment of patients, in the week before registration, grouped into hour categories	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	0 = 0 hours
1 = 1–19 hours
2 = 20–34 hours
3 = 35–49 hours
4 = 50–64 hours
5 = 65–79 hours
6 = 80–125 hours
7 = 126 or more hours
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from HRS_CLINICAL	

Variable Name	HRS_NONCLINICAL_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Total number of hours a registered health professional spent undertaking a non-clinical role, in the week before registration, grouped into hour categories	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	0 = 0 hours
1 = 1–19 hours
2 = 20–34 hours
3 = 35–49 hours
4 = 50–64 hours
5 = 65–79 hours
6 = 80–125 hours
7 = 126 or more hours
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from HRS_NONCLINICAL	

Variable Name	HRS_PRIVATE_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Total number of hours a registered health professional spent in their registered profession employed in the non-government sector, in the week before registration, grouped into hour categories	
Code Format - data 	Numeric
	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	0 = 0 hours
1 = 1–19 hours
2 = 20–34 hours
3 = 35–49 hours
4 = 50–64 hours
5 = 65–79 hours
6 = 80–125 hours
7 = 126 or more hours
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from HRS_PRIVATE	

Variable Name	HRS_PUBLIC_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Total number of hours a registered health professional spent in their registered profession employed in the government sector, in the week before registration, grouped into hour categories	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	0 = 0 hours
1 = 1–19 hours
2 = 20–34 hours
3 = 35–49 hours
4 = 50–64 hours
5 = 65–79 hours
6 = 80–125 hours
7 = 126 or more hours
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from HRS_ PUBLIC	

Variable Name	HRS_TOTAL_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Total hours worked last week by health professional, grouped into hour categories	
Code Format - data	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	0 = 0 hours
1 = 1–19 hours
2 = 20–34 hours
3 = 35–49 hours
4 = 50–64 hours
5 = 65–79 hours
6 = 80–125 hours
7 = 126 or more hours
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from HRS_ TOTAL	

Variable Name	HRS_TOTAL_IMPUTE_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether value of Total hours worked was imputed or not	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Total hours worked not imputed 	
2 = Total hours worked imputed
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	INDIGENOUS_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Indigenous status grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Indigenous 		2 = Non-Indigenous
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from INDIGENOUS_STATUS	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Country of initial qualification with high level grouping incorporating SACC 2008 major groups	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Australia
2 = New Zealand/Pacific
3 = Europe
4 = Asia
5 = Americas
6 = Africa and Middle East
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Not known	
Coding Notes	See INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY above	

Variable Name	 INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY_OS	
Variable Label		
Description	Country of initial qualification categorised as overseas or Australia	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Australia
2 = Other country
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes	See INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY	

Variable Name	INITIAL_QUAL_FLAG  	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether initial qualification was obtained from a domestic or international educational institution	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Domestic qualification
2 = International qualification
Supplementary codes:
9 = Not stated/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes	See INITIAL_QUAL_COUNTRY	

Variable Name	JOB1_REMOTE_AREA	
Variable Label		
Description	ASGC Remoteness Area of place of main job	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities 		2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional 		4 = Remote
5 = Very remote 		6 = Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable
7 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
8 = Overseas
9 = Not stated 
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	JOB1_REMOTE_AREA_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	ASGC Remoteness Area of principal place of practice grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities
2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional
4 = Remote/Very remote/Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable 	
7 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Overseas
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	JOB1_ROLE_IMPUTE_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether Principal role of work was imputed or not	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Principal role of work not imputed
2 = Principal role of work imputed
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not applicable
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	JOB1_SECTOR	
Variable Label		
Description	Sector in which a health professional works in their registered profession	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Public (all reported hours in public sector)
2 = Private (all reported hours in private sector)
3 = Both (some hours in both public and private)
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	JOB1_SECTOR_MAIN	
Variable Label		
Description	Sector in which a health professional works the most hours in their registered profession	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Public (majority reported hours in public sector or equal hours in both public and private)
2 = Private (majority reported hours in private sector)
Supplementary codes:
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated/Not known
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	LEAVE_STATUS	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether a health professional is employed in registered profession in Australia but on extended leave	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = On extended leave of 3 months or more
2 = Not on extended leave of 3 months or more
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown/Inadequately described
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	PART_TIME_STATUS	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether part-time or full-time employment (less than 35 hours in accordance with ABS standard)	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Part-time (<35 total hours)		2 = Full-time
Supplementary codes:
3 = Inadequately described
8 = Not applicable—not employed in nursing/midwifery
9 = Not stated 
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	POSTCODE	
Variable Label	Current address postcode 	
Description	Derived postcode based on most current available location	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	4	
Coding Details	Australian postcodes
Supplementary codes:
9998 = Overseas	
Coding Notes	Derived on the basis that location of main job was a better indicator of current location than principal practice. Derived from postcode of main job where available; otherwise, postcode of principal practice is used as a proxy. If principal practice details unavailable, postcode of residence is used. For records with no information on all three locations, they are coded to 'Not stated'. 
Overseas postcodes manually set to 9998	

Variable Name	PRACTICE_REMOTE_AREA	
Variable Label		
Description	ASGC Remoteness Area of principal place of practice	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities 		2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional 		4 = Remote
5 = Very remote 		6 = Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable
8 = Overseas
9 = Not stated 
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	PRACTICE_REMOTE_AREA_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	ASGC Remoteness Area of principal place of practice grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities
2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional
4 = Remote/Very remote/Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable 	
9 = Not stated/Overseas	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	PRACTICE_STATE_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Source of value of state or territory of principal practice	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Practice state/territory 	
2 = Residence state/territory 	
3 = Main job state/territory 	
4 = Practice postcode
5 = Residence postcode 	
6 = Main job postcode
Supplementary codes:
9 = No state/territory supplied	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	REG_PROFESSION_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Registered profession flag 	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Nurse 
2 = Midwife
3 = Both nurse and midwife	
Coding Notes	Derived from REG_PROFESSION_1 to REG_PROFESSION_4	

Variable Name	REG_STATUS_GRP_1 to REG_STATUS_GRP_4	
Variable Label		
Description	Current registration status grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Registration current 	2 = Registration not current	
Coding Notes	Should all be 'Registration current'.	

Variable Name	REG_TYPE_GRP_1 to REG_TYPE_GRP_4	
Variable Label		
Description	Assigned category of a health professional’s registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Practising
2 = Non-practising
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	REMOTE_AREA	
Variable Label		
Description	Current address ASGC Remoteness Area	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities 		2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional 		4 = Remote
5 = Very remote 		6 = Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable
8 = Overseas
9 = Not stated 
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived on the basis that location of main job was a better
indicator of current location than principal practice.
Derived from postcode of main job where available; otherwise,
postcode of principal practice is used as a proxy. If principal
practice details unavailable, postcode of residence is used. For
records with no information on all three locations, they are
coded to 'Not stated'.
Derived from POSTCODE	

Variable Name	REMOTE_AREA_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Current address ASGC Remoteness Area grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities
2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional
4 = Remote/Very remote/Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable 	
9 = Not stated/Overseas	
Coding Notes	Derived from REMOTE_AREA	

Variable Name	RESIDENT_REMOTE_AREA	
Variable Label		
Description	ASGC Remoteness Area of place of residence	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities 		2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional 		4 = Remote
5 = Very remote 		6 = Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable
8 = Overseas
9 = Not stated 
Blank = No or discarded survey	
Coding Notes	Derived from POSTCODE	

Variable Name	RESIDENT_REMOTE_AREA_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	ASGC Remoteness Area of place of main job grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Major cities
2 = Inner regional
3 = Outer regional
4 = Remote/Very remote/Migratory
Supplementary codes:
0 = Not applicable 	
9 = Not stated/Overseas	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	RETIRE_STATUS	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether health professional is retired and not working regularly in the registered profession	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Retired from regular work
2 = Not retired from regular work
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	SEX_IMPUTE_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether value of Sex was imputed or not	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Sex not imputed
2 = Sex imputed	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	STATE	
Variable Label	Current address state/territory	
Description	The Australian state or territory aligned with locality, suburb or place for the address of a workplace, principal practice or residence as represented by a code.	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = NSW			2 = VIC		
3 = QLD			4 = SA
5 = WA			6 = TAS	
7 = NT
8 = ACT		
9 = OT (Other territories)
Supplementary codes:
99 = Not stated/Unknown	
Coding Notes	9 = OT (Other territories) not used. 
Derived on the basis that location of main job was a better
indicator of current location than principal practice.
Derived from state and territory of main job where available;
otherwise, state and territory of principal practice is used as a
proxy. If principal practice details unavailable, state and territory
of residence is used. For records with no information on all three
locations, they are coded to 'Not stated'. 
The Other territories (Code 9) was frequently used by
respondents supplying overseas addresses in the survey as well
as Other territory and a few others as well. As a consequence, it
was treated as a missing/overseas category and not used. The
postcode assignment used groups that did not incorporate other
territories postcodes separate from NSW and WA. Jervis Bay is
the only ‘other territory’ that cannot be separately identified by
postcode (it is part of South Nowra postcode).
There are some Norfolk Island postcode records, which is a self-
governing territory (not an Other Territory).
The consequence of this is that Jervis bay and Norfolk Island are
part of NSW and Christmas and Cocos Keeling islands are part of
WA, unless they had already ticked a different state box—for
example Jervis Bay is also considered part of the ACT by many.
In the future this treatment of these territories may be revised.	

Variable Name	VISA_TYPE_GRP	
Variable Label		
Description	Type of visa category grouped	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	3	
Coding Details	0 = Not applicable
1 = Medical practitioner (visa code 422)
2 = Business (visa codes 456 & 457)
3 = Other temporary resident visa
4 = Permanent visa
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes	Permanent visa (code 4)—these records are technically invalid and should not be reported because the survey question asked for temporary visa numbers.	

Variable Name	WF_STATUS	
Variable Label		
Description	Detailed labour force status	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	2	
Coding Details	1 = Employed in Australia working in  registered profession 
2 = Employed in Australia in registered profession but on extended leave
3 = Employed  in Australia outside of registered profession and looking for work in Australia in registered profession 	
4 = Employed  in Australia outside of registered profession and not looking for work in Australia in registered profession 	
5 = Employed overseas in registered profession and looking for work in Australia in registered profession
6 = Employed overseas in registered profession and not looking for work in Australia in registered profession
7 = Not employed In Australia and looking for work in Australia in registered profession
8 = Not employed In Australia and not looking for work in Australia in registered profession
9 = Retired from registered profession in Australia
Supplementary codes:
99 = Not stated/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes		

Variable Name	WF_STATUS_AGG	
Variable Label		
Description	Labour force status	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Employed in registered profession
2 = Employed outside the registered profession
3 = Not employed
Supplementary codes:
9 = Unknown/Inadequately described	
Coding Notes		
	
Variable Name	WF_SURVEY_FLAG	
Variable Label		
Description	Whether workforce survey record was completed online or by paper form 	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	1	
Coding Details	1 = Online nurse
2 = Paper nurse
3 = Online midwife
4 = Paper midwife
8 = Discarded form (unusable)
9 = None	
Coding Notes	Differs from corresponding item in medical workforce survey and probably from later supplies	

Variable Name	WF_WEIGHT	
Variable Label		
Description	Workforce Survey weight	
Code Format - data type	Numeric	
Code Format - width	16	
Coding Details		
Coding Notes		
Appendix B	National Registration and Accreditation Scheme registration form 
The nurses and midwives registration forms are available from the AHPRA website at <http://www.ahpra.gov.au>.
Appendix C	Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey forms 
The Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Survey 2011 questionnaires are available from the AIHW website at <http://www.aihw.gov.au/workforce-publications/> (select link to Nursing and midwifery workforce 2011).