Cosmetic nursing: pioneering a cosmetic, skin rejuvenation and aesthetic nursing model of practice.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: O'Keefe, Elissa
• Date: 01 August 2013

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As Australia's population ages there is an increasing demand for non-surgical cosmetic, skin rejuvenation and aesthetic solutions. Nursing in this area is emerging as a new specialty.

The Royal College of Nursing (UK) defines aesthetic medicine as 'a set of non-surgical clinical procedures which aims to rejuvenate the dermis and reverse the signs of the ageing process upon it'. The RCN further includes procedures which addresses the dermal resultants of pathologies and injuries, eg. scarring and lipodystrophy. (RCN quoted in Nursing Times, 2013.) While this goes some way to describe cosmetic, skin rejuvenation and aesthetic nursing, it is not the complete picture with regard to the model of practice.

A 2011 survey by the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia identified a 15% increase on spending on non- and minimally-invasive treatments from the previous year and a total estimated annual spend of $644.7 million (CPSA 2012).

Neither the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare nor the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia maintains statistics on the number of nurses working in this area; the authors believe it to be in the many hundreds. This area of nursing has become a complementary part of cosmetic dermatology, plastic and cosmetic surgery practices and there are increasing numbers of nurses in private practice. There is currently one Victorian nurse endorsed as a nurse practitioner in this area and there are at least two others in transitional position.

In Australia, there is a challenge to define the nursing model of practice as the industry rapidly expands and is scrutinised by regulators and the media (AACDS 2012). Currently, adverse incidents related to the use of laser and intense pulsed light systems by doctors...