Towards a specialist practitioner in aesthetic nursing

Although there has been no firm decision made on what aesthetic nurse education will look like following the proposed licensing scheme for practitioners, there are signs that point towards it being at postgraduate level (Level 7) and open only to registered healthcare practitioners. In this article we will focus on nurses who are already practicing or wish to practice in the field of aesthetics as well as the benefits and challenges that come with a more structured education framework at postgraduate level.

It is fair to say that nurses working in this specialist field of practice wish for a higher and more public recognition of their knowledge and skills. It is also fair to say that while there is no universally recognised qualification for specialist practice in this area, this is not going to happen.

We know the problems that have arisen through failure to regulate this area of practice. The issues, not least safety, that have come from non-medical people being allowed to practice and the prevalence of 1 day ‘courses’ in aesthetics has led to many misconceptions about the levels of knowledge and skills required for safe, high quality and accountable clinical practice in aesthetics. It is therefore not surprising that many nurses leaving these very short and often superficial ‘courses‘ that claim to prepare them for what is in effect a field of specialist practice, end up feeling overwhelmed and experience a dip in confidence.