Standards of Stomal Therapy Nursing Practice

The Fifth Edition of the Australian Association of Stomal Therapy Nurses (AASTN) Standards of Stomal Therapy Nursing Practice (2022) has been developed to be used by Stomal Therapy Nurses to optimise and standardise the delivery of stomal therapy nursing across all practice settings and to ensure that the speciality continues to be responsive to the needs of the community and the profession.

The original Standards for Stomal Therapy Nursing Care were developed by the AASTN Education Subcommittee in 1991 and have been periodically revised to consider the broadening role of the Stomal Therapy Nurse and to reflect evolving Australian registration standards, standards for practice, codes and guidelines (1997, 2007 + 2013). 

The AASTN Standards of Stomal Therapy Nursing Practice (2022) have been aligned with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016). Each Standard has accompanying criteria that specify how the Standard is demonstrated. However, the criteria and applications are not exhaustive and are meant to enable rather than limit individual Stomal Therapy Nurse’s scope of practice development.