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Cyprus Registrar of Nursing and Midwifery Council

Role

Cyprus has had an immerging development of the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) role over the most recent few years yet conflicting information in the published literature shows the nation has had an ongoing struggle to implement the role in a standardized manner.  As a result while the role exists legally, it i

Particularly, in 2018, Ladd and Schober identified the role had been created with prescriptive authority and legislation approved, but the process had been stalled at the actual implementation of the role.  In 2022, Unsworth et al. further identified in an EU review that the role had been indeed implemented but did not categorize the role as well established.  Meanwhile, De Raeve et al. (2023) identified the role had yet to be established in the country and ongoing talks were in place as to how the role would be implemented and as a result most nurses trained to the level of the APN do not practice in that capacity or if they do it may be more that of a specialized nurse.

Further in 2024, Unsworth et al. identified the process has largely been stalled between the legislative ratification to the implementation as a part of the evolutionary process that may take 15 to 20 total years of being incorporated.

This all being said, while the actual in practice role of the APN is in question, significant efforts have been ongoing to the point that legislation and key stakeholders have been having ongoing discussions how to integrate the APN into the workforce and this role does include that of prescriptive authority (Ladd & Schober, 2018).

Education

Despite the lack of role integration, the university education has already established master level nursing curriculum. In Cyprus the European University of Cyprus (n.d.) offers master level education in nursing with specializations in community, mental health, and emergency care nursing.

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References:
De Raeve P., M. Davidson, P., Bergs, J., Patch, M., Jack., S.M., Castro-Ayala, A., Xyrichis, A., & Preston, W. (2023). Advanced practice nursing in Europe- results from a pan-European survey of 35 countries. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 00,1-10. doi:10.1111/jan.15775

European University Cyprus. (n.d.). Master in Nursing (MSc). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://euc.ac.cy/en/programs/master-nursing/

Ladd, E., & Schober, M. (2018). Nurse prescribing from the global vantage point: the intersection between role and policy. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice. 19(1-2)40-49.  doi: 10.1177/1527154418797726

Unsworth, J., Greene, K., Ali, P., Lillebø, G., & Carmen Mazilu, D. (2022).  Advanced practice nurse roles in Europe: Implementation challenges, progress and lessons learnt. International Nursing Review. 71(2)299-308 doi: 10.1111/inr.12800

Originally published 7 Aug 2013; Updated 23 Oct 2026