Registered nurses will gain the right to prescribe medicines under a regulation coming into force on 20 September.
After years of consultation, the Medicines (Designated Prescriber – Registered Nurses) Regulation 2016 has been introduced by Order in Council.
The regulation allows registered nurse prescribing for nurses who work in primary care and specialist teams, Nursing Council chief executive Carolyn Reed says in a statement.
The nurses must have completed a postgraduate diploma in registered nurse prescribing for long-term and common conditions, Ms Reed says.
Academic and clinical requirements
The diploma includes a practicum with an authorised prescriber, four university papers and assessment for suitability by an authorised prescriber.
Nurses will also need to have been working for three years in the area where they want to prescribe.
A cabinet paper shows conditions for which registered nurses will be able to prescribe include diabetes, hypertension, respiratory diseases, eye health, anxiety, depression, heart failure, gout, palliative care, contraception, common skin conditions and infections.
Designated prescribers
College of Nurses executive director and Massey University professor of nursing Jenny Carryer says the qualification is the first half of the masters degree required to become a nurse practitioner.
Nurses who pass it will become “designated prescribers”, able to prescribe from a range of medicines (not all medicines).
Professor Carryer says the idea of nurse prescribers first emerged in New Zealand about 15 years ago, when the nurse practitioner role was launched.
Ms Reed says the Nursing Council was first invited to submit an application for registered nurse prescribing in 2012.
The move fits with efforts to enable the health workforce to do more, as part of increasing people’s access to care, Professor Carryer says.
The decision to go ahead with nurse prescribing is evidence based, she says. It follows a diabetes nurse prescribing pilot first introduced in 2011.
Professor Carryer reviewed the pilot and says it showed high levels of patient satisfaction and approval.
A responsibility to be shouldered
While the approval is a good thing, Professor Carryer says nurses do not always see medicalised developments as a positive.
Rather than being a “great kudos”, she says the change is a responsibility that needs to be shouldered, carrying a huge education commitment.
Health Workforce New Zealand funding of nursing education is spread thin, she says, and analysis of whether the funding is meeting the new training needs will need to be done.
Fantastic for patients
Opotiki GP Jo Scott-Jones says nurse prescribing is fantastic for patients, as it means improved access and registered nurses working at the top of their scope.
He was curious to know how much training nurses would need before being able to prescribe and says as highly competent graduate nurses get more clinical expertise, the value of university papers may seem less and less.
Dr Scott-Jones says standing orders still have a role: “I’d expect and hope to see an expansion of standing orders in primary care.”
Nurses working with standing orders do not need to do any further education and can still work at the peak of their scope, in Dr Scott-Jones’ view.
Concerns may remain
Asked whether GPs will feel threatened by the change, Dr Scott-Jones has no doubt they will.
He says it doesn’t make a lot of sense to increase the numbers of prescribers in the community.
GPs will feel threatened partly because they do not articulate enough the breadth and depth of experience that medical training provides, he says.
He says while there is a lot that nurses and doctors do in common and can do equally well, there are lots of things that nurses do that doctors don’t and vice versa.
“We should have more confidence in our profession, we provide a very good service.”
GPs and patients may have concerns that, with more prescribers, continuity of care may be interrupted or over-diagnosis may become a problem.
Source : Nz Doctor
After years of consultation, the Medicines (Designated Prescriber – Registered Nurses) Regulation 2016 has been introduced by Order in Council.
The regulation allows registered nurse prescribing for nurses who work in primary care and specialist teams, Nursing Council chief executive Carolyn Reed says in a statement.
The nurses must have completed a postgraduate diploma in registered nurse prescribing for long-term and common conditions, Ms Reed says.
Academic and clinical requirements
The diploma includes a practicum with an authorised prescriber, four university papers and assessment for suitability by an authorised prescriber.
Nurses will also need to have been working for three years in the area where they want to prescribe.
A cabinet paper shows conditions for which registered nurses will be able to prescribe include diabetes, hypertension, respiratory diseases, eye health, anxiety, depression, heart failure, gout, palliative care, contraception, common skin conditions and infections.
Designated prescribers
College of Nurses executive director and Massey University professor of nursing Jenny Carryer says the qualification is the first half of the masters degree required to become a nurse practitioner.
Nurses who pass it will become “designated prescribers”, able to prescribe from a range of medicines (not all medicines).
Professor Carryer says the idea of nurse prescribers first emerged in New Zealand about 15 years ago, when the nurse practitioner role was launched.
Ms Reed says the Nursing Council was first invited to submit an application for registered nurse prescribing in 2012.
The move fits with efforts to enable the health workforce to do more, as part of increasing people’s access to care, Professor Carryer says.
The decision to go ahead with nurse prescribing is evidence based, she says. It follows a diabetes nurse prescribing pilot first introduced in 2011.
Professor Carryer reviewed the pilot and says it showed high levels of patient satisfaction and approval.
A responsibility to be shouldered
While the approval is a good thing, Professor Carryer says nurses do not always see medicalised developments as a positive.
Rather than being a “great kudos”, she says the change is a responsibility that needs to be shouldered, carrying a huge education commitment.
Health Workforce New Zealand funding of nursing education is spread thin, she says, and analysis of whether the funding is meeting the new training needs will need to be done.
Fantastic for patients
Opotiki GP Jo Scott-Jones says nurse prescribing is fantastic for patients, as it means improved access and registered nurses working at the top of their scope.
He was curious to know how much training nurses would need before being able to prescribe and says as highly competent graduate nurses get more clinical expertise, the value of university papers may seem less and less.
Dr Scott-Jones says standing orders still have a role: “I’d expect and hope to see an expansion of standing orders in primary care.”
Nurses working with standing orders do not need to do any further education and can still work at the peak of their scope, in Dr Scott-Jones’ view.
Concerns may remain
Asked whether GPs will feel threatened by the change, Dr Scott-Jones has no doubt they will.
He says it doesn’t make a lot of sense to increase the numbers of prescribers in the community.
GPs will feel threatened partly because they do not articulate enough the breadth and depth of experience that medical training provides, he says.
He says while there is a lot that nurses and doctors do in common and can do equally well, there are lots of things that nurses do that doctors don’t and vice versa.
“We should have more confidence in our profession, we provide a very good service.”
GPs and patients may have concerns that, with more prescribers, continuity of care may be interrupted or over-diagnosis may become a problem.
Source : Nz Doctor
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