Nurse independent prescribing: exploring the opportunities and challenges

MacVicar, Sonya

Abstract

The Nursing and Midwifery Council states that nurses should be able to demonstrate competence in prescribing practice at the point of registration to be ‘prescribing ready’. The aim is to increase the number of nurse independent prescribers and improve access to pharmacological treatments for patients. However, while this policy presents opportunities for nurses to develop their prescribing knowledge and skills, there are also challenges involved in integrating prescribing theory into nurse education and ensuring there are enough suitable mentors available in practice. This article details how the policy of prescribing readiness is being addressed in preregistration nurse education and explores the supervision of nurse prescribing in clinical practice. The author also discusses how best to support the professional development of nurse independent prescribers beyond their initial training.

Citation

MacVicar, S. (2024). Nurse independent prescribing: exploring the opportunities and challenges. Nursing Standard, 39(7), 40-45. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2024.e12304

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: May 13, 2024
• Publication Date: Jul 5, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 16, 2024
• Journal: Nursing Standard
• Print ISSN: 0029-6570
• Electronic ISSN: 2047-9018
• Publisher: RCN Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 40-45
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2024.e12304
• Keywords: clinical, education, medicines, nurse prescribing, post-registration education, practice learning, prescribing, prescription medicines