Nurses make historic prescription

FOUR nurses made medical history yesterday by becoming the first entrants to a register that recognises their right to prescribe drugs.

Martina Murphy, Brenda Maria Casey, Maria Geraldine O’Hagan and Alice Bernadette O’Brien — all midwives at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street — were the first names admitted to An Bord Altranais’ Nurse Prescribers Register.

This extended nursing role means patients will no longer have to wait for a doctor to prescribe medication in settings where nurses are qualified to do so.