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.

The president of An Bord Altranais, Anne Carrigy, said the establishment of the register “provides a further enhancement of the professional status of nursing in Ireland and will contribute to improving the efficiency of patient care”.

Health Minister Mary Harney said she believes extending prescribing responsibilities to nurses and midwives will improve patient care “and will, over time, ensure patients receive earlier interventions and therefore a better quality service”.

Each nurse prescriber must complete a six-month education and training programme including clinical practice with a medical practitioner. A Collaborative Practice Agreement is then drawn up between the employer, the nurse and a collaborating medical practitioner, outlining what drugs and in what circumstances the nurse has the authority to prescribe. The agreements are drawn up locally and vary with healthcare settings. For example a nurse who works in A&E will have the authority to prescribe drugs regularly required by patients attending A&E. Nurses will only be permitted to prescribe within their scope of practice as defined by An Bord Altranais, their regulatory body.

The CPA’s are submitted to An Bord Altranais for approval and the nurses are then registered to prescribe.

Nurses will be required to state a personal identification number as it appears on the register when writing a prescription.

An Bord Altranais has put in place practice standards which indicate the required level of competence to be achieved by each registered nurse prescriber.

lTo check that a nurse is registered to prescribe medicines, access the online register at www.nursingboard.ie.