Welcome to this August issue of the Journal of Prescribing Practice.
Do you remember your first few weeks and months as a qualified prescriber? I imagine you do, regardless of how long ago you obtained the qualification. I liken it to driving a car for the first time after passing your test and no one is in the passenger seat. All the same actions to do, all the same processes to follow but no guiding advice and all the responsibility for your actions.
This month, many newly qualified FY1 doctors will be joining clinical areas for the first time since graduating from medical school, and prescribing for the first time can be just as daunting for them as it is for non-medical prescribers. Expectations are high and confidence and competence can sometimes lag behind as they begin their prescribing journey, alongside learning about a new environment, new locations, new paperwork and juggling other tasks unsupervised, possibly for the first time. When I qualified as a nurse in the early 1990s, there were no non-medical prescribers and prescribing was the preserve of the medical profession, so new doctors had to learn fast. As nurses, we tried to guide and support them but remember that the accountability lies with them as the person signing the prescription.
Today, we can do much more to support new prescribing colleagues, both medical and non-medical, and should be working towards a supportive team ethos, ensuring that patient safety is always the priority. I know many of you will be actively doing this anyway within your normal day-to-day roles, but every new junior doctor starting month is an opportunity to raise our awareness and support our colleagues in their career journeys. We know there are inductions for them to attend and forms to complete, IT logins to get sorted, ID badges to acquire and a list of mandatory online training to do. Some may have moved across the country away from friends and family. That’s a lot of new to get used to!
For many health professionals, prescribing can be the scariest of things to do unsupervised for the first time, but knowing you have a supportive team around you and a friendly face and listening ear can make all the difference. Some of you will have had positive and supportive experiences as a new prescriber and will want to pass that on to others. Some of you may not have had such a great start and will want to make sure that is not replicated. So be the support, be the clinical ‘checker’, be the friendly face, and know that not only may you have helped a fellow professional, but that you are, as always, putting your patients first.