References
Prescribing: an onerous responsibility?
Abstract
There is no question that becoming a prescriber is liberating and ensures autonomous practice as well as a sense of professional pride in managing complete episodes of patient care. The decision to become a prescriber can be voluntary or an expectation of developing roles and service delivery. Either way, it is an onerous undertaking. The purpose of this article is to explore the responsibility of becoming a prescriber from the perspective of three prescribers looking at the academic expectations as well as the experiences faced by new prescribers over the first 12 months of prescribing.
Non-medical prescribing (NMP) has evolved from district nursing and health visiting in the 1980s and the development of the community nurses formulary for prescribing dressings and emollients (Department of Health (DH), 1998; 2008). It has a long and complex history that has been driven by legislative changes (Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), 2018) as well as changes to the workforce due to the reduction in the numbers of junior doctors. The increasing number of non-medical prescribers has enabled patients to have timely access to medicines, reducing the number of appointments to see additional health professionals as well as leading to service delivery developments (Nuttall and Rutt-Howard, 2016). NMP is now well established and forms part of the wider comprehensive model in the delivery of personalised care that is fundamental to the NHS Long Term Plan (NHS, 2019). Prescribing is also very much a part of the NMC's vision in shaping future developments, with the expectation that newly qualified nurses:
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