Literature review on Nurse Prescribing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Literature review on Nurse Prescribing - Essay Example he basic rationale given as to why the inclusion of nurses was limited to health visitors and district nurses was that they could be identified from the Unitd Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Visiting (UKCC) registry if they have completed further education from the time of registration (Jones 10). As of 2002, nurse prescribers number to approximately 22000 in the UK, and of this number, 300 are in Scotland (Bates 63). The main goal of nurse prescribing is to give the utmost benefit to the patients. It aims to provide more efficient and faster access to health care. The duties of nurses in relation to prescribing after undergoing training include prescribing pharmacy and general sales list medicines which are prescribed by General Practitioners, and prescribing prescription-only medicines or POMs associated with certain medical conditions. The role of the nurses in making prescribing decisions has responsibility tagged with it along with accountability. The nurses are both professionally and legally accountable wherein they have to be thoroughly knowledgeable on the products or medicines they are prescribing, when these over-the-counter products should be recommended, and when certain products should not be prescribed or recommended. The nurse’s working knowledge should be based on the circumstances of the patients including the current medications, current health status, past health or medical history, ample information and understanding of the products’ dosage, therapeutic action, interaction, and side effects, data on the alternatives to prescribing, and the frequency of use depending on the conditions (Courtenay and Butler 5). While prescribing entails more responsibility, competence and more learning aptitude for the nurses, and exposes them to more possible liabilities and patient complaints, not all medical professionals are open to the perceived benefits of nurse prescribing to the patients, doctors and the nurses