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Non-medical prescribing is continuing to extend its reach into new settings and specialties, as recent additions to the site demonstrate, but there remain concerns about the formulary and about how change will be managed in future. One article describes how supplementary nurse prescribing has been successfully introduced in a haemodialysis unit (Supplementary nurse prescribing in a haemodialysis unit) and another how the introduction of nurse prescribing has had benefits in a nurse-led dermatology unit (Psoriasis and nurse-led management). A third also highlights how useful nurse independent and supplementary prescribing can be in dermatology (Nurse prescribing and dermatology). However, supplementary prescribing is inadequate for nurses prescribing in diabetes care and independent prescribing is needed, according to another article (Diabetes nurses need independent prescribing). At present the limitations of the Nurse Prescribers’ Extended Formulary (NPEF) mean that there is no alternative to supplementary prescribing for diabetes nurses. Another article calls for a change in attitudes and organizations to allow nurses working in sexual health and contraceptive care to use nurse prescribing effectively (Empowering nurse prescribers in contraceptive care/sexual health).
The Chief Nursing Officer has been reported as saying that the system of
incremental additions to the NPEF must stop (CNO says incremental
additions must stop)
and another article points out that the confusing way in which changes are
sometimes announced is a further problem (Secondary care:
how to support nurse prescribers).
The piecemeal way in which the formulary is extended, and its limitations,
highlight the need for support for nurse prescribers and the article
describes how this has worked in one large acute care trust.
There are now more than 3800 nurses registered with the NMC as Extended
Formulary Nurse Prescribers, and more than 3300 of these are also qualified
as supplementary prescribers (More than 3800 qualified
EFNPs). It is
clear that prescribing nurses and pharmacists are now attracting the
attention of pharmaceutical companies. As more non-medical professionals
begin prescribing, it will be important to ensure that their relationships
with pharmaceutical companies are managed properly and the latest in our
‘Focus On’ series of articles examines this issue (Pharmaceutical influences – Nurse
prescribers: eyes wide open),
as do other recent articles (Prescribers’ relationships
with pharmaceutical companies
and
MPs warned that prescribers rely on
pharma support for CPD).
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