Links

This section features a list of links to other websites which are relevant to nurse prescribing.

If you wish to submit a link to a website for consideration on this site please let us know by accessing the feedback section.

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Last updated: 14/04/05
    Professional associations and unions

     
    • Association for Nurse Prescribing:
      Visit the website of the ANP and find out about their work and organisation. Download a membership application form and find contact details for the committee.
    • British Dietetic Association:
      Website of the BDA, with its position statement on prescribing for registered dieticians here.
    • British Medical Association:
      Lots of information about UK healthcare. Comprehensive links section and a link to the BMJ and its searchable archive.
    • British Dermatological Nursing Group:
      The BDNG was established to offer an independent speciality group for nurses and healthcare professionals with an interest in dermatology. They are especially interested in hearing from Nurse Prescribers working in dermatology patient populations.
    • Community and District Nursing Association:  
      Trade union for community nurses. News, campaigns, publications and membership information.
    • Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association:
      Professional body representing nurses and health visitors working in primary or community healthcare. Information about campaigns, membership and publications.
    • National Pharmaceutical Association:  
      Trade association for community pharmacy owners.
    • Royal College of Midwives:
      Includes news and an information centre.
    • Royal College of Nursing:
      News, campaigns, clinical guidelines, information services and Nursing Standard.
    • Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain:
      News and information for pharmacists as well as the outline curriculum for supplementary prescribing, an online database of the legal classification of medicines and links to the Society’s publications. Section on supplementary prescribing can be found here.
    • Unison:
      Unison is Britain's biggest trade union with over 1.3 million members. Members include frontline staff and managers working full or part time in local authorities, the NHS, the police service, colleges and schools, the electricity, gas and water industries, transport and the voluntary sector.

     
    Charities

     
    • National Asthma Campaign:
      Useful site for public and professionals about asthma and the NAC’s work. Includes downloadable materials and details of Airways Extra, the subscription scheme run jointly by the NAC and the National Respiratory Training Centre to support health professionals in the delivery of effective respiratory care.
    • National Eczema Society:
      Informative and easy-to-use website.
    • National Society of Epilepsy:
      Epilepsy website contains news and information about the condition, and a linked site for professionals, with original articles, news, a literature review, drug information, enquiry service, details of services available and more.
    • Quit:
      Website for Quit, a charity that helps people stop smoking. Aims to provide a guide to the facts about ways to stop smoking, including different products.

     
    Government and regulatory bodies

     
    Internet resources

     
    • Bandolier:
      Evidence-based healthcare site. Includes a journal and collection of quality evidence on specific topics, as well as a links section.
    • Breastfeeding Network:
      Information section contains leaflets and other resources about drugs and breastfeeding.
    • British National Formulary:
      Information about the BNF, searchable online BNF, and BNF products.
    • British Nursing News:
      Online news stories about nursing and issues that affect nurses.
    • Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin:
      A monthly bulletin from Which? containing independent evaluations of drugs and other treatments. Provides balanced and rigorous information. A web-based version, iDTB, provides access to a DTB archive plus the Treatment Notes series through the National Electronic Library for Health website.
    • Druginfozone:
      A UK Medicines Information site (London, South East and Eastern). Much useful information about medicines. A section on extending prescribing includes core teaching resources that can be adapted to fit courses, details of regional meetings, and support materials.
    • Drug Tariff - Electronic:
      Electronic, searchable version of the Drug Tariff.
    • eGuidelines:
      Site listing new or updated guidelines from NICE, professional bodies and other sources.
    • Giving up smoking:
      Department of Health site contains help and advice about stopping smoking and a section for employers and health professionals.
    • King’s Fund:
      Independent charity whose goal is to improve health, particularly in London. Emphasis on health service management. Extremely extensive and well organized links section.
    • Lice Advisory Bureau:
      Contains information on treatments, common questions about head lice and an area for teachers.
    • Medicines.org.uk:
      New home for the electronic medicines compendium, containing information on over-the-counter and prescription-only medicines in the UK. Will soon contain Medicine Guides and a Primary Care Drug Dictionary.
    • Medicines Partnership:
      From compliance to concordance. Lots of information about concordance, what the Task Force on Medicines Partnership does, a website on medication review with a toolkit and other materials, and professional development information.
    • Medline at PubMed:
      US National Library of Medicine service.
    • MeReC publications:
      MeReC Briefings, MeReC Extra and MeReC Bulletin aim to provide evidence-based concise information about medicines and prescribing-related issues. They are produced by the National Prescribing Centre and funded by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
    • MMR website:
      Department of Health website on the MMR vaccine. Contains news stories, research, a library, and answers to common questions. An expert panel aims to answer questions from the public within one week.
    • National Diabetes Support Team:
      Part of the Clinical Governance Team of the Modernisation Agency, the NDST supports the implementation of the Diabetes National Service Framework. It includes downloadable resources, news and links.
    • National Electronic Library for Health:
      Large website concentrating on quality-assured and distilled sources of knowledge such as systematic reviews. Contains links to other sites, guidelines and sources of evidence      . The Emergency Care specialist library includes PGD templates and will cover non-medical prescribing.
    • National Institute for Clinical Excellence:
      Aims to provide best practice guidance for patients, health professionals and the public (in England and Wales). Downloadable guidelines.
    • National Respiratory Training Centre:
      The NRTC is an independent education and research institution for health professionals. It provides education and promotes evidence-based research to support respiratory training. Modules include smoking cessation, asthma, COPD and allergy.
    • NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination:
      Contains reviews, databases and publications to help promote the use of research-based knowledge in the health care system.
    • NMAP:
      Easy-to-use gateway to evaluated, quality, internet resources for nursing, midwifery and allied health, co-ordinated at the University of Nottingham.
    • Northern and Yorkshire regional NHS:
      Nurse prescribing section of the Northern and Yorkshire regional NHS modernisation programme website. It contains downloadable PGDs and information about nurse prescribing in primary and secondary care.
    • NPEF in Drug Tariff:
      Online version of the Drug Tariff includes the NPEF and list of conditions.
    • Nurse Prescribing Discussion Group:
    • Nursing and Midwifery Practice Development Unit, part of NHS Quality
    • Improvement Scotland:
      Includes information on nurse prescribing developments in Scotland (see here)
    • Nursing Times Careers:
    • Over-the-counter medicines directory:
      Online directory of over-the-counter medicines and food supplements from the Proprietary Association of Great Britain. Searchable by type of condition.
    • Patient Group Directions (PGDs):
      Resources, examples and tools to help health professionals develop PGDs.
    • Prescriber Support:
      Aims to provide education and support to multi-professional prescribers, through inter-professional cooperation alongside a transparent and ethical, educational partnership with the pharmaceutical industry.
    • Prescribing nurses website:
      Website from London Metropolitan University offers interactive exercises, a bulletin board and a links section.
    • Prodigy:
      Contains section for nurse prescribers which includes guidance to support antibiotic prescribing from the NPEF, quick reference guides and more detailed guidance on common acute and chronic conditions, the formulary, and information about continuing professional development and other issues. The Department of Health is supporting the development of Prodigy guidance for nurse prescribers.
    • RCN clinical guidelines site:
      Downloadable guidelines developed by the RCN or by other bodies with its involvement. Topics include: primary care asthma management in adults, best practice in vaccine administration and management of venous leg ulcers.
    • Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network:  
      Develops and disseminates clinical guidelines for Scotland to reduce variation in practice and outcome. Downloadable guidelines.
    • Smoking cessation:
      Advice, treatment options, resources and tactics for giving up smoking, sponsored by Pharmacia, the manufacturer of Nicorette.
    • UK Medicines Information:
      National medicines information site includes information on new products, trials, product updates, and therapeutic guidelines.
    • WHO Guide to Good Prescribing: A Practical Manual:
      This manual is aimed at helping medical students develop the skills necessary throughout a clinical career, providing step-by-step guidance to the process of rational prescribing. It explains the concept of personal drugs (P-drugs) and how to select them using a range of resources including national and international guidelines. Practical examples illustrate how to treat patient with a variety of conditions and a final section described the advantages and disadvantages of different information sources.

       
    Company and industry

     
    • Activa Healthcare:
      Information about Actico, Flexiban and Actiban bandages and other products.
    • Aventis:
      Material for public and health professionals on products including Telfast and Nasacort.
    • Aventis Pasteur MSD:
      Vaccine information website, with a password-protected section for healthcare professionals containing material such as a template for patient group directions and prescribing information. Public area contains range of material about vaccine development and use, and answers to common questions.
    • Bayer Pharma:
      This password-protected site for healthcare professionals contains information about Bayer’s prescription products including sections on infection and cardiovascular medicine.
    • Clinimed:
      Company information and downloadable booklets. Products include CliniSorb and continence and stoma devices.
    • Coloplast:
      Ostomy, wound and continence care products include Biatain dressings and Purilon gel.
    • Convatec:
      Detailed information on the range of wound and skin care products, including Carboflex, Granuflex and Combiderm.
    • GlaxoSmithKline (GSK):
      Sections for the public, patients (Action Asthma, NiQuitin) and health professionals (Seretide and Zyban).
    • IVAX Pharmaceuticals UK:
      Asthma resource site from IVAX
    • Johnson & Johnson:
      Main Johnson & Johnson website, providing a gateway to all its companies and products internationally. Products include Tielle Plus.
    • Mölnlycke Healthcare:
      Wound management products site has information about Mepore, Mepilex, Mesorb and Mepitel dressings and other products.
    • Paul Hartmann:
      Product range includes Sterifix, Hydrocoll, Sorbalgon, Hydrofilm, and Cosmopor E.
    • Pfizer:
      Includes a lit of Pfizer’s products.
    • Schering-Plough:
      Company information and some research. Includes dermatological, asthma and allergy products.
    • Smith and Nephew UK:
      Wound management section gives product details (includes Allevyn, Cavi-care, Intrasite, Opsite, and Cica-care). Conferences, education and news.
    • SSL International:
      Information about Lyofoam, Avance, Poviderm and other products.
    • Stiefel Laboratories:
      As well as product information, this contains information for parents and others on childhood eczema and other skin problems. Products include Oilatum.
    • Surgical Dressing Manufacturers Association:
      Contains the SDMA code of practice for promotion of surgical dressings to healthcare professionals, setting out clearly how member companies can promote their products and how their company representatives are expected to behave.
    • 3M Healthcare:
      Products include Tegaderm, Tegasorb and Cavilon.
    • UK Vaccine Industry Group:
      The UK Vaccine Industry Group works within the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry. The site contains general information about vaccine safety and production, as well as fact sheets about different vaccines, a links section and some news.
    • Vernon Carus:
      Contains list of products and details of their uses, including Paranet.
    Journals

     
    Textbooks

     
    Nurse Prescribing - Principles and Practice

    Current Issues in Nurse Prescribing

     Essential Nurse Prescribing

    Key Facts in Nurse Prescribing (to be published)
    Other publications

     
    MIMS for Nurses

    Available free of charge, at the publisher's discretion, to all registered nurses who wish to receive the publication. It is imperative nurses complete a registration card to ensure they receive further editions.

    If a nurse has seen a colleague's copy and they wish to register themselves they should call the subscription bureau on 020 8606 7500 and ask for a MIMS for Nurses registration card.

    Lecturers, course leaders, prescribing leads may also call the number above and request registration cards to distribute amongst their students or staff.