Prescriptions issued by a nurse just as good as those from a doctor

Nurses prescribe medicines in exactly the same way as doctors do; the medicines, the patients and the dosages are similar. According to a publication in the International Journal of Nursing Studies by researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), patient outcomes are comparable as well.
 

Nurses are given prescriptive authority in an increasing number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The expectation is that this development will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of care and also improve the quality and continuity of care. The professional skills of nurses could be used more effectively if they are also allowed to prescribe medicines. Nurses’ prescriptive authority does, however, differ per country. For example, nurses in England are authorised to prescribe a large number of medicines independently after completing a pharmacy module. In many other countries, nurses’ prescriptive authority is much more limited, both in terms of their independency in prescribing and the number of medicines they can prescribe.
 
Patients, medicines and dosages
By doing a systematic literature review, the researchers studied 35 scientific publications on the prescribing practices of nurses. They looked for differences in the way nurses and doctors prescribe, in the type of medicines prescribed and in the amounts and the outcomes for patients. From the literature study it was clear that nurse prescribing is comparable to prescribing by doctors – nurses prescribe similar types of medicines for similar patients in similar dosages as doctors. The total amount of medicines prescribed by nurses and doctors differs slightly. According to patients, the quality of care was either equal or better in patients whose medicines had been prescribed by a nurse. The researchers found no differences in the clinical outcomes for patients.
 
Efficient
NIVEL programme leader Professor Anneke Francke explains: “Our international literature review shows that when nurses prescribe, patient care is sometimes more efficient and patients’ health is not harmed. The outcomes of the study are important because in the Netherlands nurse specialists have been authorised to prescribe medicines since January 2012. As from February 2014, diabetes nurse specialists and lung nurse specialists will also be given authority to prescribe and as from September 2014, oncology nurse specialists as well.”