Supporting practice learning time for non-medical prescribing students: managers' views.

Managers in healthcare services have ever-increasing demands to consider in relation to front line care, including the continuing professional education needs of qualified practitioners who are advancing their roles. One advancement is non-medical prescribing, and this article reports part of the findings from a survey undertaken in Scotland which explored managers' views of the clinical support of staff enrolled on a non-medical prescribing programme. The article discusses how managers have an important role to play in supporting these learners in practice, and suggests all stakeholders should be aware of the pressure this adds to managers, and seek creative solutions to support the process of learning.

Non-medical prescribing assessment - An evaluation of a nationally agreed multi method approach.

Unlabelled: In the United Kingdom, legislation permits nurses and allied health professionals to prescribe for patients within their care. Preparation for this role includes learning, teaching and assessment that is embedded in practice, supervised by a designated medical practitioner (DMP) and evidenced in a reflective learning in practice portfolio.

Aim: The objectives were to explore; (1) which assessment in the practice portfolio was ranked most valuable in terms of achieving safe, effective prescribing practice and, (2) whether a practice based assessment (SDEP) was an acceptable alternative to an Observed Simulated Clinical Examination (OSCE).

District nurses prescribing as nurse independent prescribers.

Nurse prescribing has been established in the UK since 1994, however, limited focus has been placed on the experiences of district nurses adopting this additional role. This phenomenological study explores the experiences of district nurses prescribing as nurse independent prescribers across the West of Scotland. A qualitative Heideggarian approach examined the every-day experiences of independent prescribing among district nurses.