Addressing the concerns of the trainee nurse prescriber.

Aim: To identify the specialties from which trainee prescribers come and to determine their pre-training and post-training concerns about prescribing and how they are utilising their prescribing skills.

Method: A self-report profile questionnaire including open and closed questions, some Likert-type scales and a 24-item, self-report follow-up questionnaire were used.

Results: Half of the nurses who took part in this study came from four disciplines--practice nursing, mental health nursing, district nursing and paediatric/neonatal nursing. Before the course they were concerned that they had insufficient pharmacological knowledge to prescribe. However, once they had qualified this changed to concerns regarding educational needs, formal support and the way their role would be perceived by colleagues. Most participants felt that nurse prescribing impacted positively on patient care.

Conclusion: With the right support systems in place, nurse prescribers are utilising their prescribing skills in order to develop their role, increase their clinical autonomy and improve the care of patients.