Media contributions
1Media contributions
Title Has the genie escaped? Health ministers uncap the bottle on nurses prescribing S4 drugs Degree of recognition National Media name/outlet Australian Doctor Media type Web Country/Territory Australia Date 12/12/24 Description There is no escaping that the gathering of the country’s various health ministers last Friday carried a historical significance when it comes to health reform.
It was during the meeting that they made a collective decision to radically expand nurse prescribing next year across both S4 and S8 medications. It seems there was no consultation with doctors beforehand...
Professor Mark Morgan, chair of the RACGP Expert Committee — Quality Care, said this morning that there is no opposition to the idea of nurse prescribing in the context of GP-led care, a position shared by the AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen.
But he stresses that safe prescribing requires confident diagnosis of why a change in medication is required. “It is not sufficient to have gained pattern recognition from clinical practice and some courses on practical pharmacology.
“Medicine is complex and that is the reason why selection into medical school requires high academic ability, then a very rigorous and comprehensive scaffolding of medical science followed by structured clinical training for 4-6 years.”...
Professor Morgan says: “It is unclear what the ‘partnership arrangements’ and ‘prescribing agreements’ with an authorised health practitioner actually look like.
“A model in which a suitably qualified RN works closely with a doctor to titrate a medication to meet patient need seems entirely reasonable to me. Shared patient records and an agreed management plan for that patient would be part of this model.”
He says he could see the model has potential value in chronic condition management within a general practice team where nurses and doctors are working under the same roof.
But he adds: “There may be safe ways to establish standing orders for very well-defined clinical situations, but it is hard to think of many primary care examples.”...
As Professor Morgan says, until recently the TGA was tasked with determining who prescribes what through the various drug schedules.
It exists as an independent authority with a remit to protect the public.
“You actually don’t know how big a deal this announcement is,” says Professor Morgan.
“The media releases appear designed to be reassuring about registered nurses working very closely with doctors or nurse practitioners.
“But we don’t know whether that’s just a very thin end of the wedge, part of a much broader attempt to substitute gaps in the medical workforce… We just don’t have that detail.”Producer/Author Paul Smith URL https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/has-the-genie-escaped-health-ministers-uncap-the-bottle-on-nurses-prescribing-s4-drugs/?mkt_tok=MjE5LVNHSi02NTkAAAGXWDU41miIJ9gLkfRgeOLK8gaEjWQtbDY1P2exi3W0tuCgfxeqb6ueKqMbIXAnZ3KXAtXucIZQWQpW8mLHtuXTyfYLdAdnlUXppzLBQDp0uCkb6g Persons Mark Morgan