CPD needs for nurses prescribing in diabetes
January 20, 2010 by admin
Although the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for nurse prescribers who care for people with diabetes has improved, according to this survey, pharmacological knowledge is still the area identified as being of concern. This is something education providers may wish to consider when developing CPD programmes to meet the needs of nurses prescribing in diabetes.
The article considers the finding from 439 respondents, all prescribing medicines for patients with diabetes, who completed a questionnaire as part of a larger group randomly selected from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) database. Many (63%) worked in general practice and most (more than 80%) said they had accessed CPD to support their prescribing. The results suggest that there has been recent and considerable improvement in the provision of CPD for this group, although the authors point out that this may also reflect established CPD opportunities in diabetes management for health professionals.
CPD in pharmacology has often been identified as a concern (albeit mostly either in the early groups of independent prescribers or in prescribing by health visitors and district nurses) and it arose again here - though possibly for rather different reasons. A large proportion of those nurses saying they had CPD needs (often not the more senior nurses) said they were in pharmacology for diabetes (including insulin and oral hypoglycaemic agents). Given the high numbers working in general practice the authors suggest that this may reflect policy changes that mean nurses in general practice are becoming more involved in starting people on insulin or managing more complex cases. Another are identified was on prescribing policy, which is not surprising given the rapid pace of change recently.
Carey N and Courtenay M. An exploration of the continuing professional development needs of nurse independent prescribers and nurse supplementary prescribers who prescribe medicines for people with diabetes. J Clin Nursing 2010; 19: 208-216
Medication errors too common in child inpatients
January 20, 2010 by admin
Both prescribing and medication errors are common in paediatric inpatients in the UK according to a recent study.
It is therefore important to develop strategies to reduce paediatric medication errors and future research should concentrate on this.
The researchers looked at drug errors in five hospitals in London and found that about 13.2% of the medication orders written contained an error and that medication administration errors were even more common. The error rate could be higher than in adults.
A small number of the errors detected were potentially fatal although most were unlikely to cause serious harm. The wards studied included some in a specialist children’s hospital as well as some in teaching and non-teaching general hospitals. The error rates varied widely between settings and the data do not reveal why this should be so.
Book published on CPD for non-medical prescribers
January 20, 2010 by admin
‘CPD for non-medical prescribers: a practical guide’ is edited by Marion Waite (Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care, Oxford Brookes University) and Jan Keenan (Consultant Nurse in Cardiac Medicine at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust), has contributions by professionals from a range of backgrounds, is published by Wiley, and costs £27.99.
It is divided into three sections: the first looks at general principles of continuing professional development (CPD); the second looks at specific approaches that have been used to facilitate CPD, for example e-learning, journal clubs, and organising CPD for this group in general practice; and the third section contains a wide range of resources including usable documents.
Updated guide to PGDs
January 20, 2010 by admin
The National Prescribing Centre (NPC) has published an updated guide to Patient Group Directions (PGDs). It includes case studies and discussion of when to use PGDs and when prescribing is preferable.
DH launches generic substitution consultation
January 20, 2010 by admin
Proposals that would allow generic medicines to be dispensed instead of branded ones in primary care have been set out in a consultation by the Department of Health (DH). The consultation closes on 30 March.
The three options are:
- To do nothing (option 1).
- Allow substitution by generic equivalents but with a list of products that are exempt from the scheme (option 2).
- Allow substitution by generic equivalents but with a list of products that are included in the scheme (option 3).
The DH favours option 3, effectively the inverse of option 2, for several reasons including the fact that the in this case the list can be kept short (probably around 40 products to begin with) to focus on those drugs where the greatest cost savings are available, and that the list and the system will be more manageable.
For both options 2 and 3, prescribers will be able to opt in or opt out of the arrangements on individual prescriptions so that they can tailor their prescribing to the clinical needs of the individual patient: the DH’s favoured route for this is an opt-out endorsement for option 3.
Mixing medicines: some legislative changes in place
January 20, 2010 by admin
The expected changes about mixing medicines and unlicensed medicines (see here) came into effect on 21 December 2009, although the changes do not apply to controlled drugs - amendments to the Misuse of Drugs will be needed for that and in the meantime, the existing arrangements continue. The changes enable: nurse and pharmacist independent prescribers to prescribe unlicensed medicines; nurse and pharmacist independent prescribers to mix medicines for administration themselves and direct others to mix; and supplementary prescribers to mix medicines and direct others to mix where that preparation forms part of the Clinical Management Plan for an individual patient. The changes can be found here and here.
Categories
Recent Posts
- Oral penicillin: children’s dosage recommendations
- RCN indemnity changes - further reactions
- No news is bad news on CD changes
- Where is the evidence base: NMP in primary care?
- Medicines for Children website launched
- NRLS to transfer to NHS Trust
- RCN indemnity changes
- Medicines legislation to be consolidated
- ANP annual conference: diversity, change and standards
- CD changes promised by end of October
Tags
- ANP ANP conference Carey N CD children CKS Clinical Knowledge Summaries consultation controlled drugs COPD cosmetic treatments Courtenay Courtenay M CPD dermatology DH diabetes district nurse prescriber generic substitution Home Office independent prescribers Matt Griffiths mental health MeReC MHRA Misuse of Drugs mixing medicines National Prescribing Centre NICE NMC non-medical prescribing NPC NPF NPSA Nurse prescribing Patient Group Directions PGD PGDs Prescribing RCN Royal Pharmaceutical Society Stenner Stenner K supplementary prescribers unlicensed medicines
