AMA unsupportive of RN prescribing
The AMA’s submission rejects moves to give RN prescribing rights.
The AMA has responded to a consultation undertaken by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) proposing that RNs be given prescribing rights for Schedule 2,3,4 and potentially Schedule 8 medicines under one of the proposed options.
The AMA has not supported this proposal and points out that medical practitioners are currently the only health professionals trained to fully assess a person, initiate further investigations, make a diagnosis, and understand the full range of clinically appropriate treatments for a given condition, including when to prescribe and, importantly, when not to prescribe medicines.
A general practitioner, for example, has undertaken 10-14 years of training. Using their training, a general practitioner holistically assesses, examines, investigates, diagnoses, refers and coordinates multidisciplinary teams for patients.
Whilst not supporting the current proposal, the AMA has previously indicated that it is open to prescribing reforms where this takes place in a collaborative, medically-led and delegated team environment with strong protocols and there is quality evidence of a demonstrable benefit to patients.
The AMA would however first need to see the outcomes of pilots which have been properly evaluated for their safety and effectiveness.
Prescribing of Schedule 8 medicines is not supported by the AMA given the higher risks involved with this class of medicines.
The AMA submission acknowledges the work undertaken by the NMBA in developing this proposal – noting that the NMBA has gone through a methodical process over a number of years including examining the nature of the problem, the impact of proposed solutions and consulting widely.