AMA Submission to the Nursing and Midwifery Board’s proposal on registered nurse prescribing - September 2018

The AMA is pleased to respond to the Nursing and Midwifery Board’s proposal to introduce a pathway for registered nurses to train and apply for endorsement to prescribe scheduled medicines under the supervision of an authorised prescriber.

In summary, the AMA cannot support the proposal as it currently stands. The reasons for this are described below in detail. Many of the points made below were raised in the AMA’s submission of December 2017 responding to the Board’s earlier discussion paper, and are repeated here again as the current consultation paper has not adequately dealt with them. In particular the evidence indicates the best outcomes are achieved through collaborative models of health care where nurse prescribing is supported by a medically led and delegated team environment. Without such a model, we risk introducing fragmentation of care, and a range of potential detrimental outcomes, as elaborated further below. The AMA has considered the Board’s proposal against its policy position and the requirements of the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council Guidance for National Boards: Applications to the Ministerial Council for approval of endorsements in relation to scheduled medicines (the AHMAC Guidelines) which was endorsed by Australian Health Ministers in 2016 and form part of requirements under section 14 of the National Law governing registered health practitioners.