Prescribing by registered nurses and pharmacists

Processes for competency assessment of pharmacist prescribers. Governance framework for agreements with autonomous prescribers.

Prerequisites and training

Prerequisites, such as years of clinical experience and recency of practice Required competencies for a pharmacist to participate in collaborative prescribing agreements Required formal training Continuing professional development (CPD) requirements Reassessment/refresher requirements

Elements to be included in prescribing agreements

Type of practice site. For example: public hospital, general practice, residential aged care facility. Type of prescription. For example: inpatient medication chart, outpatient prescriptions, discharge prescription. Details of medicines that can be prescribed. For example: a list of medicines (formulary), a clinical protocol or reference to a guideline (such as the Australian Therapeutic Guidelines), medicines included in each patient's clinical management plan, restrictions to certain schedules. Details of the health conditions for which pharmacists can prescribe treatment. Prescribing limits. For example: whether a pharmacist can initiate a new medicine, substitute a medicine with another in the same class, change formulation, duration of prescribing, when to refer to an autonomous prescriber. Record keeping requirements. For example: clinical record of consultation with patient.

6.2. Please provide details of any other information you think should be included in a Prescribing Instrument for Pharmacists to support collaborative prescribing:

Prescribing by registered nurses and pharmacists

6. Prescribing instrument content applicable to collaborative prescribing by pharmacists