Prescribing and Referral Rights of Nurses

To bring into practice the prescribing and referral rights of nurse practitioners is one of the first steps the Federal government of Australia can take in increasing community permission to enter to quality health care.

While the state legislators recognize the special skill and competence of nurse practitioners by allowing them to prescribe some medications and direct patients for treatment to other connected health professionals, the preceding federal government rejected to permit their patients to make use of a portion of a payment by way of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Medicare.

The Federal Government would eliminate the existing barricades that stop those lack of something necessary from permitting to make use of the maximum potential of these skillful clinicians by giving nurse practitioners permission to the PBS schedule.

Nurses are expecting that the new government will move quickly to grant prescribing and referral rights to nurse practitioners after recognizing the large benefits they bring to the community.

There were 238 nurse practitioners given authorization in Australia as of September 2007 and they can prescribe fully in state and territory public hospitals, but in the community and aged care facilities they have no access to the PBS schedule.

The Australian Nursing Federation, the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives numbering 150,000 in Australia, is on the right track on its move.

[Via Australian Nursing Federation]