title: Personal and professional challenges of nurse prescribing in Ireland.
abstract: This article presents the challenges regarding the development of a collaborative practice agreement in order to undertake nurse prescribing in an emergency department in a large teaching hospital. Nurse prescribing has been introduced quite recently in Ireland. Although there is a plethora of knowledge regarding the topic, there are many personal and professional challenges in relation to this emerging role. The nurse prescribing initiative in Ireland is continually developing and many nurses now have the authority to prescribe from almost the same range of medicines as doctors. Prescribing has the potential to improve job satisfaction, autonomy and ultimately improves patient outcomes. However, nurses need to be cognisant of the impact it can have on the dynamics of the healthcare team. An analysis of some complexities of nurse prescribing is given, in conjunction with reflective thoughts on a clinical incident in the area of morphine prescribing.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Emergency Department, Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McBrien
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D013192:Staff Development
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Collaborative practice agreement; Nurse prescribing; Patient outcomes; Professional development; Reflection