Innovation in education: evaluating a nurse/midwife prescribing education programme developed and managed through a consortium of universities in Ireland

Background: Nurse prescribing was introduced to Ireland in 2007 in response to changing service needs and the increasing specialisation of nurses and midwives as they expand their scope of practice. However, in 2013 the Health... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Nurse prescribing was introduced to Ireland in 2007 in response to changing service needs and the increasing specialisation of nurses and midwives as they expand their scope of practice. However, in 2013 the Health Service Executive, decided to offer the Nurse and Midwife Programme for tender nationally. The tendering process resulted in a group of Universities in Ireland forming a consortium to provide a national nurse and midwife prescribing programme that is managed by the programme coordinators who form the curriculum group.
Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the educational programme managed by the Universities consortium.
Description of the innovation: One nurse/midwife prescribing programme was developed to run across four University sites, this involved aligning curriculum, assessments, developing a shared philosophy, operational issues and agreed programme credits.
Impact of the innovation: Evaluation of this innovation was undertaken using the Prescribing Course Outcomes Evaluation Questionnaire (PCOEQ). Findings indicate that there is a high level of satisfaction with the programme that is reflected in increased understanding and ability regarding the prescribing process. The assessment stage of the programme was reported as stressful however, this was in part due to time issues because of heavy work commitments. Students prefer a college based delivery of the programme rather than on line stating that interaction with students from other specialties was invaluable in the learning process.
Conclusion and Implications: The programme has been on the whole positively evaluated across the four University sites using the using the five domains of competency for nurse and midwife prescribers. The evaluation also demonstrated the successful collaboration of the consortium to rollout this programme to fulfil the requirements of the tender as required by the Health Service Executive. The process of collaboration used by the consortium to develop this programme has been highly effective and efficient and can be used in the future with any proposed tenders.