Evaluation of the Nurse/Midwife Prescribing programme offered at NUIGalway-is it meeting nurse/midwife prescribing needs?

NUIGalway is one of seven Higher Educational Institutions offering a programme in Nurse/Midwife medicinal product prescribing. Nurse/Midwife prescribing was first introduced in 2007, with one intake annually. Increasing the... [ view full abstract ]

NUIGalway is one of seven Higher Educational Institutions offering a programme in Nurse/Midwife medicinal product prescribing. Nurse/Midwife prescribing was first introduced in 2007, with one intake annually. Increasing the number of nurse/midwife prescribers is a priority for the ONMSD and forms a central component of policy for the expansion of nursing/midwifery role in the delivery of effective and efficient patient care. Despite this the number of candidate nurse prescribers has been decreasing, as evidenced in the National Implementation Report on the Nurse and Midwife Medicinal Product Prescribing Initiative (June 2014).

As a response to the drop in registered nurse/midwife prescribers, the most significant change (May 2103) has been the awarding of the nurse/midwife prescribing programme via a National Tendering process, which requires institutions to offer the programme bi annually. In accordance with the Tender, the programme at NUIGalway is now offered in both semester one and two. The programme aims to provide nurses/midwives with the knowledge and skills to be competent, safe and effective prescribers within their own area of competence.

This presentation will outline the results of an evaluation of the first cohort to undertake the programme over one semester, the evaluation tool used was developed specifically for the programme and administered electronically via Blackboard. There were ten students on programme and all ten completed evaluation. All students (n=10) agreed the programme content, organisation and relevancy was either good or very good. However, the majority of students (n=9) felt at times under pressure to complete coursework/etivities/blog.
This presentation will also explore the learning and mentorship implications of this accelerated programme which can place additional demands on students who are working in busy clinical environments. Despite challenges identified, all students felt the programme was either good or very good quality and would recommend it to others.