Independant & Supplementary Prescribing
Statement of Awareness in the Differences in Child and Adult Prescribing
‘Only nurses with relevant knowledge, competence, skills and experience in nursing children should prescribe for children. This is particularly important in primary care (e.g. out of hours, walk-in clinics and general practice settings). Any one prescribing for a child in these situations must be able to demonstrate competence in prescribing for children and refer to another prescriber when working outside their level of expertise or level of competence.’ The Nursing and Midwifery Council standards of proficiency for nurse and midwife prescribers’ (NMC, 2006)
This would be a time when I as a prescriber would consider myself as working outside of my level of expertise, due to my client group being above the age of 18. Therefore it is my aim in this paper to evidence my awareness of the differences in prescribing for children and adults. Learning outcomes covered: 5 & 8. Medicines undergo a rigorous amount of testing, including pre-clinical trials and clinical trials, before they are licensed to be used in adult medicine. This procedure however does not necessarily apply to child medicines, having not necessarily been tested within the child age group. Until relatively recently there was a widespread reluctance to conduct clinical trials of medicines used in the treatment of children. This was due to a number of factors including ethical concerns, and the practical difficulties of conducting trials in children, together with commercial/financial considerations. As a result, most medicines have only been tested for safe and effective use in the adult population and there are comparatively few medicines on the market which are specifically licensed for the treatment of children.This in turn results in many medications being prescribed off label in this group.Contra-indications, precautions, adverse reactions and drug interactions can vary considerably in a child than an adult.
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‘Only nurses with relevant knowledge, competence, skills and experience in nursing children should prescribe for children. This is particularly important in primary care (e.g. out of hours, walk-in clinics and general practice settings). Any one prescribing for a child in these situations must be able to demonstrate competence in prescribing for children and refer to another prescriber when working outside their level of expertise or level of competence.’ The Nursing and Midwifery Council standards of proficiency for nurse and midwife prescribers’ (NMC, 2006)
This would be a time when I as a prescriber would consider myself as working outside of my level of expertise, due to my client group being above the age of 18. Therefore it is my aim in this paper to evidence my awareness of the differences in prescribing for children and adults. Learning outcomes covered: 5 & 8. Medicines undergo a rigorous amount of testing, including pre-clinical trials and clinical trials, before they are licensed to be used in adult medicine. This procedure however does not necessarily apply to child medicines, having not necessarily been tested within the child age group. Until relatively recently there was a widespread reluctance to conduct clinical trials of medicines used in the treatment of children. This was due to a number of factors including ethical concerns, and the practical difficulties of conducting trials in children, together with commercial/financial considerations. As a result, most medicines have only been tested for safe and effective use in the adult population and there are comparatively few medicines on the market which are specifically licensed for the treatment of children.This in turn results in many medications being prescribed off label in this group.Contra-indications, precautions, adverse reactions and drug interactions can vary considerably in a child than an adult.
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