Prescribe Using a Process - Learn the Steps

Prescribing a medication is a complex task. It requires a critical thinking process. I was precepting a nurse practitioner (NP) student once who asked me if I would teach her to write prescriptions. As we discussed the request, she pointed out that all of the prescribing during her training to date had been electronic and that she did not have access to that function of the computer as a student. She was unfamiliar with the elements of the prescribing process as a result. She was nervous, wanting to learn the right things. She lacked confidence, lacked training, and lacked a methodical approach -- sound familiar? I can help you learn to prescribe using a process.

I became passionate about finding the best practices in prescribing education. In turn, this became the focus of my DNP Project. I discovered that nurse practitioner students experience the same barriers in prescribing education as their physician colleagues. Focused prescribing education occurs late in the training program, is often ad hoc, and is further complicated by limited access to technology. Even more concerning, students often make prescribing decisions based on their observations of their clinical faculty which may not be evidence based. To review my DNP Project Results in full, go to: https://npmollyb.wixsite.com/who4nprx/dnp-project-results.

The World Health Organization developed a six-step process to help all prescribers think methodically when writing prescriptions. This process is summarized in their book, Guide to Good Prescribing (de Vries, et al., 1994) and is quickly summarized here:

Step 1: Define the patient’s problem

Step 2: Specify the therapeutic objective

Step 3: Choose your standard treatment (p-drug) & verify suitability

Step 4: Start treatment

Step 5: Give information, instructions, and warnings

Step 6: Monitor (and stop?) treatment

Since this work is 25 years old, it is under review and revision (Tichelaar, et al., 2020). However, it remains the most highly utilized approach when teaching the prescribing process. We need to be safe, rationale, and Prescribe Using a Process.

Nurse practitioners, and their prescribing colleagues, need support. I have developed a course, The Prescribing Process for Beginners. It will launch, live on December 16th, 2020 at 7:00 pm (EST). If you are a student, new graduate, or novice prescriber this course is for you! In it you will learn a methodical approach to prescribing that is updated, evidence based, and confidence boosting. Join me - learn the steps LIVE!

Space is limited, so sign up today!

Sign-Up: The Prescribing Process for Beginners

Molly J. Bradshaw DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, WHNP-BC

DNPmollyB, LLC

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References:

Bradshaw, M. (2016). Who Wants To Become a Good Prescriber?https://npmollyb.wixsite.com/who4nprx

Tichelaar, J., Richir, M.C., Garner, S. et al. WHO guide to good prescribing is 25 years old: quo vadis?. Eur J Clin Pharmacol76, 507–513 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-019-02823-w

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