Prescribing for practice (NURS90166)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Dual-Delivery (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
Semester 2 - Dual-Delivery
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This subject addresses the application of pharmacokinetics and dynamics to clinical practice and therapeutic planning across the life span. Students will be introduced to the regulation of medications and prescribing and the principles of quality use of medicines and medication safety. Students will develop their assessment and clinical decision-making skills to inform therapeutic management decisions within their scope of practice. This knowledge will be used to explore commonly used approaches to managing national health priority problems such as acute pain, mood disorders, cardiac, respiratory and metabolic diseases and infection and determine the role of the nurse prescriber. The aim is to prepare nurses for safe and effective delegated prescribing in accordance with jurisdictional legislative, professional regulation, workplace governance frameworks and professional and ethical standards. 

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • Define registered nurse scope of prescribing practice and describe the State and Federal legislation, professional regulation and standards of practice, appropriate workplace governance frameworks that support registered nurse prescribing.
  • Conduct and interpret the findings of a health assessment to identify the person's health care needs and inform care planning.
  • Collaborate effectively and respectfully with the person receiving care, their families and other health professionals to contribute to care planning and education.
  • Identify and evaluate common approaches to therapeutic management for acute pain, mood disorders, cardiac, respiratory and metabolic disease and infection.
  • Apply evidence and the principles of quality use of medicines to prescribing in accordance with jurisdictional legislation, regulation, standards of practice, workplace governance frameworks, ethical principles, scope of practice and competence.

Generic skills

  • the capacity for information seeking, retrieval and evaluation
  • critical thinking and analytical skills
  • an openness to new ideas
  • the ability to communicate scientific knowledge through oral, written and web-based media
  • professional leadership skills

Last updated: 4 March 2025