The Outreach and Policy Unit of the Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, AKU-SONAM, has initiated a Policy Dialogue series to shed light on various policy areas that impact nurses and midwives. The sessions are organised every quarter to create awareness among nurses and midwives about the most pertinent policy-level matters, equipping them with the tools required to advocate for the necessary policy-level changes and broadening their scope of practice within the existing framework.
The most recent webinar in the series was titled,
‘Policy of Prescriptions by Nurses and Midwives’.
Dr Madrean Shober, president of Schober Global Healthcare Consulting, US, was the guest speaker of the session which was moderated by
Dr Rafat Jan, professor and associate dean of outreach and policy unit at AKU-SONAM.
A better understanding of policy-level dialogue will necessitate the need to present a uniform agenda to the relevant medical and nursing bodies as well as government authorities to make reforms at the national level. Nurses and midwives with greater authority and the right to exercise their knowledge to provide primary care to the patients will greatly reduce the burden on healthcare system.
Highlighting the contribution of this initiative to the profession of nursing and midwifery, Dr Rafat Jan said, “Policy dialogue has remained an elusive concept in the field nursing and midwifery so far, but with so much advancement in the roles of these healthcare providers, it only makes sense that they develop a sound understanding of existing and emerging policies. It will open new pathways for the evolution of nurses and midwives as leaders in the healthcare system as they contribute to strategic planning and take bold actions in close coordination with the policy makers.”
Dr Shober shared International Council of Nurses, ICN's, definition of prescription by nurses and midwives, the qualifications required to be eligible to prescribe, the policies dictating the level of autonomy and the framework laid out by ICN.
During the discussion, Dr Shober emphasised, “I encourage you to think not only of the idea of a license to prescribe but the broader concept of obtaining legal support for prescriptive authority. It is worth noting that in the case of nurse prescribing, a national regulatory authority has two main functions: 1) to set the standards for competence to prescribe; 2) to recognise the achievement of competence by the health professional to prescribe medicines or therapeutics consistent within their scope of practice.”
She further explained, “To support nurse prescribing, it is important that the regulatory authority is able to identify nurses who meet the criteria as a prescriber and are then authorised to prescribe. The renewal of a registration number or license varies from 2-3 years up to 5 years.”
The session established that nurses and midwives in Pakistan can greatly benefit from policy of prescription. Constraints on our healthcare due to limited budgets and affordability of health services can be resolved if more nurses and midwives have the license to prescribe. It will contribute directly to patient centred care, improved efficiency and capacity of healthcare system, and better patient outcome.