Diabetes Nurse Prescribing
Innovation in health not only provides us with opportunities to do things differently, it also offers enhanced professional opportunities for those working in health. The Diabetes Nurse Prescribing project involves extending the role of suitably qualified nurses employed in diabetes services to allow them to become designated prescribers.
Better management of diabetes is one of the Governments key priorities and part of the CVD Diabetes Health Target. The proposed changes will enable appropriately qualified diabetes nurses to prescribe a limited range of diabetes-related medications.
Four demonstration sites at Hawke’s Bay, Mid Central Health, Hutt Valley and Auckland DHBs have been set up to demonstrate safe, effective, and economic prescribing by diabetes nurse specialists.
Diabetes nurse specialists already take substantial responsibility for independently managing the care of many diabetes patients, and extending this role to include responsibility for prescribing common diabetes medications will result in greater continuity and less complexity of care for patients. It will also reduce pressure on health practitioners and assist patients by reducing the need for a second appointment for routine prescriptions.
The continuity of care provided by diabetes nurse specialists can also offer the benefit of early identification of any problems which leads to better management of the condition.
The development of diabetes nurse prescribing is being carefully monitored and evaluated to ensure the safety of patients and measure the effectiveness of the role.
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