Abstract:

From 1st January 2016, according to amendment to the Law on nurses and midwifes professions, certain groups of polish nurses gained competences to ordain medicines and issue prescriptions (nurse prescribing). Nurses who graduate bachelor studies are empowered to issue prescriptions as continuation of the treatment ordered by a doctor, while nurses with master studies can prescribe certain medicines independently. In both cases, they are required to take part in additional, dedicated, post-graduate course regarding prescribing. Introduced reform covers an important exception to these requirements, because it assumed changes in nursing curriculum.

The aim of the study is to analyze changes in nurses curriculum related to introduction of nurse prescribing in Poland and an attempt to compare these changes to similar processes in Spain and United Kingdom. To achieve this aim, review of scientific literature and analysis of regulations and curriculums have been performed.

In Poland all centers, which conduct nursing education have been obliged to supplement its nurses curriculum. This programs have to include content of mentioned above post-graduate course. E.g. Medical University of Warsaw, by resolution of Health Sciences Faculty extend course regarding pharmacology and medical law. Due to these changes, nurses who started their studies in academic year 2016/17 will gain the prescribing competences just after graduation, without need of attending any post-graduate course.

The issue of the educational requirements necessary for nursing prescription is also a relevant issue in the European context. In Spain the draft of the future legislation on the matter, points out that nurses with training in pharmacology, that is, those who have completed a Bachelor Degree in Nursing (240 ECTS) will not require additional training, although they will have to pass an accreditation process by the Spanish Ministry of Health and the General Nursing Council to develop their competences in prescribing. In turn in UK, curriculum requirements depends on level of prescribing autonomy of nurse.

Keywords:

Curriculum, nurses, prescribing.