Certificate in Nursing (Nursing/Midwife Prescribing

at National University of Ireland Galway

This programme's development is in response to a need for nurses and midwives to prescribe, in order to support high quality person-centred care. This follows from two key reports which mooted the extension of prescriptive authority for nurses and midwives; i.e. The Commission on Nursing in 1998, followed by the Review of the Scope and Practice for Nursing and Midwifery Final report in 2000. This recommendation was comprehensively evaluated in a 3½ year joint project by An Bord Altranais agus Cnáimhseachais na hÉireann and the National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery in 2005. The review concluded that prescriptive authority should be extended to nurses and midwives. A further implementation project in 2008 put in place the regulatory, professional and support requirements which enabled nurses and midwives to take on this role. Prescriptive authority was extended to nurses and midwives by the Minister for Health and Children in 2007.

Nurses and midwives prescribe within the confines of robust legislation and professional regulation and their scope of practice.  Improving client care is core to this extended role.

The programme is delivered over a six-month period. Students will attend college for an induction day and three-days of workshop for each module (10 days in total). In addition, students will be mentored in their practice setting for the duration of the programme which will include 12 days of direct supervision of the prescriptive process by a designated medical practitioner.