Aims: Registered nurse prescribing is, an innovative approach to meet growing health care needs. This study explores cancer and palliative care nurses’ attitudes toward nurse prescribing and their perceptions about educational requirements for a nurse prescriber.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to Australian nurses between March and July 2021. Data were collected using the Advancing Implementation of Nurse Prescribing in Australia online survey. Pearson χ2 tests examined associations between nurses in cancer care, palliative care, and all other specialties on demographics, attitudes to nurse prescribing, and educational perspectives to become prescribers.
Results: 4,424 nurses participated in the survey, 161 nurses identified they worked in cancer care and 109 worked in palliative care settings. Improving patient care was the top motivator for becoming a prescriber for both nurses working in cancer and palliative care. However, nurses in cancer care were less certain than nurses in palliative care (χ2(2) =6.68, p=0.04), and nurses from all other specialities (χ2(2) =13.87, p=0<01) that nurse prescribing would reduce costs to the health care system, nor reduce patient risk. Nurses working in cancer care believed that successful implementation of nurse prescribing would require strong support from their medical and pharmacy colleagues.
Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate that nurses in the two care settings have differing perspectives on nurse prescribing , but are open to expanding their roles and responsibilities. For registered nurse prescribing to be adopted successfully in cancer and palliative care settings, support by other health care colleagues is essential – requiring strong inter-professional collaborative efforts and careful implementation planning.