Medicines management: What’s new about revised NMC standards for prescribers

The Nursing and Midwifery Council has published revised standards for prescribing programmes, with the biggest change affecting time limits on when nurse prescribing courses can be taken

As part of a wider programme to overhaul standards for pre-registration nurse education, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has published revised standards for prescribing programmes.

They are much shorter than the old standards. The biggest change is the removal or amendment of time limits on when registrants can take nurse prescribing courses post qualification:

• The V100 or V150 prescribing courses – open to nurses working from the limited community nurses’ formulary – can now be undertaken immediately after qualifying as a nurse.
• The V300 independent and supplementary prescribing course – which allows prescribing from almost the entire formulary, including controlled drugs and unlicensed or off-license medicines – can now be accessed