Hurrah!) and having a little more time, I have accepted a position as a committee member with the Association for Nurse Prescribing, website; www.anp.org.uk or click here.
"Approximately 40,000 nurses across the United Kingdom are qualified to prescribe medicines. Around 14,000 of these nurses have virtually the same prescribing powers as doctors. Although nurses are by far the biggest group, pharmacists, allied health professionals, and optometrists across the UK can also prescribe."
The committee members were very keen to understand more about independent prescribing practice within aesthetic medicine. One or two had heard stories of poor practice in this field. My hope to perhaps provide examples and evidence that many of us in the sector maintain the highest standards of prescribing practice. I have recently contacted a few key colleagues and explained that the ANP are interested to build relationships with forums and groups representig aesthetic nurses. Interestingly, nurses need not be prescribers to attend CPD at the seminars. I attended two workshops one on prescribing antimicrobials and another one on leadership and both were very relevant and would be valuable to any nurse working within aesthetics. Whilst attending the ANP conference, I was happy to have met and been inspired by the support of Dr June Crown. June is the associations figurehead and many will remember her as the chair of the Crown Report 1983 and the review of prescribing, supply, and administration of medicines in 1997. Her seminal work culminated with changes in the medicines law which enabled the changes we have seen in non medical prescribing. In spite of having such prestigious supporters and speakers at the ANP, I have still not met with one single nurse prescriber from our area of practice, and hope to remedy this by sharing my collaboration with the ANP as well as encouraging prescribers to join from aesthetic medicine. In addition I have agreed to assist the ANP with PR and fund raising to enable the continuity of CPD for Nurse Prescribers both within the NHS and in private practice (Groups like this are under threat of losing the small amount of governmental funding that they have). If you have a few nanoseconds I would appreciate any ideas, comments or names of individuals or groups who may value being connected with the ANP. They have committee members representing Scotland and are thinking of opening up the association to nurses from The Republic of Ireland also. You may leave comments below or email me at; mareabt@qutisclinics.co.uk Marea Brennan Thorns
