Deborah Robertson provides an overview of recently published articles that may be interest to non-medical prescribers. Should you wish look at any the papers in more detail, a full reference is provided

To improve access to health care services, an intervention was implemented in Burkina Faso granting full exemption from user fees. Two further components, staff training and supervision, were added to support the intervention. Our aim in this study was to examine how this tripartite intervention affected the quality of drug prescriptions. Using a mixed methodology, we first conducted an interru...

One of the objectives of the National drug policy is to promote the rational use of drugs by prescribers, dispensers and consumer. However, in developing countries, inappropriate prescribing has been identified among health facilities. Analgesics have been identified as one of the commonly prescribed drugs among prescribers in managing pain. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess t...

OBJECTIVES To compare compliance with national paediatric HIV treatment guidelines between nurse prescribers and doctors at a paediatric referral centre in Gaborone, Botswana. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009 at the Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence (COE), Gaborone, Botswana, comparing the performance of nurse prescribers and physicians caring for H...

AIM To identify some of the factors influencing effective independent nurse prescribing within a surgical high-dependency unit. METHOD An audit methodology was used to record the personal prescribing practice of a critical care nurse following the completion of a course in independent and supplementary prescribing. RESULTS The main factors influencing effective independent nurse prescribing...

I 2007, the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act (FDAAA) created an important new tool for dealing with drugs that have potential safety problems: the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). The aim was to encourage prescribers and patients to use those drugs in such a way that their benefits would outweigh their risks. Troubling cases have emerged, however, in which this tool ha...

Background: Medication dosing errors may have grave consequences for neonatal patients. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) with dosing decision support functionalities has been effective in reducing these errors. However, the adoption rate is low. Physicians' resistance has been identified as a significant barrier. To reduce this resistance, the system should be designed in close collabo...