Redland Hospital Nurse Practitioners authorised to prescribe medication in Qld first

The Hon. Stephen Robertson MP
Member for Stretton

12 January 2009

Redland Hospital Nurse Practitioners authorised to prescribe medication in Qld first

Two Redland Hospital Nurse Practitioners have been authorised to prescribe medications in a Queensland first.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson visited Redland Hospital today together with local MPs Phil Weightman (Cleveland), John English (Redland) and Michael Choi (Capalaba).

The Minister and local MP’s were at the hospital to meet with Nurse Practitioners Amanda Davies and Karen Crouch, and other staff.

“As the first nurses in Queensland to receive authorisation to prescribe medications to patients, Amanda and Karen can now work to their full potential as Nurse Practitioners in the emergency department’s busy team,” Mr Robertson said.

Nurse Practitioners are registered nurses with advanced educational qualifications and experience who are authorised to practice in an expanded nursing role.

The Nurse Practitioner role allows registered nurses to extend their career paths beyond the management, administrative and education roles that have historically been available to them.

In Australia, there are Nurse Practitioners working in many different areas, such as mental health, emergency care, palliative care, diabetes, neurosurgery, community health, cardiology, continence, oncology, pain management, nephrology, orthopaedics and aged care.

Along with clinical services, Nurse Practitioners focus on health promotion, education and disease prevention, helping patients to make better lifestyle choices.

Karen and Amanda, who together have more than 30 years nursing experience, were among the first group of registered nurses to graduate from the Queensland University of Technology with a Master of Nursing Science (Nurse Practitioner) degree, in 2007.

Mr Robertson said the Health Management Protocol would govern the prescription of medications by Nurse Practitioners.

“The Health Management Protocol defines the subset of medications which the Nurse Practitioner can access,” he said.

“The Redland Hospital protocol, developed with assistance from a multi-disciplinary hospital team, will be used as a reference for other Nurse Practitioners across the state.

“We have introduced the Nurse Practitioner role very carefully at Redland Hospital, to ensure that the services Nurse Practitioners provide meet the community’s expectations, and are safe and effective.”

“Nurse Practitioners are not substitutes for doctors.

“The Nurse Practitioner role has been introduced to complement and improve health services, not to replace other healthcare professionals.

“They work alongside other healthcare professionals to ensure our patients receive the best care available.”

The Minister and local MPs also took the opportunity to thank the Redland Hospital Auxiliary and Volunteer Service which provide significant fundraising support for the hospital.

Since being established, the auxiliary has raised almost $430,000 for the hospital.

Last year the volunteers contributed 13,000 hours of service to the hospital.

Redland Hospital recently received a $7M funding boost from the federal government to enhance services at the hospital’s busy emergency department.

Under the new Australian Health Care Agreement the federal government has provided an extra $146M to improve emergency departments across the state.

ENDS

Martin Philip - Media Adviser: 0407 675 008