By Aaron Cordy
Australia’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan joined the Dean of the La Trobe Rural Health School Professor Jane Mills at the Shepparton campus for an event hosted by the Australian College of Nursing’s Goulburn Murray region last week.
The event brought together nurses, midwives, students, educators and health leaders to explore the future of nursing, leadership and healthcare in regional Australia.
A big part of the focus was on nurses prescribing medication, as the first cohort of RNs graduating from newly accredited prescribing training programs enter the workforce.
“It’s a good thing because one of the key priorities here is to improve access to care. So, providing an opportunity for nurses to be able to prescribe means that there’s another health professional that can potentially give access to get medications, either repeat or initiation of a new,” said Professor Alison McMillan PSM.
“The program is designed so that it’s got lots of good safeguards in place, so we make sure that there’s safe prescribing, that it’s appropriate, and within the scope of practice of that mix.
“We are only at the very beginning of this, so there’s lots more to evolve over time. But the better we can provide access to care, the earlier and more convenient, the greater likelihood is someone will stay well. So the benefit here is for the patients, and it’s giving nurses that opportunity to contribute to the well-being.”
Third year nursing student at La Trobe University Shepparton, Kate O’Connell, found the talk insightful, which showcased career options she had not considered before.
“It’s very interesting to see the changing scope for registered nurses because you know I’m coming into this as a slightly older student, and I think perhaps my view of a nurse before I started the course was a little old-fashioned. I didn’t quite realise how much the scope has grown over the years, which was a very pleasant surprise,” said Kate.
“I’m sort of thinking ahead and thinking I’m about to graduate. I’m going to need at least three years’ experience before I could be considered to be a prescriber. One of the questions I would love to chat with them (Professor McMillan) about is: Are they thinking about making this an immediate postgraduate certification for people who are going to be in those under-served areas? Remote, very remote, acutely under-served.
“So I’m really curious as a student about the evolution of this and how this might look in a few years. I’m excited to know that it’s a possibility, and as someone just starting my career, knowing that I can see a pathway already that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to have to leave an area like Shepparton and go to a major city to advance as a nurse.”
