Are Australian Cancer and Palliative Care Nurses Ready to Prescribe Medicines? A National Survey

Jane Lee; Chad Yixian Han; Amanda Fox; Fiona Crawford-Williams; Ria Joseph; Patsy Yates; Carla Thamm; Raymond Javan Chan

doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2023.151578

Are Australian Cancer and Palliative Care Nurses Ready to Prescribe Medicines? A National Survey

Semin Oncol Nurs. 2024 Feb;40(1):151578. doi: 10.1016/j.soncn.2023.151578. Epub 2024 Jan 21.

Authors

Jane Lee¹, Chad Yixian Han¹, Amanda Fox², Fiona Crawford-Williams¹, Ria Joseph¹, Patsy Yates³, Carla Thamm⁴, Raymond Javan Chan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Research Fellow, Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
² Associate Professor, Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia; Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; and Redcliffe Hospital, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia.
³ Executive Dean, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Redcliffe Hospital, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Senior Research Fellow, Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
⁵ Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Caring Futures Institute, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Electronic address: Raymond.Chan@flinders.edu.au.

PMID: 38246841
DOI: 10.1016/j.soncn.2023.151578

Abstract

Objectives: Registered nurse prescribing has been put forth, for decades, as an innovative approach to meet growing healthcare needs, particularly in areas of care where medications are essential and highly controlled such as for patients requiring cancer and palliative care. However, the adoption of innovative health delivery models requires acceptance by key stakeholders. This study explores cancer and palliative care nurses' attitudes toward nurse prescribing and their perceptions about educational requirements for a nurse prescriber.

Data sources: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to Australian nurses between March and July 2021. Data were collected using the Advancing Implementation of Nurse Prescribing in Australia online survey. Pearson χ² tests were used to examine associations between nurses in cancer care, palliative care, and all other specialties on demographics, attitudes to nurse prescribing, and educational perspectives to become prescribers. Of the 4,424 nurses who participated in the survey, 161 nurses identified they worked in cancer care and 109 in palliative care settings.

Conclusion: Although nurses have a common set of core capabilities, their work contexts and their professional experiences shape their attitudes toward practice. Nurses in cancer care were significantly less certain than nurses in palliative care [χ²(2) = 6.68, P = .04], and nurses from all other specialties [χ²(2) =13.87, P = <.01] of the benefits of nurse prescribing (ie, nurse prescribing would decrease health care system costs, reduce patient risk). Nurses in cancer care were more certain that successfully implementing nurse prescribing requires strong support from their medical and pharmacy colleagues. In addition, nurses working in cancer and palliative care agreed that improving patient care was their primary motivator for becoming a prescriber.

Implications for nursing practice: Open to expanding their role and responsibilities, nurses in cancer and palliative care settings reported that successfully adopting nurse prescribing must be supported by their other healthcare colleagues within the same environment, which demands strong interprofessional collaborative efforts.

Keywords: Cancer care; National survey; Nonmedical prescribing; Nurse prescribing; Palliative care.

MeSH terms

Attitude of Health Personnel
Australia
Cross-Sectional Studies
Drug Prescriptions
Humans
Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Nurse's Role
Nurses*
Palliative Care