Is your knowledge sufficient to support your prescribing?

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · Oct 20, 2010

Are you kindly able to provide references/links as to where this debating is taking place? Is this also part of your research? Interesting questions you have come here and asked recently.

VivaRN · Oct 21, 2010

I feel confident in prescribing, including controlled substances. If I'm unsure, I ask, as I'm sure all professionals do. Pharmacists are an excellent resource. It's a non-issue.

allnurses Guide · Oct 21, 2010

I second what Viva said. There are many resources which can aid in prescribing. The key is not memorizing every drug on the planet; it's knowing what you don't know and knowing where to get the info.

carachel2 · Oct 21, 2010

NPs receive enough pharmacology and training to *begin* practice as an NP. Our education is designed to elevate us to entry level status in the NP world..not to start us out as experts. Continuing education is a must.

Find me an NP who is NOT worried about making a mistake and I'll find you an incompetent NP who thinks so much of themselves that they don't stop and look up information in a reference book. Everyone should be *worried* about making a mistake..it is what keeps us on our toes and providing the best patient care we can.

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Oct 21, 2010

I am still only a FNP student, and perhaps in a year my feelings will be different, but I will admit I think my pharm education has been lacking. I think biochem ought to be required. I took it on my own and it was if a light bulb went on! It all makes so much more sense when you understand the very basic chemical reactions happening at the cellular level. I also think that pharm should be 2 semesters. i feel like the info we got was almost cursory.

just my 2cents

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · Oct 21, 2010

You didn't get an overview of biochem in A&P or Chem as an undergrad? I think we also grazed over it in Patho. Our pharm knowledge was expanded upon in each clinical course which had a didactic component. Is it not like this at your school? Our pharm learning didn't stop at our pharm course - it was integrated into all of our other courses.

avtech · Oct 22, 2010

There is much debate that Nurse Practitioners don't receive an adequate amount of education in pharmacology. I'm not saying that I agree with this at all, but I am curious to hear how NPs feel about this... Do you feel that you are confident when prescribing controlled substances to your patients? Are you worried about committing an error, or even being investigated for your prescribing?

Not quite sure who would be having the debate. I can't say a whole lot because I'm only a nursing student, but the microbiology instructor I had is a manager at a diagnostic lab. He told us stories of doctors (no names or places of employment shared) that routinely asked him about what med they should prescribe and what does.....even for EAR INFECTIONS. Are you kidding me. He did say that if they were kind that he would help them out, sometimes he would just say "i don't know..you're the doctor". The moral of the story is, we are all learning, even doctors.....the "debate" to me just sounds more like turf control.

Not pickin on the poster, just thought i'd share the story.

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Oct 22, 2010

You didn't get an overview of biochem in A&P or Chem as an undergrad? I think we also grazed over it in Patho. Our pharm knowledge was expanded upon in each clinical course which had a didactic component. Is it not like this at your school? Our pharm learning didn't stop at our pharm course - it was integrated into all of our other courses.

Yes, but I have found it insufficient thus far. Perhaps once in practice I realize I have all the tools I need. I was simply sharing my perspective.

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Oct 22, 2010

I don't think undergrad courses offer, by and large, quite the rigor I'd expect. I am talking about graduate level biochem. I took it at the med school that resides in the same university as my FNP program. Perhaps I didn't really need it, but it has been tremendously helpful. I just didn't know what I didn't know. Once I learned it, I came to think it should be included in the NP curriculum. JMO. As carachel says, the point of NP education is to provide the minimum necessary for safe entry into practice. I think we should raise the bar a bit, but I'm only a student, what do I really know. I was simply sharing my perspective/experience.