EJEL Volume 5 Issue 4
February 2008

A Nurse Prescribing Programme Incorporating e-Learning

Joan Burgess
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Winchester, UK

The UK Medicinal Products: Prescribing by Nurses Act, (1992) transformed the role of UK nurses in the management of drugs. In order to become a UK Nurse Prescriber, a First Level Registered Nurse must undergo an approved University based educational programme, which consists of theory, and a period of practice supervised by Designated Medical Practitioners (DMP) The UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) requires nurses undertaking this programme to have some formal university attendance (normally 26 attendance days) and be assessed in practice. Since October 2004, the University of Winchester has used blended learning incorporating e-learning for the delivery of the Nurse Prescribing Programme using online materials coupled to a work-based learning supervised activity programme. Therefore, this blended learning programme is ideal for nurses who are unable to take time away from their work base and it enables employers to be more flexible in the way they allocate study time to students. The paper presents an evaluation of the University of Winchester blended learning programme. It draws lessons from the nature and standards of tutorial support, students’ IT skills and access to IT, students’ self discipline, use of on-line tests, level of off-line study, involvement and commitment by workplace supervisors, students’ attitudes, relationships between students, tutors and work based supervisors, and the regular review of learning materials. This successful blended learning and e-learning programme has demonstrated significant advantages over traditional courses where students are only able to take minimal time away from their work base to attend study days and where most of the students are employed on a full time basis.

Keywords: prescribing, evaluation, e-learning, Designated Medical Practitioner

Download FULL PAPER

Back to Contents