What guidance is there for prescribing without a patient’s notes being available (i.e. at a walk-in-centre/community pharmacy)?
Practice Standard 3 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC’s) ‘Standards of proficiency for nurse and midwife prescribers, 2006′ states: “In order to prescribe for a patient/client you must satisfy yourself that you have undertaken a full assessment of the patient/client, including taking a thorough history and, where possible, accessing a full clinical record”. The emphasis is on ensuring a full assessment. There is also a requirement to “inform, where relevant, anyone else who may be in a position to prescribe for that patient/client of your actions in order to avoid prescribing errors. This is most likely to be the patient/client’s general/medical practitioner, but may also include other non-medical prescribers’ (Standard 5). Standard 6 states: “You have a responsibility to communicate effectively with other practitioners involved in the care of the patient/client”. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain’s ‘Professional Standards and Guidance for Pharmacist Prescribe
