Nurses willing and able

Advanced registered nurses are experienced professionals who are prepared for advanced practice through years of additional tertiary education and who accept responsibility for complex situations. They can in some circumstances seek authorisation or endorsement as a “nurse practitioner”.

The nurse practitioner role is differentiated by their extended education, which allows them to practise in the areas of advanced clinical assessment, to prescribe medications, to refer patients to other health practitioners and to order diagnostics tests such as blood tests and X-rays.

While there are about 300 nurse practitioners in Australia, many face barriers to practise to the full scope of their role.

Some of the restrictions are the inability for patients to receive medicines subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme if prescribed by a nurse practitioner (as distinct from a doctor) or rebates from Medicare for nurse practitioner services. This limits their practice and reduces patients' access to affordable, high-quality health care.

Nurses in primary health care will not replace other professionals. But why should an elderly person in a nursing home or a child in a remote area have to wait until the next GP visit for a prescription when an advanced registered nurse, experienced in aged care or child and maternal health, knows the issue and the solution?

The legal capacity of professional nurses to make autonomous decisions needs to be acknowledged by changing current federal policy to allow people to access publicly funded primary health care services and medications provided by nurses.

There is huge potential not only to deliver better health for the community, but to improve national productivity by more effectively using our nurses - the largest professional health workforce in the country.