Nurse prescribing: views on autonomy and independence

The introduction of nurse prescribing throughout Scotland in the primary care setting has proved to be an interesting development for nurses. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of nurse prescribing on district nurses and health visitors in one NHS trust in Scotland. All prescribing nurses in the trust were asked to participate in the study. This explored their perceptions of autonomy and the level of dependence on GP colleagues since being able to prescribe. In addition, prescribing patterns were examined to ascertain whether there was a relationship between the area of nursing (e.g. district nursing or health visiting) or the length of prescribing experiences, and the number of prescriptions written.