New prescriptions. Nurses demand elimination of regulatory absurdity

• Currently, nurses can only issue prescriptions based on a few specific commercial preparations, and not on the names of active substances.
• In clinical practice, this leads to serious difficulties.
• Nurses and advanced practice nurses (with a master's degree and specialization) call for full rights to prescribe all medications independently, excluding psychotropic substances and narcotics.
• They want to be able to issue prescriptions for the names of active substances of preparations

The Polish Chamber of Advanced Nursing Practice has sent a petition to the Ministry of Health, addressed to Minister Izabela Leszczyna and Deputy Minister Urszula Demkow, and to the attention of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr. Marcin Wiącek. The petition concerns the extension of the rights of nurses and male nurses in the scope of issuing prescriptions . The current regulations allow this professional group to issue prescriptions only on the basis of specific commercial preparations, and not on the names of active substances .

Nurses with a Master of Science in Nursing and completed specialization strongly oppose these restrictions. They point out that in clinical practice, the current legal status leads to serious difficulties in the implementation of health services.

As an example of a glaring absurdity, they cite the impossibility for a nurse to prescribe the popular and effective anti-allergic drug Clatra, which contains an active substance called bilastine . Allowing only a few drugs with a specific trade name to be prescribed by nurses is considered to be merely illusory, because the limitation to trade names means that many effective and commonly used clinical drugs remain beyond the reach of this professional group.

The postulate of the National Chamber of Advanced Nursing Practice is to grant nurses and advanced practice nurses - with a master's degree in nursing and specialization - full rights to independently prescribe all drugs , excluding psychotropic substances and narcotics. This would include the possibility of issuing prescriptions for the names of active substances of preparations.

In the applicants’ opinion, such a legal change would bring significant benefits.

1. Firstly, it would relieve the healthcare system and help to shorten the waiting time for patients to receive therapy or a prescription.
2. Secondly, it would increase the effectiveness of using the professional competences of nurses.
3. It is also emphasized that the proposed change is consistent with the direction of development of modern healthcare systems in Western Europe and North America, where advanced nursing practice already has similar powers.

In connection with the above , the authors of the petition have asked for urgent legislative work aimed at amending the regulations in this area. They declare their openness to dialogue and readiness for substantive cooperation with the Ministry of Health.