Pre-registration nurse education in pharmacology: is it adequate for the roles that nurses are expected to fulfil?

Abstract

Nurse education has undergone many changes over the last 30 years in line with the changing expectations of the nurse's role. A review of the literature suggests that nurses are inadequately prepared for their role in medication administration. With the introduction of nurse prescribing, the issue of education in pharmacology is becoming increasingly important. This paper describes a study conducted via a questionnaire survey of all nurse education institutions in England. The aim of the survey was to identify current pharmacology education provided for pre-registration nurses, in terms of curriculum design and content, and also to elicit the personal opinions of those involved in the delivery of nurse education. The results support the notion that many nurses may be inadequately prepared for the role that they are expected to perform once qualified. The reasons for this appear to be complex, though they may include insufficient guidelines from the nursing regulatory bodies, local political difficulties and a lack of consistency between educational establishments.

A literature review of the individual and systems factors that contribute to medication errors in nursing practice

“…Results from many studies indicate that nurses lack adequate pharmacological skills for practice (Latter et al. 2000, Manias & Bullock 2002, Morrison‐Griffiths et al. 2002).…”

Pharmacology as a foreign language: A preliminary evaluation of podcasting as a supplementary learning tool for non-medical prescribing students

“…The same cannot be said of nurses, however, who are experienced in clinical examination and patient consultation but whose training has moved away from the biological to the social model of care [12]. Indeed, pharmacology has been specifically identified as an area of weakness in nursing education, both in the U.K. and elsewhere [7,8,13,14]. The implications of this for NMP education and ultimately patient safety are profound [15].…”

Pharmacology education for nurse prescribing students – a lesson in reusable learning objects

“…With the shift in pre-registration nurse training away from a medical model to a social model of care the level of biological science knowledge and understanding gained by pre-registration nurses has significantly reduced [ 9 ]. Indeed a number of studies have identified pharmacology education as an area of significant weakness both in the UK and elsewhere [ 10 - 12 ]. The implications of this for nurse prescribing education are profound [ 13 ] with a number of studies suggesting that both nurse prescribing students and educators recognise the problems associated with providing an adequate level of pharmacology input into these courses.…”