Specialist Certificate in Registered Nurse Prescribing

Upon completion, registered nurses can expand their scope of practice to include prescribing. This will enable registered nurses to meet the needs of people in their community and increase access to scheduled medicines.

This brings Australian nurses into line with international colleagues in the UK, Canada and New Zealand and is the most significant regulatory change to occur since the establishment of national registration.

How do I become a designated RN prescriber?

Registered nurses wanting to prescribe scheduled medicines must be endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). The Registration Standard for Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines – Designated Prescriber is available on the NMBA website. This Standard defines the criteria for endorsement which are:

1. Current general registration as an RN in Australia with no conditions or undertakings relevant to this endorsement.
2. The equivalent of three years’ full-time post initial registration clinical experience (5,000 hours) within the past six years, from the date when the complete application seeking endorsement as a designated RN prescriber is received by the NMBA.
3. Successful completion of:
4. NMBA-approved units of study leading to endorsement for scheduled medicines as a designated RN prescriber, or
5. units of study that are equivalent to the NMBA-approved units of study leading to endorsement for scheduled medicines as a designated RN prescriber.

The Specialist Certificate in Register Nurse Prescribing (SC-RNP) is a Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) approved program of study leading to endorsement as a designated registered nurse prescriber.