PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sally Hall
AU  - Jo Thompson
AU  - Toni Phair
AU  - Andrew Neil Davies
TI  - Clinical nurse specialist prescribing in a cancer centre supportive and palliative care team
AID  - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001867
DP  - 2020 Mar 01
TA  - BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
PG  - 111--113
VI  - 10
IP  - 1
4099  - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/10/1/111.short
4100  - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/10/1/111.full
SO  - BMJ Support Palliat Care2020 Mar 01; 10
AB  - Objective To provide insight into the prescribing practices of three independent nurse prescribers (INPs)/clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) working in a supportive and palliative care team (SPCT) in a district general hospital and a specialist tertiary cancer centre in the UK.Methods A prospective review of all consultations and the prescribing activity arising from the consultations (and reasons for non-prescribing following a consultation) of 3 INPs/CNSs between 1 August 2018 and 31 October 2018.Results Four hundred ninety-three consultations were undertaken on 186 individual patients. Two hundred forty-seven consultations representing 50% resulted in changes to a prescription, and 123 of those consultations representing 50% of prescriptions written resulted in the prescribing of an opioid for moderate-to-severe pain.Conclusions This service evaluation demonstrates the potential for INPs in SPCTs to provide comprehensive symptom control while enabling CNSs to practice with a greater degree of autonomy leading to enhanced job satisfaction. On the basis of our experience, we would encourage all palliative care CNSs to undergo training to become INPs (if available).