Online learning sites offer ‘nurse prescribing course’ from £9
Concern over online course that claims to cover highly specialist areas but can be taken by anyone aged 16 or over and appears to offer no assessment of skills
An online learning company is offering a £9 nurse prescribing course with minimal entry requirements and no apparent assessment, Nursing Standard has discovered.
One Education’s Nurse Prescribing Diploma covers highly specialist areas such as prescribing for liver disease, cardiac problems and in palliative care. Yet there are no prerequisites for enrolling on the six-hour ‘diploma’, which can be taken by anyone aged 16 or over.
Learners can claim a CPD certificate for completing the course, although there appears to be no assessment at any point in it.
‘Nurse prescribing cannot be learned online in a few hours’
The diploma is being offered on the One Education site at £29, down from a listed price of £425. A deal available on the online money-saving site Wowcher brings the price down further, to just £9.
The small print at the bottom of the One Education course webpage states the diploma is not recognised by the NHS.
Speaking to Nursing Standard, RCN deputy chief nurse Nichola Ashby expressed serious concerns about the programme.
‘The role of nurse prescriber is highly skilled, with a significant level of responsibility for patient care,’ she said. ‘This cannot be done online in a few hours. To qualify for this role requires detailed training and continuous assessment, none of which appear to be offered by this course.
‘Anyone wishing to grow their skills and further their career in nursing should properly investigate any course to ensure it has the necessary accreditation and is an approved and recognised course that does not leave them at risk.’
The knowledge, skills and qualifications required to be a prescriber
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) assistant director for education and standards Anne Trotter stressed that to become a qualified prescriber, nurses or midwives must be on the NMC register and then complete a prescribing programme approved by the regulator.
‘The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Prescribing Competency Framework, which we adopted in 2018 as our standards for prescribing, sets out the knowledge and skills all professionals must demonstrate by the time they record their prescribing qualification with us,’ she said.
‘This, along with our outcome-focused standards of proficiency, is key to ensuring they can deliver the expert prescribing practices and safe care people have the right to receive.’
Other online providers offering programmes
One Education was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of publication.
Its website says the course is a theoretical one that will enhance knowledge and does not enable nurses to prescribe or call themselves nurse prescribers.
Since becoming aware of the One Education diploma, Nursing Standard has uncovered other e-learning providers offering similar programmes.
RCNi articles on nurse prescribing
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