Aim: To identify and describe the role of non-prescribing nurses in medical prescription, through a critical\nsynthesis of all the studies published worldwide answering this question.\nBackground: Medical prescription is a prerogative of the physician. Yet, the final decision for prescribing is\nmost often the conjunction of different factors and actors. What could be the role of non-prescribing nurses\nin medical prescription?\nDesign: A systematic literature review.\nMethods: A literature search of the databases, the Ovid MEDLINE database, PubMed, Web of Science,\nCochrane, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), was done to identify\nstudies that describe the nurse�s role in medical prescription up to May 2017. A quality assessment of relevant\nstudies was performed.\nResults: Four studies were included in this review. The overall methodological quality of the studies was\nintermediate (score: 8.5 of 12). Analyses of the included articles show the nurses have an essential role in the\nadministration of medications and in the follow-up of the drug consequences. In addition, nurses tend to share\nthe decision regarding prescribing with the doctors through an inter-professional collaborative approach.\nNurses do not have sufficient knowledge about pharmacology and drug management.\nConclusions: Our systematic review emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration between\nnurses and other health professionals in acute care settings. The strong involvement of nurses could provide\na dialogue to strengthen best practice. Improving the nurses� knowledge and their skills are likely to enhance\nthe optimization of treatment.\nRelevance to Clinical Practice: The current literature suggests a refinement of pharmacological knowledge\namong nurses and effective nurse-doctor interactions to guide the best medical prescribing.
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