Celebrating the present, challenging the future of nurse prescribing.

As universities gear up to deliver the next wave of nurse prescriber training, this article -- based in part on the experiences of the University of Derby and its partner trusts and the recent consultation document (Department of Health, 2001) -- considers the issues underpinning the education and training of nurse prescribers. The collaborative, cooperative and coordinated approach seen in the training of the first wave facilitated the preparation of large numbers of practitioners to prescribe while maintaining service provision to patients in the community. The success of the programme should be celebrated, but also raises topics for debate as nurse prescribing expands to include a much wider range of nurses. The consultation document identifies the range of medicine from which it is proposed nurses will be able to prescribe and outlines the education and training parameters that will underpin the new prescribing requirements. It is clear that some challenges similar to those experienced during the first wave of nurse prescribing will arise, but there are also some significant differences that have raised pertinent questions and require answers.