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06 Jul 2026
On Monday 29 June, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) hosted a webinar for registered nurses to learn more about designated registered nurse prescribing.
Designated registered nurse prescribing provides an opportunity for registered nurses to expand their scope of practice to increase access to medicines. There was strong interest in hearing from the experts involved in developing the registration standard and progressing implementation. More than 900 people attended the webinar from around the country.
The session provided an overview of the prescribing model, pathway from education and endorsement to practice, and an update on its implementation.
Presenting how designated registered nurse prescribing is being implemented were:
The hour-long webinar covered:
Following the presentations, presenters received questions from attendees, to help contextualise individual experiences and circumstances, and apply the designated registered nurse prescribing model to different settings of practice.
The webinar was recorded and you can watch the recording online.
The recording will be available until Wednesday 30 September 2026.
We have responded to frequently asked questions we received during the webinar and provided links to resources. The responses to individual questions should be considered in the context of related regulatory, government and organisation documents, including the registration standard and guidelines.
If you have further questions about designated registered nurse prescribing, please email [email protected]
A designated registered nurse prescriber may enter into a prescribing partnership with more than one authorised health practitioner, subject to local governance arrangements. Similarly, an authorised health practitioner may enter into a prescribing partnership with more than one designated registered nurse prescriber, subject to local governance arrangements. These partnerships are subject to local governance arrangements specified in the clinical governance framework.
More than one authorised health practitioner can be listed on the prescribing agreement. The authorised health practitioner must make sure their prescribing scope aligns with the designated registered nurse prescriber’s prescribing scope.
The prescribing agreement outlines the designated registered nurse prescriber’s individual prescribing scope. The designated registered nurse prescriber and authorised health practitioner who has agreed to be the prescribing partner develop the prescribing agreement together. It is then approved by their employer. It includes:
The designated registered nurse prescriber is responsible and accountable for the prescribing decisions they make and for prescribing within their scope of practice. They must only prescribe medicines as agreed within their prescribing agreement and must not prescribe unless they have an active prescribing agreement in place.
As set out in the guidelines, when a designated registered nurse prescriber starts their prescribing practice, they must complete a six-month period of clinical mentorship with support from the authorised health practitioner. The purpose of clinical mentoring is to develop the designated registered nurse prescriber’s confidence in prescribing. The designated registered nurse prescriber can prescribe during the clinical mentorship period.
This clinical mentorship is different from, and is not, clinical supervision. An assessment at the end of clinical mentorship and reporting of completion is not required by the NMBA.
As part of an application for the endorsement for scheduled medicines – designated registered nurse prescriber, applicants must submit information about their units of study so Ahpra can assess them against the NMBA approved qualification assessment criteria.
A list of NMBA approved programs of study leading to the endorsement is published on the Ahpra website. This list will be updated as new programs of study are approved.
Further information on the Registered Nurse Prescribing Accreditation Standards is available on the Anmac website.
Find the registration standard, guidelines and fact sheet for the endorsement on the NMBA website. If you have any questions about designated registered nurse prescribing, please email [email protected].
The Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing shared QR codes during the presentation for the following resources:
Further information on local implementation can be provided by the Nursing and Midwifery Office in each state and territory. Where available, the website and contact details for each state and territory are provided in the table below.
