Although in its infancy in Ireland, nurse prescribing has helped patients. Here, Michelle Devane and Patricia Leahy-Warren discuss conflicting views and practical concerns

The study described here gauged perceptions of nurse prescribing among non-prescriber mental health nurses in Ireland. The findings suggest that nurse prescribing is perceived to enhance care and offer better delivery of services. Furthermore, mental health nurses indicated that obtaining prescriptive authority would simply legalise what nurses are already doing in everyday practice. However, fears of litigation and of diminishing the therapeutic relationship, coupled with the fact that nurses are not paid appropriately for this role, were seen as obstacles to its introduction. Conflicting views emerged between nurses working in inpatient and community settings, with community nurses voicing concerns that nurse prescribing may be abused in hospitals.