Assurances from AHPRA that RN prescribers will be accountable for all their clinical decisions will do little to assuage doctors’ fears of being held liable for mistakes they may make, the AMA warns.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has already begun endorsing nurses to prescribe, with their patient scripts funded by the PBS from 1 October.

Under the arrangements, the nurses partner with doctors or nurse practitioners, drawing up a prescribing agreement documenting when they can initiate and cease medications, along with the conditions and indications for which they can prescribe.

AHPRA has said that RN prescribers will remain individually responsible and accountable for every prescribing decision they make, and that being “in partnership” did not mean an RN would be prescribing under supervision where liability shifted.