Essay Sample on Can a Nurse Prescribe Medication to a Friend With No Medical History?

In early times of their career, nurses always learn that coworkers, family, and friends often seek informal prescriptions and medical advice. Additionally, nurses also diagnose and treat themselves instead of seeking care and treatment from other professionals (Arcangelo & Peterson, 2006). The current paper will describe the second situation, whereby a friend asks to be prescribed with medication. The professional has this autonomy, but no medical history of the friend. However, he/she writes the prescription anyway.

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The medical associations of Canada, America, and Britain discourage nurses and doctors from prescribing medication for themselves, immediate family, and friends (Ladd & Hoyt, 2016). The reason is that the professionals can administer drugs wrongly due to the effect of emotions that may be attached. However, in the case that there is no other physician around, or when there is an emergency, nurses can attend to their friends or family members until another physician is around to take over the treatment process.

Professionals should not be regular or primary care providers for their friends and relatives (Sabatino et al., 2017). However, taking care of them in case of minor and short-term problems is acceptable. Although different medical boards of different countries may defer in some matters, they all agree that documentation is essential before a prescription is done, during medical treatment.

Conclusion

To come up with a decision about whether to undertake medical care for patients who are close friends or relatives, professionals should consider two issues. First, the physician should consider whether providing the prescription would be agreed on as by other peers as a good medical practice. Secondly, the professional should establish whether they can provide proper medical care for the friend or family in that particular situation.

References

Arcangelo, V. P., & Peterson, A. M. (Eds.). (2006). Pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice: a practical approach (Vol. 536). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=EaP1yJz4fkEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=Arcangelo,++V.+P.,+Peterson,+A.+M.,+Wilbur,+V.,+%26+Reinhold,+J.+A.+(Eds.).++(2017).+Pharmacotherapeutics+for+advanced++practice:+A+practical+approach+(4th+ed.).+Ambler,+PA:+Lippincott+Williams++%26+Wilkins.&ots=3WrfLAp2D4&sig=S5SdmwRoxb2MBYDjN-EOror_3TY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Ladd, E., & Hoyt, A. (2016). Shedding light on nurse practitioner prescribing. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 12(3), 166-173.

Sabatino, J. A., Pruchnicki, M. C., Sevin, A. M., Barker, E., Green, C. G., & Porter, K. (2017). Improving prescribing practices: A pharmacistled educational intervention for nurse practitioner students. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 29(5), 248-254. Retrieved from:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2327-6924.12446