Qualified senior nurses overseas have been ordering and administering drugs safely for years and soon their Australian counterparts will be doing the same. By Mardi Chapman

Midwives are another step closer to getting approval as PBS prescribers with the commencement of the first accredited course in administering scheduled medicines. About 120 midwives have signed up for the Graduate Certificate in Midwifery at Flinders University, which started in July. Jen Byrne, acting course co-ordinator for midwifery programs at Flinders, says the milestone is long overdue. "The profession has been wanting prescribing rights since the '90s if not before. We strongly feel midwives should be able to prescribe in the normal course of their role." She says midwives in other...