ICN NP/APNN Webinar: Prescriptive Authority for Nurses - Global Perspectives in Advanced Practice
This webinar explored nurse prescribing authority from both applied and global perspectives, highlighting how advanced practice nurses contribute to safe, effective, and accessible care across diverse health systems.
Aligned with ICN’s policy and advocacy priorities, the session underscored the critical role of nurse prescribers in strengthening health systems and ensuring nurses remain a dynamic and influential force in advancing global health.
Watch the webinar recording here
Speakers
- Event Moderator: Ms Josette Roussel (ICN NP/APNN Deputy-Chair)
- Panel Moderator: Dr Daniela Lehwaldt (ICN NP/APNN Chair)
- Howard Catton (ICN CEO)
- Dr Daniela Lehwaldt (ICN NP/APNN Chair)
- Dr Caroline Bohlender (ICN NP/APNN Member Health Policy SG)
- Dr Eunice NDirangu (ICN NP/APNN Member Health Policy SG)
- Dr Wentao Zhou (ICN NP/APNN CSG Member)
- Dr Karen Moore (ICN NP/APNN Secretary)
Presentations
Prof. Dr. Daniela Lehwaldt, Chair of the ICN NP/APN Network, introduced the ICN Guidelines on Prescriptive Authority for Nurses, framing nurse prescribing as a level of professional authority grounded in education, regulation, and governance.
Dr. Caroline Bohlender, Member of the ICN NP/APN Network Health Policy Subgroup, highlighted how robust regulation is essential to trust and patient safety, drawing on European examples where clear standards enable full practice authority.
Dr. Eunice Ndirangu, Member of the ICN NP/APN Network Health Policy Subgroup, described Kenya’s contradiction between advanced nursing practice and the lack of legal prescriptive authority, emphasizing the urgent need for legislative and regulatory reform.
Dr. Wentao Zhou, Core Steering Group Member of the ICN NP/APN Network, presented Singapore’s collaborative prescribing model, demonstrating how structured agreements, credentialing, and governance support safe nurse prescribing.
Dr. Karen Moore, Secretary of the ICN NP/APN Network, outlined prescriptive authority in North America, underscoring significant jurisdictional variation and the ongoing need for advocacy to achieve consistent autonomy.
Objectives
- Describe the core principles, scope, and policy foundations of nurse prescribing within advanced practice nursing.
- Examine educational pathways and regulatory frameworks for nurse prescribing across different countries and regions.
- Identify country‑specific models and opportunities that support the expansion and effective implementation of nurse prescribing roles
Outcomes
Building on global, regional, and country‑specific perspectives presented during the webinar, participants were able to:
- Apply the ICN Guidelines on Prescriptive Authority for Nurses (2021) to understand nurse prescribing as a level of professional authority, requiring appropriate education, regulation, and governance to support safe, autonomous clinical decision‑making.
- Differentiate global models of nurse prescribing, including independent, supplementary, protocol‑based, and collaborative prescribing, and assess how these models align with varying regulatory, legal, and health‑system contexts.
- Analyse the role of regulation as a foundation for trust and patient safety
- Critically examine regional variation in prescriptive authority, including:
- advanced regulatory maturity and ongoing barriers in Europe,
- the gap between advanced clinical practice and legal authority in Kenya,
- structured collaborative prescribing models in Singapore, and
- diverse state/provincial approaches to autonomy and controlled substances in North America.
- Identify systemic enablers and barriers to implementing nurse prescribing
- Recognise evidence‑informed pathways for advancing prescriptive authority
- Identify concrete policy, regulatory, and educational priorities to strengthen advanced practice nursing and optimise the contribution of nurse prescribers to patient access, quality of care, and system sustainability