Abstract

AIM: The number of countries where nurses are allowed to prescribe has increased over the past two decades. Nursing students' self-efficacy has the main impact on their clinical and cognitive skills. The aim of this study is to determine nursing students' attitudes and preparedness for nurse prescribing and its relationship with their perceived self-efficacy. DESIGN: The descriptive-correlational study METHODS: This study was conducted at five Nursing and Midwifery schools of Tabriz, Ardebil, Ilam, Ramsar, and Mashhad, Iran from March to July 2018. Through random sampling 250 undergraduate nursing students from the different geographical areas of Iran were selected. The research tool consisted of three parts including demographic information, nurse prescribing questionnaire, and a questionnaire on self-efficacy in patient care. RESULTS: Nursing students had a positive attitudes and relatively high levels of preparedness for nurse prescribing. However, near to half of the participants (48.4) mentioned that they have not good knowledge of pharmacology. Also there was a significant positive correlation between the students' self-efficacy and their attitudes and preparedness to nurse prescribing (p < 0.001, rs= 0.467;p = 0.00, rs= 0.633). CONCLUSIONS: Given the nursing students' positive attitude to and their preparedness for nurse prescribing, it is possible to make them more prepared for this new role by increasing their pharmacological knowledge and improving their accountability, management, and leadership skills.