The latest revision to the government’s proposed strategy for the NHS will see the mandatory presence of a nurse on all local commissioning bodies.  Hopefully this is a reflection of the growing recognition that nursing requires a stronger voice and leadership role in the management and strategic development of the NHS.

From an ePMA perspective, I wonder if we asked an NHS exec or non-nursing clinician ‘which group of professionals would be most affected by the introduction of ePMA?’ I wouldn’t be surprised if the answers were largely either ‘medics’ or ‘pharmacy’. 

While undoubtedly medics and pharmacists are key users of and stakeholders for ePMA, are they more impacted by ePMA than nurses?  I don’t believe so.  For me, nursing is the most affected in-terms of changes to current working practices revolving around the in-patient kardex and paper-based systems.  However, how many of us has had experience of an ePMA programme procurement or delivery being managed or heavily influenced by a senior nurse?

This situation may be the result of nursing establishing its presence and seniority in the boardroom of NHS trusts. However, I believe the more successful implementations of ePMA will be those that have a meaningful and sustained nursing input at least as influential as the pharmacy and clinical stakeholders. It would be great to hear a nursing perspective on these thoughts...

From a blog by iSOFT principal consultant Gary Mooney. 

http://gmooney.posterous.com/