PGCert Independent Prescribing Practice

Southampton, Solent University

Health care professionals can further develop their clinical competencies and gain additional skills to become NMC accredited as an Independent and Supplementary prescriber. This programme is for healthcare professionals that wish to expand their competencies. You can gain a qualification stating you have concluded a history taking and physical assessment course and a certificate of conclusion of our Independent and Supplementary Programme, which will grant you accreditation with the NMC with Independent Prescriber (V300) annotation.

Designed for registered nurses in the United Kingdom with at least one year of experience, this course and prepares you to accurately obtain a clinical history during consultations, gather and interpret relevant information to inform potential differential diagnoses, and outline appropriate management plans.

The course contains two modules – history taking and physical assessment and Independent and Supplementary Prescribing.

For independent and supplementary Prescribing each candidate must nominate a practice assessor and a practice supervisor to support their learning journey. These mentors will supervise 90 hours of teaching within the student's designated area of expertise, providing hands-on guidance and ensuring real-world application of course content. This structured support system is integral to developing safe prescribing skills and enhancing professional practice.

You will develop clinical competencies in the scope of advanced clinical consultation with special emphasis on the importance of the clinical history, evidence-based physical examination interpretation of clinical findings and the formulation of differential diagnoses. You'll also be expected to critique scientific evidence related to drug trials as well as study the sciences of pharmacology and prescribing to adequately prescribe in response to different clinical situations and scenarios.