This section provides a reminder of some of the many factors to consider when making a clinical decision, with a focus on prescribing decisions. 

It also provides access to some of the resources that may help with the professional, legal and ethical requirement to be able to articulate how you have fulfilled your duty of care when making prescribing decisions. 

While it is important to identify and select a consultation model most suited to your area of practice, this resources is uses the PreSCRIBE SAFER consultation model (Figure 1). 

The first iteration of this model (RAPID CASE - Figure 2.) was first published in the textbook, "Principles and practice of nurse prescribing" (Gould and Bain, 2022) and also applied to clinical scenarios in several journal articles. The model was evaluated and has embedded improvements based on feedback from prescribing students, practitioners and Unniversity lecturers who deliver prescrib ing programmes. 

Pressures on the health service have included fewer medical practitioners and a growing need for prescribers. The impact on practice has not yet been fully evaluated, but one consequence may be greater expectations on prescribers to fill service gaps. This may lead to prescribing questioning the boundaries of their scope of practice. 

The aim of PreSCRIBE SAFER along with other resources on this site, is to prompt prescribers to always be able to provide a clear rationale for their decision-making.

There are many different influences on decision-making. Figure 3. illustrates some of the possible outcomes from a clinical encounter, and Figure 4. reminds of some of the many influences.