The information sources used by community nurse prescribers

A purposive sample of 22 community nurse prescribers and five prescribing leads were interviewed to determine how nurses both access and assess the reliability of pharmacological information. Prescribers used both printed material and other professionals to obtain pharmacological information. The most commonly mentioned sources of printed material were journals and the British National Formulary. Other people that nurses obtained information from included pharmaceutical company representatives, community pharmacists, nurse specialists, colleagues, and GPs. Nurses described the attributes that they associated with reliable information (previous vetting, up-to-date and used by other healthcare professionals) and unreliable information (produced by those with a vested interest). Much of the pharmacological information supporting prescribers is aimed at doctors and may not be accessible for nurse prescribers. Organizations seeking to influence evidence-based practice should consider the method of communication in addition to the message.