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Core course for every profession

Prescribing Standards and Safe Medicines Practice

Good Prescribing, Medication Safety and Avoiding Common Errors

  • 2 CPD hoursEstimated learning time
  • 15-question assessmentPass mark 80%
  • Online, self-pacedStart any time
  • CertificateFor your CPD records

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About this course

Prescribing is one of the highest-risk things a health practitioner does. Medication-related problems lead to a very large number of hospital admissions in Australia each year, and most of the harm is preventable. Errors rarely come from a lack of pharmacology knowledge. They come from incomplete medication histories, interruptions, ambiguous doses, look-alike names, missed monitoring, medicines that were never reviewed, and pressure to prescribe.

Prescribing in Australia is also becoming more varied. Nurse practitioners, midwives with a scheduled medicines endorsement, optometrists, podiatrists, dentists and, in some jurisdictions, pharmacists prescribe alongside doctors, under authority that depends on state and territory law and National Board endorsements. Electronic prescriptions, active ingredient prescribing and real-time prescription monitoring have changed everyday practice.

This prescribing course brings the essentials together for every prescribing profession. You will work through the legal framework, the clinical reasoning behind a good prescription, writing and communicating prescriptions, high-risk medicines and common errors, monitoring and deprescribing, antimicrobial stewardship, and the professional boundaries of prescribing, with Australian case illustrations and a one-page safety checklist.

Written and reviewed by

Written by

Dr Hannah Whitmore PhD, MSc, RN

Nursing Education & Professional Practice

Reviewed by (legal reviewer)

Professor James Ellington LLB, LLM, PhD

Healthcare Law, Ethics & Professional Regulation

Reviewed by (editorial team)

Editorial Team Member

Healthcare ethics, professional conduct, patient safety and evidence-based education.

Last reviewed

Our authors and reviewers check course content for accuracy and currency. Completing a course does not guarantee any particular outcome with Ahpra, a National Board, a tribunal or an employer.

Who this course is for

  • Medical practitioners in general practice, hospital and specialist settings
  • Nurse practitioners and midwives with a scheduled medicines endorsement
  • Dentists, optometrists and podiatrists who prescribe within their scope
  • Pharmacists, including those prescribing under state and territory programs
  • Nurses and other practitioners who administer or supply medicines under protocols and want to understand safe prescribing
  • Early-career prescribers and clinical supervisors of prescribers

What you’ll learn

  • Prescribe within your authority

    Explain where your prescribing authority comes from and apply TGA, scheduling and PBS rules correctly.

  • Make sound prescribing decisions

    Use a structured process, complete medication histories, evidence and shared decision-making, including for off-label use.

  • Prevent common errors

    Write clear prescriptions, use electronic prescribing safely and apply safeguards for APINCHS high-risk medicines.

  • Review, stop and respond

    Plan monitoring, deprescribe, practise antimicrobial stewardship and respond honestly to errors and adverse events.

Learning objectives

  • Explain how state and territory law, registration and endorsements create prescribing authority.
  • Distinguish TGA registration, scheduling and PBS subsidy, and apply PBS criteria correctly.
  • Apply a structured prescribing process, including a complete medication history and patient-specific factors.
  • Make and document defensible off-label prescribing decisions with informed consent.
  • Write clear, legal prescriptions and use electronic prescribing safely.
  • Recognise high-risk medicines and common error patterns and apply safeguards.
  • Plan monitoring, review medicines, deprescribe and practise antimicrobial stewardship.
  • Manage the professional boundaries of prescribing and respond well to adverse events and errors.

Scenarios covered

Practice situations you reason through, step by step, in the course.

  • 'Just tick the PBS box'

    Explaining PBS criteria to a patient and offering lawful alternatives when a subsidised prescription is not appropriate.

  • A risky combination at renewal

    Spotting a high-risk medicine combination and falling kidney function before renewing a repeat prescription.

  • A weekly medicine charted as daily

    How an ambiguous dose expression nearly caused serious harm in aged care, and the habit that prevents it.

  • An overridden anaphylaxis alert

    How interruptions and alert fatigue lead to errors, and why pharmacist queries are a safety net.

  • Eleven medicines and two falls

    Using a Home Medicines Review to identify sedatives, anticholinergic burden and outdated doses, then deprescribing safely and gradually with an older patient who wants to stay independent at home.

  • A partner asking for a stronger painkiller

    Why prescribing for people close to you is risky, how informal prescribing can drift towards medicines of dependence, and how to decline kindly while making sure the person still gets proper care from their own practitioner.

Course contents

6 sections, 19 lessons, then the final assessment.

  1. Section 1: The Prescribing Framework in Australia3 lessons
    • 1.1 Who May Prescribe, and Where the Authority Comes From
    • 1.2 Scheduling, Registration and Subsidy
    • 1.3 National Standards for Good Prescribing
  2. Section 2: Making Good Prescribing Decisions4 lessons
    • 2.1 The Prescribing Process
    • 2.2 Medication History and Patient-Specific Factors
    • 2.3 Evidence, Guidelines and Off-Label Prescribing
    • 2.4 Shared Decision-Making and Information for Patients
  3. Section 3: Writing and Communicating Safe Prescriptions3 lessons
    • 3.1 What a Prescription Must Contain
    • 3.2 Electronic Prescribing
    • 3.3 Abbreviations, Doses and Look-Alike Medicines
  4. Section 4: High-Risk Medicines and Common Errors3 lessons
    • 4.1 High-Risk Medicines: APINCHS
    • 4.2 Common Prescribing Errors and How to Prevent Them
    • 4.3 Monitored Medicines and Medicines of Dependence
  5. Section 5: Monitoring, Review and Deprescribing3 lessons
    • 5.1 Monitoring and Following Up
    • 5.2 Polypharmacy, Medication Review and Deprescribing
    • 5.3 Antimicrobial Stewardship
  6. Section 6: Professional and Ethical Boundaries of Prescribing3 lessons
    • 6.1 Prescribing for Yourself, Family, Friends and Colleagues
    • 6.2 Patient Pressure, Conflicts of Interest and Commercial Models
    • 6.3 Adverse Events, Errors and Learning
  7. Final assessment and written reflection15 questions

Assessment and certificate

  1. Work through the course

    Study each section at your own pace, including the case illustrations and apply-it questions.

  2. Pass the assessment

    15 scenario-based questions. You need 12 correct (80%) to pass.

  3. Write your reflection

    A short written reflection on how the learning applies to your own practice.

  4. Download your certificate

    Shows your name, the course, the date and 2 CPD hours. Anyone can check it on our verification page.

What you keep for your CPD records

  • A certificate of completion recording approximately 2 hours of learning, to file with your CPD record
  • A written reflective account based on three prescribing-specific prompts
  • A one-page pre-signing checklist and five habits of safe prescribers
  • Tables on high-risk medicines, error types, abbreviations to avoid and deprescribing steps

How certificates and CPD records workVerify a certificate

Primary sources

The course is built on these official documents. Check them for the current version.

Questions about this course

Is this course recognised by Ahpra or a National Board?

No. This is independent education. It is not accredited by Ahpra, not approved by any National Board and not endorsed by any professional body; National Boards do not accredit individual CPD courses. Record the time you actually spend against your own CPD plan and decide whether the learning is relevant to your practice.

Which practitioners is this course for?

Any registered practitioner who prescribes, supplies or administers medicines, including doctors, nurse practitioners, midwives with a scheduled medicines endorsement, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and pharmacists. Nurses and others who work under protocols will also find the medication safety content useful.

Does it cover Schedule 8 prescribing and permits?

Only briefly. Schedule 8 and other medicines of dependence, state permit schemes and opioid stewardship are covered in depth in a separate course. This course covers general prescribing standards and medication safety for all medicines.

Does it cover telehealth and online prescribing?

It notes the key principle that the standard of assessment does not change for electronic or remote prescribing. Detailed telehealth and asynchronous prescribing standards are covered in a separate course.

Is off-label prescribing allowed in Australia?

Yes, off-label prescribing is lawful and common, but the prescriber must be able to justify it with evidence, explain to the patient that the use is off-label, obtain informed consent and monitor the outcome. The course explains how to do this and document it.

What are high-risk medicines, and does the course cover them?

Yes. The course uses the APINCHS classification from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care: antimicrobials, potassium and other electrolytes, insulin, narcotics and sedatives, chemotherapy, heparin and anticoagulants, and safe systems. It explains the typical errors with each group and the safeguards that prevent them.

Does the course help with deprescribing?

Yes. It sets out a step-by-step approach to reviewing each medicine's indication, benefit and harm, agreeing a plan with the patient, tapering where needed and monitoring the outcome, and explains how Home Medicines Reviews and Residential Medication Management Reviews can support the process.

How long does the course take and how is it assessed?

It is designed to take about two hours, including reading, reflection points, a written reflective account and a 15-question scenario-based assessment with a pass mark of 12 out of 15.

Will this course satisfy a condition or undertaking on my registration?

Not automatically. Only Ahpra or your National Board can decide whether a course meets a condition or undertaking, such as one relating to prescribing. If you have one, check with Ahpra or your Board, and your lawyer or professional indemnity insurer, before you enrol for that purpose.

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