Identify which practitioners are authorised or designated prescribers under New Zealand medicines law and apply the four limits that bound every prescriber: the law, scope of practice, any medicines list and personal competence.
Apply the twelve Principles for quality and safe prescribing practice and your own regulator's standards to everyday prescribing decisions.
Write a legally complete, unambiguous prescription, paper or electronic, and explain periods of supply, validity, repeats and urgent oral or emailed prescriptions.
Use a structured prescribing process that considers no treatment, non-drug options and deprescribing, and supports informed, culturally safe and equitable choices under Rights 5, 6 and 7 of the Code of Rights.
Write, issue, operate and audit a standing order that meets the Medicines (Standing Order) Regulations 2002 and the Standing Order Guidelines.
Apply the controlled drug rules on prescription forms, validity, supply, storage and registers, and respond appropriately to restricted persons, suspected fraud and pressure to prescribe.
Prescribe and monitor high-risk medicines safely for older people, children, pregnant and breastfeeding people and people with organ impairment, including in shared care and at transitions.
Meet the legal and ethical requirements for unapproved medicines and manage commercial influences, samples, dispensing and pharmacy interests.
Report prescribing errors and adverse reactions through local systems, MERP and CARM, and describe how HDC, responsible authorities, Medicines Control and the Tribunal deal with prescribing concerns.
Build a prescribing audit and remediation plan that demonstrates insight and lasting improvement in your prescribing practice.
Who this course is for
Doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurse prescribers, midwives, dentists, pharmacist prescribers, optometrists and dietitian prescribers registered under the HPCA Act 2003, plus nurses, oral health practitioners, paramedics and others who work under standing orders, and the clinical leaders who design prescribing systems.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a responsible authority inquiry.
Routine CPD
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
About this course
This course explains what it takes to prescribe safely and lawfully in New Zealand, whichever prescribing authority you hold. It covers who may prescribe what under the Medicines Act 1981 and the Medicines Regulations 1984, the prescription as a legal document, controlled drug rules under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 and its regulations, standing orders under the Medicines (Standing Order) Regulations 2002, unapproved medicines after the Medicines Amendment Act 2025, and the joint Principles for quality and safe prescribing practice that the prescribing responsible authorities developed together.
It is written for every health practitioner who prescribes or works with prescriptions: doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurse prescribers, midwives, dentists, pharmacist prescribers, optometrists and dietitian prescribers, and for nurses, hygienists, paramedics and others who supply or administer medicines under standing orders. Practice leaders, clinical directors and charge nurses who design repeat prescribing, standing order and controlled drug systems will also find the systems lessons directly useful.
Prescribing concerns are among the most common reasons a practitioner comes to the attention of the Health and Disability Commissioner, a responsible authority or Medicines Control. Rather than revisiting general professionalism, the course goes deep into the mechanics that keep prescribing safe: the legal limits that apply to each prescriber, what a valid prescription must contain, how long it lasts, how standing orders must be written, reviewed and audited, how to manage high-risk medicines and transitions, how to prescribe equitably and in a way that honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and how to show insight and remediation if a prescribing concern is raised about you.
Course details
Learning time
Approximately 3 hours (estimated learning time including knowledge checks, reflection and assessment)
Standards covered
Medicines Act 1981 (including sections 25, 29, 29A, 48 and 49) and Medicines Regulations 1984 (including regulations 39, 39A, 41, 42 and 44); Medicines Amendment Act 2025; Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 and Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977; Medicines (Standing Order) Regulations 2002 and Standing Order Guidelines (2nd edition, 2016); Principles for quality and safe prescribing practice; MCNZ statement on good prescribing practice (February 2024); Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights (Rights 4, 5, 6 and 7); Health Information Privacy Code 2020
Format
Self-paced, gated lessons with knowledge checks, case studies and reflection
Assessment
20 scenario-based questions, 80% to pass (16 of 20)
Outcome
Certificate of completion and a written reflection for your CPD record
Alignment
Mapped to New Zealand medicines law, the joint Principles for quality and safe prescribing practice, and the prescribing standards of the Medical, Nursing, Midwifery, Dental and Pharmacy Councils and other prescribing authorities
1Prescribing authority and accountability in Aotearoa3 lessons
What a prescription is, and why the law guards it
Who may prescribe what: authorised and designated prescribers
One set of principles for every prescriber
2The prescription as a legal document2 lessons
Writing a valid, unambiguous prescription
Supply periods, validity, repeats and travel
3Making the prescribing decision3 lessons
A structured prescribing process
Informed choice, cost and communication
Prescribing equitably and in a culturally safe way
4Standing orders and other routes to medicines3 lessons
Standing orders: what the regulations require
Issuing and operating a standing order safely
Other routes: emergency supply, recommendations and vaccinators
5Controlled drugs and medicines with misuse potential3 lessons
The controlled drug rules every prescriber must know
Restricted persons, Medicines Control and suspected misuse
Long-term prescribing of dependence-forming medicines
6High-risk medicines, special populations and shared care3 lessons
High-alert medicines and monitoring systems
Prescribing for people at higher risk
Transitions, shared care and pharmacist queries
7Unapproved medicines, commercial influences and boundaries3 lessons
Unapproved medicines and unapproved uses after the 2025 changes
Commercial influences, samples and dispensing
Prescribing at a distance and for those close to you
8When prescribing goes wrong: errors, scrutiny and remediation3 lessons
Prescribing errors: recognising, disclosing and reporting
How prescribing concerns are investigated
Showing insight and remediating a prescribing concern
9Conclusion and key points1 lesson
Conclusion and key points
10References and further reading1 lesson
References and further reading
11Your reflective account1 lesson
Your reflective account
Assessment and certificate
Final assessment
20scenario-based questions
Pass mark 80%: 16 correct out of 20
Knowledge checks in each section as you go
Tests whether you can apply the standards, not recall a page
Not passed yet? Review the sections and retake it
Certificate of completion
A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.
Your name, the course title and the estimated learning time (record the time you actually spend)
Completion date and a unique certificate ID that can be verified
Ready to download as a PDF as soon as you complete the course
Fitness To Practice
Certificate of Completion
This certifies that
Your Name
has successfully completed
Prescribing Standards for Health Practitioners
Completed12 Oct 2026
3hours (estimated)
Certificate IDFTS-7Q4K-2M9X
Continuing professional development record — New Zealand
Your reflective account
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your CPD portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
Questions about this course
Which prescribers is the prescribing standards course for?
Every NZ prescriber group: doctors, NPs, RN prescribers, midwives, dentists, pharmacist prescribers, optometrists and dietitians who prescribe, plus practitioners who supply or administer under standing orders. Practice leaders who design repeat prescribing and standing order systems will also find the systems lessons useful.
What are the four limits on every prescriber?
The course frames prescribing authority with four limits: the law, your scope of practice, any medicines list that applies to your profession and your own competence. It then applies the twelve Principles for quality and safe prescribing practice that the prescribing authorities agreed together.
Does the prescribing course teach how to write a standing order?
Yes. You learn to write, issue, operate and audit a standing order that meets the Medicines (Standing Order) Regulations 2002 and the Standing Order Guidelines, and what a standing order can and cannot authorise for the people working under it.
Are unapproved medicines and commercial influences covered?
Yes. The course covers the legal and ethical requirements for unapproved medicines as changed by the Medicines Amendment Act 2025, together with samples, dispensing and pharmacy interests and other commercial influences that can shape prescribing decisions. The aim is decisions you could explain to a patient, a colleague or your responsible authority.
How this course was built
Official sources only
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: the HPCA Act 2003, the responsible authorities' standards and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Original, edition by edition
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
Reviewed when rules change
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
Medical Council standards in practice: scopes and titles, clinical care, prescribing, cosmetic procedures, supervision of learners and PAs, and telehealth.
