Profession-specific standards3 hours
Professional Standards for Doctors
SMC standards in practice: registration and titles, clinical care and results, prescribing, aesthetic rules, supervision, teaching and telemedicine.
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Patient safety and medicines
Prescribing Standards for Health Practitioners
Who may prescribe, what a valid prescription needs, collaborative prescribing, controlled drugs and hypnotics, and how prescribing concerns are judged in Singapore
- 3hours (estimated)
- 11sections
- 20final questions
- 80%pass mark
- PDFcertificate
- Online and self-paced, on any device
- Reflective account template
- Knowledge checks in every section
- Instant certificate of completion
What you will learn
- Identify who may prescribe prescription-only medicines in Singapore and apply the limits of law, licence or agreement, formulary and competence.
- Apply shared principles of good prescribing from the SMC, SDC, SNB and SPC codes to everyday decisions.
- Write a valid, unambiguous prescription meeting regulation 2(2) of the Therapeutic Products Regulations, including repeats.
- Use a structured prescribing process and give information that meets Civil Law Act s 37, including cost.
- Prescribe fairly in a multi-ethnic, multilingual society, including HLA-B*1502 testing before carbamazepine.
- Explain how collaborative prescribing works under the HCSA and operate within a collaborative practice agreement.
- Prescribe controlled drugs, benzodiazepines and other dependence-forming medicines safely.
- Apply safeguards for high-alert medicines and higher-risk patients and communicate at transitions and in shared care.
- Manage unregistered and off-label use, commercial influences, remote prescribing and prescribing for those close to you.
- Respond to prescribing errors and complaints with disclosure, reporting, insight and verifiable remediation.
Who this course is for
Doctors, dentists, advanced practice nurses and pharmacists who prescribe or prescribe collaboratively in Singapore, plus nurses, pharmacists and other professionals who work with prescriptions and protocols.
Doctors (SMC) Nurses and midwives (SNB) Dentists and oral health therapists (SDC) Pharmacists (SPC) Optometrists and opticians (OOB) Allied health professionals (AHPC)
After a concern
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a board 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 Singapore. It covers who may prescribe under the Health Products Act 2007 and the Health Products (Therapeutic Products) Regulations 2016, the prescription as a legal document, collaborative prescribing by advanced practice nurses and pharmacists under the Healthcare Services Act, controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973, unregistered products and HSA's special access routes, teleconsultation prescribing, and the expectations of the SMC, SDC, SNB and SPC codes.
It is written for doctors, dentists, advanced practice nurses and pharmacists who prescribe or are preparing to prescribe collaboratively, and for nurses, pharmacists and others who work with prescriptions and protocols every day, in restructured and private hospitals, polyclinics, GP and specialist clinics, retail pharmacies, nursing homes and teleconsultation services.
Prescribing is a frequent focus of complaints and Board inquiries, especially where hypnotics, controlled drugs, remote consultations or prescribing for oneself and family are involved. Each section uses realistic, fictional Singapore cases to show what good prescribing looks like, how concerns are investigated, and how to show insight and remediation. Every section ends with a knowledge check, and the course closes with a final assessment and a structured reflection.
Course details
- Learning time
- Approximately 3 hours of learning (estimated time including knowledge checks, reflection and assessment)
- Standards covered
- Health Products Act 2007 and Health Products (Therapeutic Products) Regulations 2016 (reg 2); Misuse of Drugs Act 1973; Healthcare Services Act 2020 and Collaborative Prescribing Service Regulations 2023; MOH collaborative prescribing guidelines; HSA special access routes, HLA-B*1502 recommendation and traveller rules; National Telemedicine Guidelines and SMC Circular 2/2018; Civil Law Act s 37 and Hii Chii Kok; Mental Capacity Act 2008; SMC ECEG and Handbook on Medical Ethics (2016); SDC ECEG (2018); SNB Code (2018); SPC Code of Ethics (2015)
- Format
- Self-paced, gated lessons with knowledge checks, case studies and reflection
- Assessment
- 20 scenario-based questions, 80% to pass (16 of 20)
Course curriculum
11 sections · 26 lessons · 3 hours (estimated) · 20-question final assessment
-
1Prescribing authority and accountability in Singapore3 lessons
- What a prescription is, and why the law guards it
- Who may prescribe what
- Shared principles for every prescriber
-
2The prescription as a legal document2 lessons
- Writing a valid, unambiguous prescription
- Quantities, repeats, refills, telemedicine and travel
-
3Making the prescribing decision3 lessons
- A structured prescribing process
- Informed choice, cost and communication
- Prescribing fairly in a multi-ethnic, multilingual society
-
4Collaborative prescribing and other routes to medicines3 lessons
- Collaborative prescribing: how the framework works
- Operating a collaborative prescribing service safely
- Other routes to medicines: protocols, pharmacy supply and vaccination
-
5Controlled drugs and medicines with misuse potential3 lessons
- Controlled drugs: what every prescriber must know
- Benzodiazepines, hypnotics 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
-
7Unregistered products, commercial influences and boundaries3 lessons
- Unregistered products and off-label use
- 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
3hours (estimated)
Continuing professional development record — Singapore
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
Who can prescribe prescription-only medicines in Singapore?
Under the Health Products (Therapeutic Products) Regulations 2016, registered doctors and dentists in the first division of the Register of Dentists are qualified practitioners. Advanced practice nurses and pharmacists may prescribe as collaborative prescribing practitioners within a licensed collaborative prescribing service and a named collaborative practice agreement.
What must a valid prescription contain?
Regulation 2(2) requires the date, the prescriber's name and address, the patient's name, identification number and contact details, the product name, total amount and dose, the number and interval of any repeat supplies and, for dentists, a statement that it is for dental treatment only. It must be written and signed by an authorised prescriber.
Does the course cover collaborative prescribing?
Yes. It explains training, credentialing and governance, what a collaborative practice agreement must contain, refills, separation of roles, escalation, incident reporting and the competency portfolio, based on MOH's guidelines for implementing collaborative prescribing services.
Is benzodiazepine and hypnotic prescribing covered?
Yes. The course covers short courses, no repeat without review, older patients, recognising misuse and multiple sourcing, tapering safely and long-term plans for dependence-forming medicines, drawing on local good-practice guidance.
Can I prescribe through teleconsultation?
Teleconsultation by doctors and dentists is a licensable service under the Healthcare Services Act, and the National Telemedicine Guidelines and SMC's circular expect the same standard as in-person care. The course explains when to offer an in-person review and when to be cautious with remote prescribing.
Will this course count towards my CME or CPE points?
It may count towards your CME or CPE requirements only if your Board, or the relevant accreditor, accepts it, so check before relying on it. You receive a certificate of completion and a structured reflection.
Is it suitable if a prescribing complaint has been made against me?
Yes. It explains how Inquiry and Complaints Committees and Disciplinary Tribunals assess prescribing, and how to show insight and verifiable remediation. If a Board committee has ordered specific training, check with the Board that this course meets the order before enrolling.
How this course was built
Official sources only
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: the Acts that set up each professional board, the boards' own codes and guidance, and the Ministry of Health. 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.
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