All newly registered graduate nurses are required to have the appropriate knowledge and understanding to perform the skills required for patient care, specifically the competencies identified in the Nursing and Midwifery Council's essential skills clusters. This article focuses on the fifth essential skills cluster – medicines management. Nursing students should work to attain the knowledge and skills required for effective medicines management throughout their pre-registration education. The roles and responsibilities of the newly registered graduate nurse in the area of medicines management are discussed in this the final article of the essential skills cluster series.
Keywords: Competencies; essential skills clusters; medicines management; nursing students; patient safety; safe practice.