As Head of the Auckland School of Pharmacy, I am delighted to welcome you to this New Prescribers Course for Dietitians which has been developed for the Dietitians’ Board of New Zealand by staff at our School.  
 
The course has been specifically designed to allow New Zealand dietitians to develop a thorough understanding of the legal, administrative and technical issues pertaining to the prescribing of special foods and vitamins, minerals and supplements, and to demonstrate competence in prescribing of these for the purposes of accreditation as a dietitian prescriber.  
 
The course is provided in two formats. The on-line section covers the legal and practical issues associated with prescribing as well as the pharmacological basis of prescribing practice. These two modules are ‘formative’, that is there is no formal examination on this material. The second format is a ‘face to face’ study day, where issues will be clarified, clinical cases discussed, and a practical assessment of prescribing competence will occur.  
 
Because this is a ‘first’, no doubt there will be some challenges. We have probably provided more material than you will actually need for day to day prescribing. Please don’t be overwhelmed by it, and if it is not immediately relevant, you can keep it filed for future reference. Please be patient with us, we are doing our best to make sure information is up to date but there may be some last-minute changes.  
 
The course has been developed principally by Maree Jensen, a member of our staff who is a very experienced practising pharmacist. Other members who have contributed are Zaheer Babar, Sanya Ram, Darren Svirskis and John Shaw. We have been very ably guided by Barbara Cormack and Lyn Gillanders of the Dietitians’ Board.  
 
We are very pleased to be involved in this exciting new initiative for dietitians and we sincerely hope you enjoy the course and get a lot out of it.  
 
 
Professor John Shaw  
Head, School of Pharmacy  
The University of Auckland