Antidepressant prescribing practices of nurse practitioners

Depression continues to be seriously underdiagnosed and undertreated in primary care settings. Many studies have observed antidepressant prescribing practices of nonpsychiatric physicians to discover why inadequate depression detection and treatment is pervasive. This article describes the first large, randomized study to investigate the antidepressant prescribing practices of NPs. This quantitative, descriptive study sought to determine the factors NPs consider when choosing an antidepressant, antidepressant prescribing frequency by NPs, types of antidepressants prescribed by NPs, and health problems that NPs are treating with antidepressants. The study's findings indicate that NPs should adhere more closely to established practice guidelines.