Prescribing by nurse practitioners: Insights from a New Zealand study

Nurse practitioners (NPs) in New Zealand have been able to prescribe medicines since 2001; however, little is known about their prescribing practice. This study describes the NPs who prescribe community-dispensed medicines, the patients, and identifies the most frequently prescribed medications.

A retrospective search of the Ministry of Health pharmaceutical collection was completed from 2013 to 2015. NP registration number, patient age, gender, deprivation index, and the name and date of dispensed medication, including the New Zealand pharmaceutical schedule therapeutic group, were identified.

NPs prescribe a broad range of medications across all therapeutic groups with antibacterial and analgesics being the most commonly prescribed medicines. This is comparable to all prescribers in New Zealand and NPs in Australia. The majority of patients lived in the more deprived areas of New Zealand indicating that NPs are working in areas of greater health need.

The majority of NPs registered in New Zealand prescribe medicines. Those in primary care prescribe the most medications. NPs prescribe a broad range of medicines across all drug therapeutic groups. The patients seen by NPs often live in the most deprived areas of New Zealand. Understanding prescribing patterns will help to inform curricular development and continuing education programs for NPs.