Prescribing practices among nurse practitioners in adult and family health

Data derived through log recordings of 89 nurse practitioners (NPs) in adult/family practice on 7,086 prescriptions issued during 890 clinical days were analyzed to describe prescribing practices of NPs who held prescriptive authority from the licensing regulatory boards of five western states. Results showed drug utilization to be similar to physician prescribing data, and intensity of prescribing to be less than that of physicians. The distributions of prescriptions by drug category and in relation to health problems underlying prescriptions are reported. Confidence with prescribing by type of drugs was parallel to incidence of prescriptions within drug category. Physician consultation prior to prescribing occurred with highest incidence for health problems treated with least frequently prescribed drugs. Physician consultation or referral was reported for 14.3 per cent of prescriptions.