J Am Acad Nurse Prac
-
J Am Acad Nurse Prac · Jun 2006
Comparative StudyPrescribing trends by nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the United States.
As an important step in analyzing the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), we examined their prescribing behavior. The intent is to study the characteristics of providers and patients, and the type of prescriptions written by NPs and PAs in primary care and to compare these activities to physicians. ⋯ We suggest that NPs and PAs may provide a role that is similar to that of physicians in primary care based on prescribing behavior. The prescribing behavior of PAs and NPs parallels that of physicians by the number of medications per visit, the types of therapeutic classes, and the type of patient. However, in nonmetropolitan areas, prescribing differences emerge between the three types of providers that bear further exploration.