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NPs prescribing more than ever
Posted
8-16-99 Newtown, Pa. Nurse practitioners, who now have prescriptive authority in 49 states and Washington, D.C., are writing more and more prescriptions and, as a result, are increasingly attractive targets for drug companies trying to market new drugs. An audit by Scott-Levin, a pharmaceutical consulting firm in Newtown, Pa., shows that prescriptions written by NPs have increased more than 75 percent in the last five years while prescriptions from physician assistants have grown 45 percent. NPs wrote 15 million prescriptions in 1998, compared with 9 million in 1997, said Scott-Levin. The numbers are actually catching up to reality, said Marie-Eileen Onieal, PNP, RN, president of the Austin-based American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. For years, NPs have been prescribing drugs, but because a physician's signature was required on the prescriptions, NPs were invisible to the drug companies, she said. "We've always had the respect of patients. Now that our name is on the prescription pad, we are getting more clout in the pharmaceutical market, which should have an impact on research and development," Onieal said. There are more than 60,000 nurse practitioners nationwide. NPs have gained some form of prescriptive authority in every state except Georgia, said Winifred Carson, nurse practice counsel with the American Nurses Association. "Some pharmaceutical companies have started providing nurses with education courses and 800 numbers. We think more of that should occur and drug company representatives should be better educated about advanced practice nurses." In Texas, NPs can prescribe independently under certain protocols and standing orders from a physician, Carson said. Greater clout with drug companies also should result in more free drug samples available to patients of NPs, said Bryna A.C. Elder, director of strategic studies for Scott-Levin.
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