Prescriptive patterns of nurse practitioners and physicians.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the prescriptive patterns of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physicians in a primary care setting for the treatment of sinusitis, bronchitis, musculoskeletal injury, and back pain.


METHODS
One hundred charts were reviewed for each condition for a total of 400 charts (200 of the charts were for NP providers, and 200 were for physician providers).


CONCLUSIONS
While the mean scores of the differences in prescriptive patterns were found to be statistically significant in only one instance, the overall findings indicate slight differences in the administration of medications for patients. Additionally, NPs prescribed more over-the-counter medications and provided more nonpharmacotherapeutic interventions for their patients than the physicians.


CONCLUSIONS
The results, although statistically significant in only one category, indicate that NPs may be more cautious in their prescriptive interventions and provide more teaching for patients.
Running
Alice
A
Orvis School of Nursing, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA. running@unr.edu
Kipp
Catherine
C
Mercer
Victoria
V