Ohio nurse practitioners want prescription-writing restrictions lifted

Between the ongoing shortage of primary care doctors both in Ohio and nationwide, and reform efforts aimed at giving PCPs an even larger role in the health system, the work of nurse practitioners and physician assistants is becoming even more vital  (Source: “Ohio nurses want ability to prescribe more drugs,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dec. 8, 2008).

In 2000, Ohio became the last state in the country to allow advanced-practice nurses to prescribe drugs, although they were not allowed to prescribe Schedule II medications.

Now nurse practitioners are lobbying to be allowed to prescribe even those types of drugs.