Nurse practitioners gain popularity

Nurse practitioners and physican assistants are winning more power in thedoctor’s office. A new study finds that both groups write millions ofprescriptions in the U-S every year, reflecting their growing authority andacceptance by doctors. Deb Groath is a nurse practitioner at a Mason Cityhospital who says the numbers are increasing the most in rural areas.Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with advanced training whilephysician assistants practice medicine under a doctor’s supervision. Goathsays more people want to perform these jobs.The study says nurse practitioners wrote 15-million prescriptions last year,up 66-percent from 1997. Physician assistants wrote 12-million, up33-percent.