The status of Australian nurse practitioners : the first national census

Abstract

A five-section questionnaire was mailed to all
234 authorised Australian nurse practitioners in
late 2007. An 85% response rate was achieved
(202 responses). Respondents had a mean age
of 47.0 years and 84.2% were women. Only 145
nurse practitioners (72% of respondents)
reported being employed in Australia at the time
of the census. Emergency nurse practitioners
were the most commonly employed nationally
(26.9%). Nearly one third of employed nurse
practitioners reported that they were still awaiting
approval to prescribe medications despite
this being a core legislated skill. Over 70%
stated that lack of Medicare provider numbers
and lack of authority to prescribe through the
Pharmaceut ical Benef its Scheme was
extremely limiting to their practice. These findings
are consistent with the international literature
describing establishment of reformative