• Nurse practitioners are able to prescribe medication in 49 states.Nurse image by Hunta from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the American College of Nurse Practitioners, "nurse practitioners (NPs) are registered nurses who are prepared, through advanced education and clinical training, to provide a wide range of preventive and acute health-care services to individuals of all ages." Among their many duties, they can prescribe medication in 49 states. These laws vary in specifics from state to state.
  
  

Physician Signature

• If a nurse practitioner is authorized to prescribe a particular medication, he does not need the co-signature of a physician.
  
  

Standard and Controlled Substance Rules

• When an NP prescribes any substance, she must ensure that the standard information for an authorized substance is also provided, including the date and quantity of the prescription and the name of the drug. To prescribe a controlled substance, an NP must provide her federal United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) number, thus demonstrating her authority to prescribe that substance in accordance with her state's scopes of practices.
  
  

Proscribed Prescriptions and Promotion Issues

• Some states, like South Carolina, prevent NPs from signing for drug samples or telephoning pharmacists with prescriptions. In several states the pay discrepancies between MDs and NPs and the failure to give NPs a raise after they have been assigned more prescriptive responsibilities have raised pervasive concern. These controversies have formed the underpinning for several legal battles involving NPs.