FL nurse practitioners fight for right to prescribe controlled substances

We already have enough doctors writing too much prescriptions here in FLA as it is.....dont need anymore, overprescribing has become an epedimic!

Florida has one of the biggest drug abuse and diversion problems in the country. This is just what we need, another entire group writing for narcotics. Fresh meat for the drug seekers and chronic pain management patients.

Perhaps if the client really needs narcotics they need to be in the ER??

But if the issue of narcotic prescribers in the rural areas is critical, then how about a limited license only for those ARNPs or PAs in the poverty rural zipcodes?

Indeed, prescription drug abuse is rampant. But what makes FL (and three other states) that I as a nurse practitioner am not experienced or educated enough to prescribe scheduled drugs? And let's remember that we're not just talking Oxycodone here, I can't prescribe Lyrica for patients with neuropathy or fibromyalgia. I work at a walk-in that is staffed ONLY with a mid-level on weekends. Occasionally I do see patients that could benefit from six Vicodin tablets to get them through the weekend til they see their primary care doc on Monday. I also work in an ER and it's vexing to have people come in for minor injuries that could be handled at a walk-in...save for the fact that they could not get adequate pain control.

It is amazing. We in Florida can give very dangerous medications as long as they are not scheduled but not cough med. This is a crock stirred up by the MDs who want to watch their turf. It boils down to money, as it always does.

Stop talking as if we don't need more people prescribing meds. You sound so arrogant, we NPs go through rigorous phramacology training and just because there is no 4 year internship requirement doesn't mean we are not capable. because when someone is looking for narcotics and they go to your hopital, you as a doctor cannot deny them the narcotics even if you think they r or might be addicts. I dont know where you work but where i work no doctor can deny anyone the right of a painkiller. Remember, it is the patient who tells you how hee feels and if he is feeling pain, there ain't nothing you can do about it to change what they say and believe me you better give those painkillers cause if you don't you are denying them the right to relieve pain.

totally agree with that. I work with 2. God they are so thick. No really, I mean stupid.. Arrogance, no insight. Mad

Very, very, very, very bad idea!

NP and CNP and even RN's should be allowed, like PA's in my state, New Jersey, to prescribe non-abused drugs like common antibiotics,birth control pills and devices, and drugs like Proscar or Flomax. None of these would normally be resold on the street. But definitely not controlled drugs. The denizens of the biker bars and trailer parks in Florida would love a law like this.

Just opens another can of worms.