Table 1 Demographic, professional, and 2016 prescribing characteristics of nurse practitioners

 Less than 35

21 (11.2%)

407 (13.0%)

0.79

 35–49

77 (41.2%)

1319 (42.1%)

 50–64

69 (36.9%)

1055 (33.7%)

 65+

20 (10.7%)

353 (11.3%)

 Specialty: Psychiatric/Mental Health, count (%)

54 (28.9%)

412 (13.1%)

< 0.001

 Less than 5

95 (50.8%)

1517 (48.4%)

0.27

 5–9

41 (21.9%)

584 (18.6%)

 10–14

18 (9.6%)

346 (11.0%)

 15–19

9 (4.8%)

241 (7.7%)

 20–24

17 (9.1%)

237 (7.6%)

 25+

7 (3.7%)

209 (6.7%)

 Ever had prior discipline, count (%)

10 (5.3%)

81 (2.6%)

0.025

2016 Controlled Substance Prescribing, count (%)

Waivered, 127 (67.9%)

Non-Waivered, 1323 (42.2%))

< 0.001

Patients with an opioid prescription, mean (SD) [median (IRQ)]

92.7 (155.9) [31.0 (2.0, 125.0)]

72.0 (130.2) [25.0 (2.0, 98.0)]

0.34

Opioid prescriptions per patient, mean (SD) [median (IRQ)]²

2.8 (1.8) [2.4 (1.2, 3.8)]

2.2 (1.8) [1.3 (1.0, 2.6)]

< 0.001

Patients with long-term opioid therapy, mean (SD) [median (IRQ)]

25.0 (72.2) [2.0 (0.0, 30.0)]

13.1 (48.0) [0.0 (0.0, 6.0)]

< 0.001

Patients with a benzodiazepine prescription, mean (SD) [median (IRQ)]

43.3 (46.7) [31.0 (8.0, 62.0)]

28.2 (40.9) [10.0 (2.0, 39.0)]

< 0.001

Benzodiazepine prescriptions per patient, mean (SD) [median (IRQ)]²

2.8 (2.2) [2.3 (1.4, 3.7)]

2.4 (1.6) [1.7 (1.0, 3.3)]

0.003

Patients co-prescribed opioid and benzodiazepine, mean (SD) [median (IRQ)]

4.4 (7.1) [1.0 (0.0, 6.0)]

3.6 (10.2) [0.0 (0.0, 3.0)]

0.003