Table 1 –
Sample Characteristics of Nurse Practitioners, by State Practice Authority Grouping
| Characteristics | Overall (n = 9,782) n (%) | Restricted/Reduced Practice* (n = 9,089) n (%) |
Full Practicey†(n = 693) n (%) |
F (1, 9781) | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8,955 (91.4) | 8,308 (91.3) | 647 (91.8) | 0.09 | .764 |
| Race | |||||
| White | 8,631 (86.3) | 7,994 (85.8) | 637 (91.8) | 20.0 | <.001 |
| Black | 466 (6.5) | 447 (6.7) | 19 (3.1) | 9.9 | <.001 |
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 21 (0.2) | 20 (0.2) | 1 (0.4) | 2.0 | .049 |
| Asian | 491 (5.2) | 463 (5.3) | 28 (4.0) | 2.2 | .139 |
| Other Race | 173 (1.9) | 165 (1.9) | 8(1.1) | 3.4 | .065 |
| Ethnicity | |||||
| Hispanic | 394 (4.3) | 374 (4.4) | 20 (3.2) | 1.70 | .193 |
| Age, mean (SD) | 44.8 (11.2) | 44.7(11.2) | 45.5 (11.2) | 2.49 | .115 |
| Metropolitan area‡ | 7,569 (81.3) | 7,068 (81.6) | 501 (77.0) | 5.20 | .023 |
| Immigrant | 956 (10.4) | 910 (10.6) | 46 (7.8) | 4.46 | .035 |
| Immigrant<5yrs ago | 18 (0.2) | 16 (0.2) | 2 (0.2) | 0.25 | .617 |
Restricted/Reduced practice states are classified according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as preventing nurse practitioners from independently engaging in one or more domains of nurse practitioner practice (AANP, 2018).
Full practice states have laws that permit all nurse practitioners to independently evaluate patients; to diagnose, order and interpret diagnostic tests; and to initiate and manage treatments, including prescribing medications and controlled substances under the exclusive licensure authority of the state board of nursing (AANP, 2018). Nurse practitioners are assigned to state practice authority group based on the practice authority laws in their state of employment during their survey year.
Metropolitan area is defined based on the delineations produced by the Office of Management and Budget (Ruggles et al., 2019) and calculated based on an individual’s residence.