General Chemoprophylaxis given by public health practitioner ?

[SPSS]

I was wondering if the EIS, public health practitioner or outbreaks investigators are allowed to prescribe prophylaxis medications in case of an outbreak such as antimalarial drugs, ciprofloxacin or rifampicin etc..or oven vaccination or do they refer to a physician/healthcare facility for that ??

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[Solara]

It's an interesting question. If an EIS officer discovers a N. Meningitis outbreak among military recruits, for instance, my guess is they give advice/an order for all the other recruits to be given rifampin prophylaxis, and the relevant public health department carries that out. Not sure if they're actually the ones putting the signature on the prescriptions. If they're an MD, maybe they can, but if they're not an MD, then there's probably some sequence of events where eventually some MD prescribes them (and makes sure there are no adverse reactions with each individual patient).

 

[PointEstimate]

I think it is very unlikely that an EIS officer who is not also trained as a clinician will be writing prescriptions. That privilege is typically reserved for clinicians (which the DOJ defines as: physicians, dentists, podiatrists, veterinarians, mid-level providers). The public health team is unlikely to be working by themselves and probably has access to someone who could write the prescription pad.

This website has some information on prescription writing practices/guidelines/laws: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/manuals/pract/section5.htm