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What policy or strategy do you use that passes TJC for taking medication with you when giving a dose of sedative to a patient in preop, carrying pressors on a long trek tothe ICU or sux for along hall to PACU?
Some consultants recommend a carefully researched policy:
" carrying medication may get confusing. The response to the anesthesia associations states that the practice is permissible if permitted by organization policy. It is important for our readers to remember however that if they want to permit this practice it must be authorized in the policy you developed for MM.03.01.01, EP 4 and that policy must address safe storage, handling, security, disposition, and return to storage. Thus if you are going to allow practitioners to carry medication on their person you must know that the medication is not going to deteriorate during the time it is with the practitioner and if carried on their person, stored at 98.6 degrees. Secondly you will have to consider how long such a medication may be stored by the practitioner, again based on package insert instructions about drug stability from the manufacturer. Third your policy is going to have to address medication security. The difficult issue will be when medications are placed down somewhere, do they remain secure if not in the physical possession of the practitioner. You will also need to consider the security issue about individuals who may leave the building while still carrying un-administered medication. Fourth you will have to consider disposition and return to stock. How long can someone carry a medication and still return it to inventory for re-use if it has been stored outside of normal room temperature. For example could you return it to stock if someone made a mistake and took a medication home in their lab coat pocket and that lab coat was stored in their car trunk? The direction to Joint Commission surveyors on this issue is clear when it states: “Our interpretation has not changed.” We advise our readers who have already prohibited the practice of carrying medications to not alter their current practice. Using anesthesia carts, OR-specific automated dispensing cabinets, or respiratory therapy carts is far easier than the processes required to develop a safe and compliant “carry-on-person” policy."
Some consultants recommend a carefully researched policy:
" carrying medication may get confusing. The response to the anesthesia associations states that the practice is permissible if permitted by organization policy. It is important for our readers to remember however that if they want to permit this practice it must be authorized in the policy you developed for MM.03.01.01, EP 4 and that policy must address safe storage, handling, security, disposition, and return to storage. Thus if you are going to allow practitioners to carry medication on their person you must know that the medication is not going to deteriorate during the time it is with the practitioner and if carried on their person, stored at 98.6 degrees. Secondly you will have to consider how long such a medication may be stored by the practitioner, again based on package insert instructions about drug stability from the manufacturer. Third your policy is going to have to address medication security. The difficult issue will be when medications are placed down somewhere, do they remain secure if not in the physical possession of the practitioner. You will also need to consider the security issue about individuals who may leave the building while still carrying un-administered medication. Fourth you will have to consider disposition and return to stock. How long can someone carry a medication and still return it to inventory for re-use if it has been stored outside of normal room temperature. For example could you return it to stock if someone made a mistake and took a medication home in their lab coat pocket and that lab coat was stored in their car trunk? The direction to Joint Commission surveyors on this issue is clear when it states: “Our interpretation has not changed.” We advise our readers who have already prohibited the practice of carrying medications to not alter their current practice. Using anesthesia carts, OR-specific automated dispensing cabinets, or respiratory therapy carts is far easier than the processes required to develop a safe and compliant “carry-on-person” policy."
