Do you give out pills...???

[rxpharmdqd]

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Do you give out control pills when patient call back and say we give him/her short??

A patient called and said we gave 7 pills short of vicodin out of 150 tabs. Of course we double count controls.... anyway, I counted how many we had in stock. To make the situation more difficult, computer 'on hand' did not match with actual 'on hand' quantity. We were about 40 pills short than what computer showed. If we had 'over', then answer would be easy... So, there was no way for me to know if we gave 7 tabs short to this patient.

What would you do? Thanks!

 

[FruitFly]

Do you give out control pills when patient call back and say we give him/her short??

A patient called and said we gave 7 pills short of vicodin out of 150 tabs. Of course we double count controls.... anyway, I counted how many we had in stock. To make the situation more difficult, computer 'on hand' did not match with actual 'on hand' quantity. We were about 40 pills short than what computer showed. If we had 'over', then answer would be easy... So, there was no way for me to know if we gave 7 tabs short to this patient.

What would you do? Thanks!

Tell em you double count and can't by policy. But that even though every fill you make sure the qty is accurate that u could assure the customer of it maybe even by counting it up right in front of the patient if they'd like. That way there's no perceived discrepancies after they leave the store. (for all you know someone else in the patient's home accessed his or her meds).

 

[Doctor M]

Do you give out control pills when patient call back and say we give him/her short??

A patient called and said we gave 7 pills short of vicodin out of 150 tabs. Of course we double count controls.... anyway, I counted how many we had in stock. To make the situation more difficult, computer 'on hand' did not match with actual 'on hand' quantity. We were about 40 pills short than what computer showed. If we had 'over', then answer would be easy... So, there was no way for me to know if we gave 7 tabs short to this patient.

What would you do? Thanks!

give him the 7 pills...then next time (flag the profile) you, the RpH triple count the meds yourself, circle the qty and initial the qty...let the pt know that you have triple counted the meds and all the does are in the vial and that now there should be no issues...we all make mistakes; especially counting mistakes...if it happens a second time, then there is a problem, not with the counting, but diversion...

 

[Doctor M]

Tell em you double count and can't by policy. But that even though every fill you make sure the qty is accurate that u could assure the customer of it maybe even by counting it up right in front of the patient if they'd like. That way there's no perceived discrepancies after they leave the store. (for all you know someone else in the patient's home accessed his or her meds).

We triple count all narcs; CIII we double count; but i will say that we are not perfect...we give the pt the benefit of the doubt once; we flag the profile and go from there...

 

[FruitFly]

We triple count all narcs; CIII we double count; but i will say that we are not perfect...we give the pt the benefit of the doubt once; we flag the profile and go from there...

Sounds fair enough. I agree that you can't assume diversion just by a one-time deal, and give the patient the benefit of the doubt. As long as it's noted in the profile, I think you've really served both the duty to patient care, as well as to protecting the public from diversion. CII, I would still be weary of, just because there's almost like a zero-tolerance for discrepancy. CIII-V, ok, patient care could factor in a little more.

 

[Doctor M]

Sounds fair enough. I agree that you can't assume diversion just by a one-time deal, and give the patient the benefit of the doubt. As long as it's noted in the profile, I think you've really served both the duty to patient care, as well as to protecting the public from diversion. CII, I would still be weary of, just because there's almost like a zero-tolerance for discrepancy. CIII-V, ok, patient care could factor in a little more.

Ive miscounted CII's. Patient was talking to me and i got distracted;he asked to count the oxy 30 in front of me with a tray and I said sure...I watched him count them and i shorted him 10 pills...from that point, i triple count all narcs; i dont care if it takes an extra 5 mins to fill the rx. At least i know that the pt gets what was prescribed. We use to give the benefit of the doubt but we started to get too many narcs coming back saying we shorted them...Now we triple count the hard narcs, circle the qty, and initial the qty...at the end of the nite, we inventory the oxycodone and so far no one has come back claiming a shortage...problem solved.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

I too do the same. I always give benefit of doubt first time, flag it, and then double count all the pills and tell the customer he has the option of us counting in front of him.

 

[Sparda29]

First time, yes. Then just monitor and see if it happens again, see who's been working when the shortages have been happening. (I've seen incidences when customers kept calling complaining about being shorted on Vicodin.)

We set up a trap where we told the common person that the normal counting area was too crowded and told them to go count in the spot by the sink. (The spot by the sink is monitored by camera.) Lo and behold, the person was slipping pills into their pockets.

 

[npage148]

We, at my store, do not ever. We double count all controls (CII-CV), tramadol, soma and several others. They are right when the leave the door and it's a no budge policy. If they have issues we count it in front of them before they leave.