Liability on phoned-in rx's
Started by g40631
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Have all doctor calls recorded and saved long-term.
The only thing I can think of is to do the same thing nursing staff does and annotate TORB, signifying that you received the info and verified it by reading it back to the person who provided the info. It'll still be he said vs she said, but at least it'll be more defensible. If you make it a habit to repeat everything back, then your staff would be able to testify to that fact IF it ever came to that.
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If it's on paper, then it "happened". Meaning, if you wrote it that way, then that was what was called in. Documentation is meant to show that something happened, and not to prove that it didn't happen (because anything can be scribbled on a prescription pad). You already have a professional responsibility (sort of self-policed if you will) to make sure that what you write is accurate.
I think a little bit of patient research would go a long way. What dose was the patient on before? Is the medication consistent with all of the other medications phoned in? Double-check with the patient if you have time.
From what I've seen, a doctor who phones in a prescription(s) is not likely to call in something that doesn't fit some sort of recent diagnosis or change. If he calls in Amoxil 500 and Atarax 10mg, then the third prescription probably isn't Viagra 100 or Xenical 120. Now if it's the patient only doctor and PCP, then I suppose it might be hard to know one way or the other.
I think a little bit of patient research would go a long way. What dose was the patient on before? Is the medication consistent with all of the other medications phoned in? Double-check with the patient if you have time.
From what I've seen, a doctor who phones in a prescription(s) is not likely to call in something that doesn't fit some sort of recent diagnosis or change. If he calls in Amoxil 500 and Atarax 10mg, then the third prescription probably isn't Viagra 100 or Xenical 120. Now if it's the patient only doctor and PCP, then I suppose it might be hard to know one way or the other.
This is the key, read everything back to the person who phones in the order. Include the name and DOB of the patient as well as all particulars of the order you received. Also, make sure you get the name of the person you spoke to.....
They still call in prescriptions? I thought everything went to voicemail now. 😛
Which is worse...If they leave something important out, you've got to call back and hope you don't end up playing phone tag.
whats really funny is when you call back to verify something and you talk to the medical assistant or someone other than the doctor to verify something.. and they say "yeah thats right.." and you ask for their name for documentation and they say "uhm.. hold on".. and then verify that its correct. UGH.
I really despise this phone-in bs, it puts a tremendous amount of liability on us and to be quite frank, it is a colossal waste of time. As most (all?) states stipulate that it must be a pharmacist/intern taking phoned rxs, I believe we should demand to speak only to the prescriber instead of the *****ic office janitor they have hired that can't pronounce diflucan correctly. I believe this would change the situation very quickly and get these stupid offices updated to the 21st century via the employ of fax machines and escripting.
I don't like phone-in either, but fax and e-script aren't gonna cut it if urgent things are needed.
Federal law: 50% on doctor 50% on pharmacist.
Regardless of how much you annotate, if they sue you for something "bad" happened, they will find a way to "catch" you. 😡
Hmmmm... you got a law to show on that?
gotta took 2 law exams wthin 1 year...passed...I hope what they prensented in my package was correct..that's what I learned and tested on. Why? You've never heard of 50:50 responsibility before?
Nope. Haven't heard of it.
I would think it's something that could be argued with sufficient evidence. If you had no information to indicate the order was in error, had documentation of refusal to consult, then you could have that liability significantly reduced/shifted to pt/prescriber. Granted I have no experience in this, but that's how it was explained to us in our law class.
A few weeks ago, I called a MD office to change a medication due to price and that the child was an infant and would rub off the ointment. A complete change of the drug and route of administration, from ophthalmic erythromycin ointment to MD choice of eye drop. The medical assistant told me that the doctor signed on the "substitution permitted" line and therefore it was okay to change the drug and route of administration. I explained that the line was there for generic substitution, however she was ignorant and repeated her first statement. I requested MD immediately and he changed to gentamicin drops, and I told him educate his staff. He took the info positively, problem averted.
Going to your question, whatever you write is what happened. If it's the first time a patient is getting an rx for that drug, then its hard to compare to their profile to determine change in dosage. If you see a increase or decrease therapy, I usually put a note on the bag to let the patient know. This helps catch the error if there is one before it leaves the pharmacy.
Going to your question, whatever you write is what happened. If it's the first time a patient is getting an rx for that drug, then its hard to compare to their profile to determine change in dosage. If you see a increase or decrease therapy, I usually put a note on the bag to let the patient know. This helps catch the error if there is one before it leaves the pharmacy.
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