Pharmacist Giving OTCs to Staff in Institution?

[Pharmavixen]

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At my workplace, we have a rule that the nurses aren't allowed to give out any medication to staff except acetaminophen. As the only pharmacist, I believe that my scope of practice allows me to dispense OTCs according to what my professional judgement allows. So at the height of allergy season, a jail guard comes to me with streaming eyes and nose, and ten hours to work in his shift, so I give him a Clariten. I've also given out Motrin to women with cramps.

So a few months ago I was hauled into the boss' office because I was "caught" giving an Actifed to someone. This boss, whose professional training is as a nurse, said that there were "liability issues."

For pharmacists who work in institutions: what are the rules where you are on dispensing OTCs to staff members for minor ailments that arise at work? I'm talking headaches, cramps, etc; nothing that looks like it might be serious.

 

[J ROD]

At my hospital, we give out tylenol or motrin for HAs....personally I have never had anyone come in and ask for allergy meds...but I would probably give them a Claritin.

I would also give someone Pepcid if they had heartburn or some Maalox.

As far as where I work, they basically leave it up to you and what you feel comfortable giving out....in that regard.

 

[Carboxide]

At my workplace, we have a rule that the nurses aren't allowed to give out any medication to staff except acetaminophen. As the only pharmacist, I believe that my scope of practice allows me to dispense OTCs according to what my professional judgement allows. So at the height of allergy season, a jail guard comes to me with streaming eyes and nose, and ten hours to work in his shift, so I give him a Clariten. I've also given out Motrin to women with cramps.

So a few months ago I was hauled into the boss' office because I was "caught" giving an Actifed to someone. This boss, whose professional training is as a nurse, said that there were "liability issues."

For pharmacists who work in institutions: what are the rules where you are on dispensing OTCs to staff members for minor ailments that arise at work? I'm talking headaches, cramps, etc; nothing that looks like it might be serious.

Part of becoming a pharmacist is learning to evaluate whether a patient is an acceptable self-care candidate...and then helping choose the correct med. In my opinion you are entirely within your scope of practice. Nurses have no training in evaluating a pt's needs, so they should not be doing so...

 

[rph3664]

At my last job, if an employee came down and asked for an OTC med, we would give it to them. Some wanted to pay for it, and we told them it was free, and they appreciated this. 🙂

We once hired a tech who had no pharmacy experience, and not long after she started, her FIL was in the hospital and she came down to get him some Tums because he had heartburn. I explained to her that we could not give him anything without a doctor's order, something she didn't realize yet.

 

[Pharmavixen]

Part of becoming a pharmacist is learning to evaluate whether a patient is an acceptable self-care candidate...and then helping choose the correct med. In my opinion you are entirely within your scope of practice. Nurses have no training in evaluating a pt's needs, so they should not be doing so...

The bolded part was the point I made - my boss is a nurse, a less than ideal situation. A nurse shouldn't be dictating my scope of practice.

How about giving out rx drugs? This I do only very very rarely. A few wks ago, we had a situation where many staffers couldn't go home - they were stuck in town overnight because of a large snowstorm, and missed their morning meds. People were asking me for stuff like metformin, pioglitazone, Synthroid, ramipril, etc. I reassured them they'd be okay missing a day. But does anybody ever accommodate a single dose of rx meds for a coworker?

 

[dingerx]

The bolded part was the point I made - my boss is a nurse, a less than ideal situation. A nurse shouldn't be dictating my scope of practice.

How about giving out rx drugs? This I do only very very rarely. A few wks ago, we had a situation where many staffers couldn't go home - they were stuck in town overnight because of a large snowstorm, and missed their morning meds. People were asking me for stuff like metformin, pioglitazone, Synthroid, ramipril, etc. I reassured them they'd be okay missing a day. But does anybody ever accommodate a single dose of rx meds for a coworker?

In a hospital setting if there is a natural disaster or they can't get home, as long as it's not controlled. I'm not having a friend, co-worker, etc. go without meds for a chronic/stable condition. Piss on the board of pharmacy if they have a problem with that (which they don't).

 

[Trakker]

This also depends on who owns the OTC drugs. If you own them, then it is no problem. But if your work place owns them then that may be a problem.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

This also depends on who owns the OTC drugs. If you own them, then it is no problem. But if your work place owns them then that may be a problem.

That's what I was thinking. I don't know that it's a scope of practice issue (especially for OTCs) but could be a theft of/misuse of government/hospital/corporate property issue. In retail it could probably be considered shrink/employee theft.

 

[Pharmavixen]

That's what I was thinking. I don't know that it's a scope of practice issue (especially for OTCs) but could be a theft of/misuse of government/hospital/corporate property issue. In retail it could probably be considered shrink/employee theft.

That's a reasonable consideration. But if you've got an employee feeling off because he's got a headache, or she has killer menstrual cramps, or allergic rhinitis, the loss from the cost of a couple of generic acetaminophen or ibuprofen or loratadine is trivial compared with the loss of productivity when the person books off early. And maybe somebody has to be called in to replace them, making big-time overtime - that would happen in my workplace.

All because the employer calls the loss of a couple of Motrin "shrinkage/theft."

As professionals, pharmacists should be trusted to not abuse this responsibility. (And yes, there should be consequences if they do.)

 

[All4MyDaughter]

That's a reasonable consideration. But if you've got an employee feeling off because he's got a headache, or she has killer menstrual cramps, or allergic rhinitis, the loss from the cost of a couple of generic acetaminophen or ibuprofen or loratadine is trivial compared with the loss of productivity when the person books off early. And maybe somebody has to be called in to replace them, making big-time overtime - that would happen in my workplace.

All because the employer calls the loss of a couple of Motrin "shrinkage/theft."

As professionals, pharmacists should be trusted to not abuse this responsibility. (And yes, there should be consequences if they do.)

I don't disagree. Just looking at it from a management standpoint. At my government job, it is definitely 100% against policy. It does happen though and I'm not bothered by it. We can get ibuprofen, OTC allergy meds, etc. But it's unofficial and only happens amongst pharmacy staff. The policy is actually that anyone who gets sick or hurt while at work is supposed to go to employee health and/or the ER.

 

[rph3664]

IMHO, giving someone a Tylenol, Benadryl, Imodium, etc. is not the same as one woman who was a retail tech, and she told me about a co-worker who would always just grab a Synthroid out of the stock bottle and took that. Not right.

 

[Pharmavixen]

I don't disagree. Just looking at it from a management standpoint. At my government job, it is definitely 100% against policy. It does happen though and I'm not bothered by it. We can get ibuprofen, OTC allergy meds, etc. But it's unofficial and only happens amongst pharmacy staff. The policy is actually that anyone who gets sick or hurt while at work is supposed to go to employee health and/or the ER.

This is pretty much identical to my workplace (you're in the VA, right? I imagine it's similar to a jail in that it's publicly funded and answers to gov't managers).

I'm thinking, though, that we need to have some sort of official policy. Not that there's a real problem that needs to be solved, but for the protection of pharmacists. I can see a situation where you'd get some control freak manager who's a touch sociopathic, or maybe who bears a grudge, who would land (bureaucratically speaking) with both feet on a pharmacist handing out a couple Tylenol to somebody with a headache.

Maybe I'm just paranoid. But I have been a civil servant for 13 years...

 

[delano2000]

I don't disagree. Just looking at it from a management standpoint. At my government job, it is definitely 100% against policy. It does happen though and I'm not bothered by it. We can get ibuprofen, OTC allergy meds, etc. But it's unofficial and only happens amongst pharmacy staff. The policy is actually that anyone who gets sick or hurt while at work is supposed to go to employee health and/or the ER.

This is our policy as well. We pretty much pulled the plug on giving out OTC meds to staff members i.e nurses, RTs etc.