North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 21 - OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS › Chapter 46 - BOARD OF PHARMACY › Section .1400 - HOSPITALS: OTHER HEALTH FACILITIES › Section 46 .1414 - DRUG DISTRIBUTION AND CONTROL

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a)
				MEDICATION ORDERS.
(1) Pharmacists shall
				dispense medications from a health care facility pharmacy only upon receipt of
				a medication order. A mechanism shall be in place to verify the authenticity of
				the medication order. Oral orders shall be recorded immediately and signed
				within the time frame established by regulatory agencies and health care
				facility policies and procedures.
(2) All medication orders shall be received
				and reviewed by a pharmacist and shall contain the:
(A) patient's name, location and other
				identifying information such as history or medical records number;
(B) medication name, strength, dosage form,
				route of and directions for administration. In the absence of a facility policy
				on interpretation of routes of administration, the route of administration must
				be specified;
(C) discernible
				quantity to be dispensed. Medical orders issued from a health care facility
				shall, in the absence of a different indicated quantity or facility policy, be
				deemed to authorize dispensing of a 30-day supply;
(D) date the order was written; and
(E) prescriber's signature as set out in
				Subparagraph (a)(1) of this Rule (may include electronic signature or
				verification).
(3) The
				health care facility pharmacy and the pharmacist-manager shall ensure that
				medication orders for patients requiring continuous drug therapy are entered
				into a patient medication profile, either manual or automated. The medication
				profile shall contain the:
(A) patient's
				name, location, and clinical data required for safe dispensing and
				administration of medication orders, such as age, height, weight, sex, and
				allergies;
(B) medication name,
				strength, dosage form, route of, and directions for administration;
(C) medication start date;
(D) medication discontinuance date;
				and
(E) identification of
				pharmacist responsible for or verifying technician entry of the medication
				order.
(4) Abbreviations
				used in medication orders shall be agreed to, jointly adopted, and published by
				the medical, nursing, pharmacy, and medical records staff of the health care
				facility.
(5) A method to protect
				the health care facility patients from indefinite, open-ended medication orders
				must be provided. The prescriber shall be notified that the order shall be
				stopped before such action takes place by one or more of the following:
(A) the routine monitoring of patient's drug
				therapy by a pharmacist;
(B) a
				health care facility-approved, drug class-specific, automatic stop order policy
				covering those drug orders not specifying a number of doses or duration of
				therapy; or
(C) a health care
				facility-approved automatic cancellation of all medication orders after a
				predetermined time interval unless rewritten by the prescriber.
(6) Health care facilities that
				credential practitioners for prescribing privileges within the facility shall
				provide the health care facility pharmacy with credentialing information
				annually or immediately upon discharge or when privileges are suspended or
				terminated.