[geniann]

I work for a VERY busy family practice. My doctor is great but he is WAY to trusting. I walk into rooms all the time and find his script pad on the desk- I am afraid to leave them around for fear a patient would swipe it. How would the doctor know? The bad thing too is that his signature is VERY easy to duplicate. I grab the pads up as soon as I see them but I am afraid to say anything to him- afterall HE is the doctor. With the vast amount of patients we see, how would we know if the pharmacy filled a forged script? I write out alot of scripts(then he signs them), and I worry I would get in trouble. Anyone know how to handle this or should I check with the pharmacies- or am I just worrying for nothing? Thanks!

[cardsRN]

if i were you i'd be worried about this too. i would not be comfortable writing rx's. what if an error is made? you're out of your scope of practice. if i were you i'd say something to that md about being so careless with his rx pads- ASAP. the dangers here are too many to list. perhaps he just isn't thinking about what he's doing. perhaps he is very naive. frame what you say in concern for his license and the dishonesty of others, so many pts, other staff anyone could write their own ticket and it would all come back on him, your office. and you could find yourself out of a job. just my opinion. be careful.

[NRSKarenRN]

My PCP went to Electronic medical record 6+ years ago, includes prescritions. He types info into cahrt, pick up RX at fron desk upon discharge---paper has counterfeit watermark. Solved this problem instantly. Another doctor photocopies all rx for chart file in case of tampering.

Document your concern in writing to physician, mail copy to yourseld in sealed envelope, leave unopened. Postmark will be proof you took action.

[geniann]

Well I talked to some of the other nurses in the office and one jokingly said something to doc- He said " yeah I know"- he didn't leave any behind since. Thank you ladies for your insight. Where I work all the nurses including the medical assistants write AND call in orders all the time. My doctor sees ALOT of elderly people and they can sometimes be on 10-20 different meds including the holistic meds he orders. If he would have to write them all out it would take forever, so when the nurse rooms the patient she also writes the scripts and puts them on the chart for the doc to sign. If he doesn't wish to sign them, he just rips them up and thows them away.The electronic thing sounds great but I don't see it happening with us anytime soon. I just wish there was a way for the pharmacy to detect forged scripts. I know they can when it is obvious but what about the little ones- or even non narcotic ones. I have heard my doc give scripts for non patients- like other docs- and sometimes for narcotics. We don't get our scripts back ,or at least I don't see them, so I am just gonna have to hope noone has forged any. I am sure I am jus stressing. I was just reading a post about young addicts and we see alot of kids- you know how sneaky they can be. Ok I will relax now- it is out of my hands. Thanks to you all for your help.

[drmorton2b]

Most Pharmacists and Techs who routinely work at the Pharmacy Recognize Doctor ABC's writing. However most retail Pharmacies have "floater Pharmacists" on at least once a week, so one may not be familiar with that DOCs writing. Alot of Doctors and Hospitals (the smart ones anyway) have Pads for Narcotics (which is anything Controlled in this case) and one for non-controlled stuff. More then likely the scum bag who would have taken the pad would have written for something with a high Dispense amount (that is if they even get the Sigs right).

As far as looking up what the Doc has wrote, some retail pharmacy systems allow the look-up of all RXs written under a specific DEA #.