Coworker asked me to phone in med

llg, PhD, RN · May 27, 2007

I would be mildly concerned, but not extremely so. Don't you need a provider # or something to call in a med? If she already had stolen yours, then she probably wouldn't have called you in the first place.

I would bring it up casually with her when I saw her again and "fish" for a little more information. I'd say something like, "I'm happy you were able to get your med ... I hope you understand why I felt I couldn't call it in for you ... etc." and try to get her to talk about it some more, thus giving you some more information.

CritterLover, BSN, RN · May 27, 2007

i would be mildly concerned, but not extremely so. don't you need a provider # or something to call in a med? if she already had stolen yours, then she probably wouldn't have called you in the first place.
i would bring it up casually with her when i saw her again and "fish" for a little more information. i'd say something like, "i'm happy you were able to get your med ... i hope you understand why i felt i couldn't call it in for you ... etc." and try to get her to talk about it some more, thus giving you some more information.

you don't need anything to call in a non-controlled substance.

you don't need to be a nurse, you don't need to be a doctor, you don't need to be an ma. basically, you only have to sound like you know what you are talking about.

most pharmacies have a voice mail that you leave refill requests on. "hi, this is jenny from dr. smith's office. i need to call in a refill for jane doe's clonidine. please refill clonidine, 0.1mg, 1 tab po tid x 30 days, quantity 90, may refill x3."

the pharmacist will call if they have any questions about the refill request, but if it sounds reasonable, and is a refill of what they have been dispensing, they are going to fill it unless something makes them suspicious.

that might not be true in some small towns where everyone knows everyone, and the pharmacist might catch on.

scary, huh?

this may be different in different states, but none that i've worked in.

groovetta, i wouldn't worry about it too much. (bothered by it, yes. worried about it, no) your coworker wouldn't have needed to use your name, she could have made up one. (unless the pharmacy has a list as to who is authorized to call in scripts from certain offices. while i don't think it is a bad idea, i've never heard of any place with such a policy)

DMCaregiver · May 27, 2007

Hi Groovetta,

I also work in a doctors office. I am an LPN and call in scripts all the time for patients. Critterlover is correct about not needing any proper ID to do this, and your co-worker should know better than to ask you to call in any kind of medication for her. In my position, if I did what she asked, which I would never do without the doctors ok, and if this info got back to the doctor I work with or my supervisors it grounds for dismissile.

If your co-worked really needed this med she should have known she was getting low and called HER doctor on Friday, or she could have called one of the doctors she works for and explained what happened and the doctor MAY have called in a few for her.

But if she had gone to the pharmacy where she gets her scripts, the pharmacist would have given her a few tabs to hold her over the weekend and her own doctors office could have called in the script on Tuesday.

Either way she should have known better than to ask you to do something that could jeopardize your job.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · May 27, 2007

Since she is your co-worker she obviously works in the same office that you do. I would bet she either called it in herself or asked someone else in the office to do it for her. Either way, I think I'd have to at least mention it to the doctor. Perhaps she went to the office and picked up samples? I would politely tell her that you would appreciate her not calling you at home again to make such a request.

groovetta · May 28, 2007

you don't need anything to call in a non-controlled substance.
you don't need to be a nurse, you don't need to be a doctor, you don't need to be an ma. basically, you only have to sound like you know what you are talking about.
most pharmacies have a voice mail that you leave refill requests on. "hi, this is jenny from dr. smith's office. i need to call in a refill for jane doe's clonidine. please refill clonidine, 0.1mg, 1 tab po tid x 30 days, quantity 90, may refill x3."
the pharmacist will call if they have any questions about the refill request, but if it sounds reasonable, and is a refill of what they have been dispensing, they are going to fill it unless something makes them suspicious.
that might not be true in some small towns where everyone knows everyone, and the pharmacist might catch on.
scary, huh?
this may be different in different states, but none that i've worked in.
groovetta, i wouldn't worry about it too much. (bothered by it, yes. worried about it, no) your coworker wouldn't have needed to use your name, she could have made up one. (unless the pharmacy has a list as to who is authorized to call in scripts from certain offices. while i don't think it is a bad idea, i've never heard of any place with such a policy)

you're right, critterlover, it is way too easy for just anyone to phone in prescription meds. if you think about it, it is the same for controlled substances as well.

i appreciate all your responses. i was just surprised at the request. especially since this coworker was aware that i went to great lengths to get my son his adhd med [strattera- not a cont. substance] phoned in while on vacation. she was asking me to lie, break laws, and endanger the wellbeing of my family's short and longterm income. yeah, it ticks me off!

CritterLover, BSN, RN · May 28, 2007

:uhoh3:

you're right, critterlover, it is way too easy for just anyone to phone in prescription meds. if you think about it, it is the same for controlled substances as well.
i appreciate all your responses. i was just surprised at the request. especially since this coworker was aware that i went to great lengths to get my son his adhd med [strattera- not a cont. substance] phoned in while on vacation. she was asking me to lie, break laws, and endanger the wellbeing of my family's short and longterm income. yeah, it ticks me off!

[color=#483d8b]well, i work in a "border state" (border of two states, not two countries!), and the two states do things differently.

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[color=#483d8b]the state where i live (but don't work), we can all in controlled substances if we have a vaild dea number (no, thanks; don't want to know the doc's dea number :) )

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[color=#483d8b]the state where i work (but don't live; though, obviously, a large number of our patients live), you can't call in a script for a controlled substance at all. they had to have a hard-copy.

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[color=#483d8b]trying to make the story short: my first foray into home-health nursing was with a fairly small nursing agency in the area (where i no longer work) that dealt primarily with one docotor (his "nurse" was friends with our don, so we got almost all of his patients that required homecare). in the begining, i was told that we called in refills for perscriptions as a "curtosy" to the doctor's office (read: that nurse). we didn't have his dea number (thankfully), so we couldn't call in controlled substances. but, we called in refills for all sorts of cardiac meds without any kinds of guidelines at all, just out of "curtosy" :uhoh3:

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[color=#483d8b]anyway, towards the end of my tenure with that home health agency (i only lasted about 3 months, maybe a little longer), i called in a refill for coreg that apparently met with some issues with the pharmacy. i don't even remember what the "issues" were, but i do remember talking them over with my supervisor. all i can remember is the pharmacist telling me "this sort of problem happens quite a bit with your office." that was all i needed to hear to know that i was doing something, well, "unwise" at best. i never called in another refill, unless there were "refills available" on the pill bottle :) .

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[color=#483d8b]i resigned that particular home health job soon after that incident. just didn't trust those i had been working with.

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[color=#483d8b]after that, i never called in another rx from a doctor's office.

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[color=#483d8b]however, i do realize how easy it really is to do.

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[color=#483d8b]if i were you, i think i'd have lost a whole lot of respect (and trust) for my coworker. if i thought the office had been involved (in name or in "spirit") i probably would say something to the doc.

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[color=#483d8b]otherwise, it was a refill, it wasn't a narc or a controlled substance, let it go.........

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Editorial Team / Admin · May 28, 2007

My coworker phoned me at home today [sat.] asking if I would phone in some BP med for her since she ran out and it is a holiday weekend. She is not even a pt. in our office. I was floored and told her no, I could not phone in BP med for her. A few min. later she called back and said not to worry about it that she got some. Now in the back of my mind, I wonder did she phone some in herself using my name. If you all were me, would you let it lie or would you be concerned as well?

One requires a license to practice medicine and/or pharmacy and/or hold a DEA number in order to prescribe/dispense drugs, controlled or no.

Phoning meds in from office setting is under the direction of the physician/APN; standing order or verbal.

Calling in from home outside the parameters above is practicing medicine without a license....in every state. That's what the you should state to your co-worker.