Do routine, non-controlled meds need to be behind double lock?

[cathyrn01]

Just wondering if anyone knows if there is a national standard on this issue, or does it vary by facility? Thanks!

[SlightlyMental_RN]

Everything in our facility is double-locked. (med-room door and then Pyxis) Also, ALL of our meds are in Pyxis, even Maalox.

[CrazierThanYou]

I work at a small ALF and we have a locked med cabinet. Inside that med cabinet is a separate lock box. In that box, we keep: oxycodone, fentanyl patches, valium, xanax. Tramadol isn't locked in the box, but it is locked in the cabinet. We also have insulin locked in a lock box in the fridge.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Everything in our facility is double-locked. (med-room door and then Pyxis) Also, ALL of our meds are in Pyxis, even Maalox.

this is more about inventory control and cost control, than anything else.....

[SlightlyMental_RN]

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this is more about inventory control and cost control, than anything else.....

I disagree. This is more about being a pysch facility, where patients have been known to try to OD on the weirdest things.

[nicole109]

Where I worked, our pxysis was not behind a locked med room door, but all of our controlled drugs were in the bottom, and those had to be counted each time they were accessed. Lyrica was one of them. Also there were some other random ones that had to be counted each time you accessed them--and I can't remember which ones they were, Prilosec maybe, but I was told that those were double counted because nurses would steal them because they were so expensive over the counter and either use them for themselves or give them to patients on discharge.