Meds for staff members ??

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Do any of you keep meds such as Tylenol, Ibuprophen, Pepto Bismol in your clinic for staffers ? I have always wondered if some do, and what are the legalities of this practice ?

Thanks ;)

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It is no more legal for you to give adult employees medication without an order than it is to give over the counter medication in the hospital without an provider order. The nurse practice act and the pharmacy practice act do not change due to setting a nurse works in.

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HHMM? I'm wondering at both the elementary school and the High school I've been at we do keep some OTC (mainly motrin and triple ABX ointment)... but I don't administer it to anyone - more if a teacher/staff member come in and ask for it they are shown the drawer and medicate themselves. Much like at the last hospital I was at we could stop at the in house pharmacy for OTC for ourselves.

Now I'm wondering if I should continue this practice. Food for thought!

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The difference between you as a school nurse and the hospital in house pharmacy is that .... (drum roll) ..... you are not a pharmacist!

In the effort to protect their turf, pharmacists have call this "dispensing" and most state pharmacy acts say that only they, pharmacists, can dispense and nurse practice acts state that a licensed provider must write an order for OTCs. One Occ Health Nurse I know installed a OTC vending machine in the health office for adult employees to buy their own OTCs to get around the law.

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