any ideas regarding prescription refills??

[vjohnsonrn]

We recently did a survey in our clinic regarding the type of calls we get and the amount of calls we get on a weekly basis. Our number 1 calls have to do with appointments and referrals. The number 2 highest call were prescription refill requests. My clinic recieves appx. 590 calls per week just for refills not includung the the request that come via fax.

Presently we are utilizing a prescription line that the patient's use to leave messages and the PCP's secretary will transcribe and forward the request to the RN's, when then make an assessment as to if the prescription can be refilled etc. Our new fearless leader ( new director of outpatient clinic)feels the nurses should take the messages from the prescription line because then it would free up the secretaries. Secretaries are not responsible for patient care and making life altering decisions.

I work with 5 PCP and each one of them has their own secretary.

This has been an ongoing battle between the RN's in our clinic and Administration. How do others handle prescriptions.

[darla80]

We are a one physician one nurse office with no RX voicemail so the original mesage is filtered through the receptionist.

but if we had a voicemail RX line I think it would be great ..

in your offfice ..if the nurses listened to the RX message with the chart in hand ..documented it and took care of the RX right then it seems it could save alot of time??

I wonder how well the pts leave messages on voicemail?

Do they actually leave on voicemail the name of med as well as dosage? Our patients tell the receptionist ..I need the little sugar pill or the water pill or the blood presure medicine and they may take three different antihypertenisves..it can be a time consuming chore figuring out what they need

Do you run into issues about clarity of request?

what kind of practice are you in?

I work IM ..I love it !!

Joy and Smiles *Darla

[tjn97]

I work in a 6 physician family practice office. The nurses take the messages off the voicemail, not the secretaries. Some people do leave messages about rx's when scheduling an appointment, but that doesn't happen alot.

We do get some "doozy" messages, though. "I need my white BP pill" and then don't leave their phone number or pharmacy name. We just love those! :angryfire

I dont' what we'd do without the prescription line!

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

the more people in the information line the more confusing it is. The last clinic I worked in had the secretary, or whoever answered the phone, put the call in the nurse's voice mail. The nurse listened when she had time and got the patient's chart, or requested it via regular channels, but all responses were done at specific times of the day. In fact, the voice mail clearly stated that reviews of charts were done at those times only. It also helped when the MD's reinforced to the patient that some things WILL NOT be refilled over the phone and that all requests go thru the nurse.

[laurasc]

I work in a 6-doc family practice and walk-in clinic and I'm the only nurse there. When a patient requests a rx refill the receptionist takes the message and passes it on to the doc who okays it or not. I rarely have anything to do with that. We do however limit those requests by charging patients $10 per rx that is phoned in on the patient's request. What helps a lot too is that we do have the walk-in that is open all day, so a patient can come in and get the rx renewed there.

[IstikmRN]

At the 1 MD, 3 mid level family practice I work at we do most of our refills by fax. Patients call their pharmacy and request their RF, the pharm faxes and the chart and request go to the nurse who works with that provider. Rf's are reviewed for appropriateness and charted, then faxed back @1130 and 1630 in batches, by pharm. That way we have a confirmation that the RX was done on our end. It sure helps when the pharm or Pt. says "you didn't call in my Rx"! I say "you're right ,I faxed it in,here is the confirmation that I did." Then I fax the confirmation to the pharm along with the rx. It has taken a lot of Pt reeducation but it has been worth it. We used to do each Rx as it came over by phone and those V-mails are so unreliable.we still do some by phone on a case by case basis but nothing like we used to. have a great monday, ya'll!

[kids]

I am chiming in kind of late on this.

The 6 (7?) provider Peds clinic I worked in had a policy of accepting would only accept refill requests from the pharmacy, (except ADHD meds). It was posted all over the place and was on the voicemail line intro. We stuck to it no matter what.