OTC med guidelines

[purple12]

Hello,

I've started volunteering at small clinic at the Christian Aid center. It's tiny clinic with 1-2 nurses. At this point in time they do not have an MD. I'm curious if anyone knows where I can find guidelines regarding providing OTC medications. Some of the nurses feel that it's okay to provide OTC medications while others feel that it's not appropriate since we do not have an MD to prescribe them. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

It is admirable that you're volunteering. Please double check what your BON says you can do - generally nurses cannot prescribe or dispense meds on our own without standing, written, or verbal orders.

This could be solved with some standing orders (if a physician would volunteer to do so). What are you able to do in the clinic without an MD?

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I was taught (by an RN who did legal nurse consulting on the side) that it's not even in the RN's scope to recommend OTCs. We can't dispense either -- a pharmacist has to verify a med before the RN/LPN can administer it. Tread carefully! And I second ruby_jane's advice to check with the BON.