OTC meds for Staff

Specialties School

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Do you have OTC medication for staff? Do you give it out or let them take it? Do you have a policy on it?

The nurse before me used to keep a mini pharmacy in her desk full of OTC stuff for staff. You have a headache? Here's some advil. Upset stomach? Sure we've got Pepto! (After she left last year, I was cleaning out her desk and found an old syringe of IM Dexamethasone............ I don't even want to begin to think of why that was here...).

My district doesn't have written policy on it, however the supervisors in our department have said dispensing OTC meds can technically be seen as practicing medicine without a license. We don't even have standing OTC orders for kiddos for fear of liability in an unfavorable event.

As you can imagine, the staff now have a hard time with the fact that I don't stock OTC's. I feel bad because I hate feeling miserable at work too--but like other's have said, they are adults and they can run down to the nearby CVS on their lunch.

5 Votes
Specializes in school nursing.
10 minutes ago, Mavnurse17 said:

As you can imagine, the staff now have a hard time with the fact that I don't stock OTC's. I feel bad because I hate feeling miserable at work too--but like other's have said, they are adults and they can run down to the nearby CVS on their lunch.

Our district lead nurse feels the same as your supervisors. But also...these people have surely worked somewhere where there wasn't a nurse, right? Where you might even ask a different coworker friend "Hey, do you have some tylenol/advil?" I don't get why they think we have it all, when they know the student medication policy (at my school) is no meds without a doctor order--even OTC. Why would I stock it otherwise?

2 Votes

Our receptionist has a bottle of Advil that she keeps in her drawer for the staff only. It comes out of my budget and the teachers can help themselves.

1 Votes
On 2/20/2020 at 4:32 PM, Mavnurse17 said:

My district doesn't have written policy on it, however the supervisors in our department have said dispensing OTC meds can technically be seen as practicing medicine without a license.

I'm curious what the rationale on this is? Our school doesn't have a policy and I'd like to present some options to admin. Like if a teacher comes and requests 400mg ibu for a HA, what is our (the SN) liability in giving that? (I'm asking this specifically because I've never counseled a staff member on what to take, but they do sometimes come in and say they'd like 2 tabs of Tylenol or 2 tabs of ibu or what have you). Some of the comments really emphasize not handing them the med, but I'm not sure that's less liability? I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts!

1 Votes
29 minutes ago, jnemartin said:

I'm curious what the rationale on this is? Our school doesn't have a policy and I'd like to present some options to admin. Like if a teacher comes and requests 400mg ibu for a HA, what is our (the SN) liability in giving that? (I'm asking this specifically because I've never counseled a staff member on what to take, but they do sometimes come in and say they'd like 2 tabs of Tylenol or 2 tabs of ibu or what have you). Some of the comments really emphasize not handing them the med, but I'm not sure that's less liability? I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts!

My district has said that dispensing any medication without an order could be seen as the RN making a clinical decision about what/how much of a med to give...which is not in our scope of practice. Seems very asinine for something as simple as a tylenol, but I get it. Their other rationale is that you don't know what other medications they take or conditions they may have, so if you give an aspirin and they're also taking Coumadin, that obviously causes some issues. They don't want us to have any liability if something were to go awry.

4 Votes
1 hour ago, Mavnurse17 said:

My district has said that dispensing any medication without an order could be seen as the RN making a clinical decision about what/how much of a med to give...which is not in our scope of practice. Seems very asinine for something as simple as a tylenol, but I get it. Their other rationale is that you don't know what other medications they take or conditions they may have, so if you give an aspirin and they're also taking Coumadin, that obviously causes some issues. They don't want us to have any liability if something were to go awry.

I gotcha. That makes sense. I'm not sure I agree... but I do understand.

1 Votes

We have a policy that we do not stock any over the counter medications so there would be no need to have a specific policy regarding dispensing of meds to staff.

I am glad - keeps the visits down from staff, on a busy day I don't need them interrupting me to ask about tylenol/motrin for whatever ails them. If I get asked I tell them we don't stock meds and direct them to the gas station mini mart down the street if they need something immediately or tell them to ask their fellow team members.

2 Votes
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