Overcounting valium in pyxis

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Just curious if i triggered a discrepincency in which there was an overcount of diazepam in the pyxis and found a methadone inside its bin, is that an issue? I did report it.

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Yes, it's an issue. Hopefully, pharmacy can sort it out.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Just because a med is in a Pyxis doesn't mean that each med is in the correct box. More than once I've pulled something that was the wrong dose/med because it was in the wrong place. Even pharmacy makes mistakes. Notify phamacy about what happened so they can address it.

Usually counting/inevntorying a controlled substance requires a 2nd nurse to witness it, as well as a requiring a 2rd nurse to resolve any discrepancy. So you (should) have a second set of eyes verifying what happened.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
Just because a med is in a Pyxis doesn't mean that each med is in the correct box. More than once I've pulled something that was the wrong dose/med because it was in the wrong place. Even pharmacy makes mistakes. Notify phamacy about what happened so they can address it.

Usually counting/inevntorying a controlled substance requires a 2nd nurse to witness it, as well as a requiring a 2rd nurse to resolve any discrepancy. So you (should) have a second set of eyes verifying what happened.

Not that they have ever acknowledged......

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I work in an icu and the patient was recieving scheduled narcotics not prn, none the less the machine does not need a witness to pull out scheduled valium, however it will promt you for the count and it told me that there supposed to be 11 and yet there were 13. Its never happened to me im pretty cut throat about observation.

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Just because a med is in a Pyxis doesn't mean that each med is in the correct box. More than once I've pulled something that was the wrong dose/med because it was in the wrong place. Even pharmacy makes mistakes. Notify phamacy about what happened so they can address it.

Usually counting/inevntorying a controlled substance requires a 2nd nurse to witness it, as well as a requiring a 2rd nurse to resolve any discrepancy. So you (should) have a second set of eyes verifying what happened.

I work in an icu and the patient was recieving scheduled narcotics not prn, none the less the machine does not need a witness to pull out scheduled valium, however it will promt you for the count and it told me that there supposed to be 11 and yet there were 13. Its never happened to me im pretty cut throat about observation. But i agree having a witness is nice.

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I work in an icu and the patient was recieving scheduled narcotics not prn, none the less the machine does not need a witness to pull out scheduled valium, however it will promt you for the count and it told me that there supposed to be 11 and yet there were 13. Its never happened to me im pretty cut throat about observation.

Our dispensing system works similar. You do not need a witness to remove medications, but you are asked for a count on controlled medications. You need a witness if you are wasting/returning, doing a narc (controlled substance) count, and fixing discrepancies.

If I notice a discrepancy when I am pulling a med, I grab a second nurse right away to verify the count. We immediately fix the discrepancy, usually with a note about our count being correct following an error.

There are lots of ways to cause a discrepancy (miscounting, fat-fingering when typing in the number, grabbing 1 when you want 2 or vice versa, human error). What is frustrating is when you follow someone who has made an error, have the correct number, and create another discrepancy because of the prior one (now the machine thinks there is 11 vials instead of 13).

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Frustrating indeed

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Just curious if i triggered a discrepincency in which there was an overcount of diazepam in the pyxis and found a methadone inside its bin, is that an issue? I did report it.

I am confused by the question.

Are you actually asking whether it is OK that there is a methadone cohabiting with diazepam?

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Often time over count discrepancies are caused by pharmacy. They stock and then update the count wrong or forget to update.

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No there were 2 errors: one was a methadone in the valium bin, and the other was 2 more valium in the valium bin (confusing i know).

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