Preop meds

[bsmucker]

In our day surgery area of the hospital, we have a Pyxis for medications. When Anesthesia see's a patient preop pharmacy requires them to put the order in before we can get the medication out. (And we cannot override) So for example if they order a transdermal scopalamine patch we have to wait for pharmacy to get the order, before we can get the med. this is causing delays to the OR and very frustrating. Interested how other places handle this!

[klone, MSN, RN]

In our day surgery area of the hospital, we have a Pyxis for medications. When Anesthesia see's a patient preop pharmacy requires them to put the order in before we can get the medication out. (And we cannot override) So for example if they order a transdermal scopalamine patch we have to wait for pharmacy to get the order, before we can get the med. this is causing delays to the OR and very frustrating. Interested how other places handle this!

That's not unusual. A question - do you typically premedicate with a scopolamine patch BEFORE they go into surgery?

My only solution is to make sure anesthesia puts the orders in ASAP.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Our main OR has a satellite pharmacy staffed from 0630-1500 by a pharmacist. Their sole responsibility is to take care of periop orders. They are also responsible for our day surgery area. Perhaps a similar set-up or just a pharmacist dedicated to the periop area would be helpful? Our anesthesia providers will also frequently bring their own drugs from the OR- Versed, steroids, etc. because it's faster for them.

[RainMom]

We have a pre-printed order set that the docs mark after an anesthesia visit. We have a pyxis but the entire formulary is available to pull up under any pt (no over-riding). The order set is later scanned into the chart by the medical records dept. Pharmacy verifies any pre-op antibiotics. We fax the order sheet to pharmacy if we need a breathing tx because RT does that & charts against it in a different software program; we enter that order in the computer. Occasionally we have to fax the sheet of orders to pharmacy for something ordered that we don't keep in pyxis, but they do pretty good about getting it to us quickly; we also call when we fax so they know we're waiting on it for a pre-op pt.