Camp nursing

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I'm going to post this in both the school nurse page and the camp nurse page because I know many of my school nurse colleagues work at camps in the summer. I work as a volunteer nurse at a small (50 campers) church camp. My concern is giving medication without a physician order. The camp director thinks parent permission and a prescription bottle are sufficient but I feel I should have an order. Can anyone point me to a document stating this. I am from Pennsylvania. I don't want to be nit picky, but I also don't want to jeopardize my license. Thanks.

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Maybe start here: State Regulations for Pennsylvania | American Camp Association

Looks like they are managed by the PA Department of Health. You could call the and ask.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

-swoops in-

I answered on the Camp Nursing thread, but figured I'd answer here as well:

I'm from Pennsylvania - you need the MD order, prescription on the bottle is not good enough. (I work in a school year-round and have worked in Public Health for years.)

Also, I have caught the error of a parent dropping off the WRONG medications, which without the MD order, I would have given. Signed parent permission, dropped off medication, said the MD would fax the order to me, which they did. The order was for something like 5mg but the parent had dropped off the old 10mg order the kid hadn't been on in months d/t side effects, they just held onto the bottle in their med cabinet. Having the MD order is definitely a CYA importance, even if not required by the state a person is in.

I'll try to remember to find the information later to cite for you, but I worked for different companies who before I arrived had changed their policies due to legislation.

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