Transportation of narcotics and other drugs

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I have a question and maybe someone can help - a hospice social worker was asked by her agency to transport controlled substances from the pharmacy to a pt. home; and on another occasion, compazine from the pharmacy to a pt. home. These were on-call after hour visits and the on-call nurse was unavailable. The social worker is decidedly uncomfortable with this, and I wonder if, as well as poor practice, that this was outside the law? Can someone help?:eek:

Thanks.

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

I am not certain of the intricasies of the law, however, your pharmacist will be well versed in those laws and should be able to clarify this for you. It is my understanding that we are walking a very fine line by asking non pharmacy personnel to transport medications.

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Good suggestion re: pharmacist - and yes, my thoughts are that if a SW was in an accident or if the pt. said the drug was missing - the SW could lose possibly be liable or even risk his/her license.

ps - this hospice has also had the CHAPLAIN deliver roxanol to a family!!! Just found that out! Sheesh!!

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice, Home Health.

Nurses are required to deliver meds to patients home. We use a local compounding pharmacy, and we have a medication receipt form that we fill out with med, dosage, and quantity of meds, we sign at the bottom, and receiving family member or patient signs and dates. I make it a habit not to have any of this out in the open, always carrying in my nurses bag zipped closed. I don't want to advertise what i'm carrying for safetys' sake. I try to order as much as I can through the patients local pharmacy, but some things, like roxanol and abh capsules you just can't get at your local cvs.

linda

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

Where I worked, no staff person transported medications to any patient's home. It was outside policy for even nurses to do so. Pharmacies delivered, or family members picked-up.

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Good suggestion re: pharmacist - and yes, my thoughts are that if a SW was in an accident or if the pt. said the drug was missing - the SW could lose possibly be liable or even risk his/her license.

ps - this hospice has also had the CHAPLAIN deliver roxanol to a family!!! Just found that out! Sheesh!!

Why would the Chaplain or a SW be any different than a nurse as far as liability? Any member of our staff is allowed to pick up medications and deliver to the patient - even office staff. We even have volunteers deliver medications. As long as they have a medication sheet for the patient to sign, what would be the problem?

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Shoot, at the freestanding psych facility in which I work, the larger hospital pharmacy that supplies us sends us urgent meds (inc. schedule meds) via taxi -- some schmoe taxi driver who has nothing to do with either facility (or healthcare, for that matter -- he's just whatever driver happened to be free when the pharmacy called the taxi company) is handed the bag of drugs, and he drives to our facility and knocks on the back door ...

I'm not recommending this, y'understand ... :o But if we can get away with doing that, I'm sure there's no problem with a social worker employed by the program transporting meds.

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Well, maybe my fears are unfounded - but when working in a hospital where 2 nurses - and ONLY nurses - have to sign a narcotics count and keep a key to the locked narc cart - it seems very loose and unprofessional to handle narcotics this way. A CAB driver, for heaven's sake! I still advocate for a policy that has nurse or designated family member ONLY handling narcotics. How is the cab driver, the SW or the chaplain going to be able to read a label and know if that drug is the correct dosage, the correct route, the correct patient, the correct drug, and correct times? The fewer fingers in that pot, the safer. :eek:

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How is the cab driver, the SW or the chaplain going to be able to read a label and know if that drug is the correct dosage, the correct route, the correct patient, the correct drug, and correct times? The fewer fingers in that pot, the safer. :eek:

Well, the cab-driver-system bugs me, too, but for heaven's sake, we're not talking about any of these people administering the drugs, just delivering them. Let's not get carried away ...

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Well, the cab-driver-system bugs me, too, but for heaven's sake, we're not talking about any of these people administering the drugs, just delivering them. Let's not get carried away ...

Well, not administering them to the Pt anyway. :D :jester:

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