Worried! Phone in prescription

[nessa1982]

I work inat an outpatitent surgery center in PACU. The surgeon usually leaves an RX for pain meds for the patient, but today the MD left without leaving an RX I called the MD and he gave me a phone order to call to the pharmacy. I read back the phone order ect..but I am wondering If I just made a huge mistake..I know I should have told the MD to call in his own order..but I called it in and told the pharmacist to call the MD with any questions and to call the MDs office for his DEA #...did I just make a huge mistake? Is my license at risk? My manager and other RNS in house said it was fine..but I am still worried

[Dolce, RN]

No, I have done this plenty of times. It is legitimate if you have an order to call in a prescription. You did nothing wrong.

[nessa1982]

Even if it was just a phone order?

[kmoonshine, RN]

As long as there's an order from the MD and a # for the pharmacy to reach the Dr at, there shouldn't be a problem...unless it was a C-II drug, which you need a hardcopy for. - however, you wouldn't get in "trouble" for that; the pharmacy just wouldn't fill the script (they wouldn't fill it even if a doc called it in themselves; however, this can be worked around for emergency issues, such as a cancer patient on their deathbed needing more pain meds in the middle of the night - and usually at the pharmacist's discretion...anyways, too much info).

[nessa1982]

It was a narcotic..I gave the pharmacist the MDs office # to reach him for his DEA# ect..I usually make sure the MD left and RX but I guess he ran out the door before i could catch him.thank you guys.....now maybe I can sleep :)

[Dolce, RN]

Yes, I work with Dr's with Alzheimer's too. Maybe we work together! We have one who will tell the family, "I'm going to give you such-and-such prescription." We search high and low and find no such prescription. At least he is usually apologetic when we call him to ask where the aforementioned prescription could have wandered off to. Sometimes I wonder I think I should be paid extra to have to follow-up on the stuff these docs miss!

[nessa1982]

Seriously! Oh yes Dr. ..so and so.do you want the patient to have pain meds..or go home and be miserable in a few hours? Do you want them to follow up? Are they allowed to walk on that leg?? Wow and preop while he was waiting for the patient to be ready in OR I was chasing him around making him sign his post op dictations and orders from last time...erg..i guess I should have handed him a script pad too! I think next time I will just place one at the desk to remind him to write one..of course thats if he ever gives me one of his pads....erg:banghead:

[BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I call in scripts all the time. Why are you so worried? Stop worrying, you saved the doc from having to come back and write a RX and you saved the pt the wait time it would have taken to get the doc back!

You did the right thing!

[morte, LPN, LVN]

were i practice (the state) you cant call in a schedule II, so unless this was T3 the pharmacy should have refused, and you would have known right away.....

[rita359]

Check out your facility policies on this. You are only in trouble if the policies do not say you can do it. Know that almost anyone in dr offices call in rxs all the time. Doctors are used to someone else doing this.

[mpccrn, BSN, RN]

heck, i've called in scripts with less than that ....mr so an so wants a script for........ the doc says....go ahead. it is common practice at the dialysis unit i worked at. hated it each and every time because they usually were not dialysis related scripts!

[lpnflorida, LPN]

When I have had to call in medication orders. It first off does not happen often, but when it does. I call the physcian for the order. I write the order on the patient's order sheet, then I call the pharmacy.