Narcotic Prescriptions

A prescription can be identified as legally authorised written instruction by a prescribing officer to a pharmacist to dispense medication.

A pharmacist must check any medication that is administered to a patient. This is the

Provider status is a wonderful idea, pharmacists getting paid for things that they do. However, pharmacists must be allowed

-A physician assistant may now prescribe a schedule II controlled substance, with the limitations on aggregate amount of medicine not to exceed 30 day supply. Any refills or prescription beyond 30days supply must be authorized by supervising physician.

There is no question that the alarming rate of deaths related to opioid overdose needs to be addressed in this county, but the way to solve the problem seems to remain a trial and error approach at this point. A patient is injured, undergoes surgery, experiences normal wear and tear on a hip, knee or back and has to live with that pain for the rest of their life or take a narcotic pain medication in order to improve their quality of life and at least be able to move. The above patients are what narcotic pain medications were created for, a population of people that use narcotic pain medications for fun is what is creating a problem. Narcotics are addictive to both populations, however taking the narcotic for euphoric reasons is not the intention of the prescription that the physician is writing. The healthcare system needs to find a way to continue to provide patients that experience chronic pain with the narcotics that work for them while attempting to ensure the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) doesn’t have to worry about a flood of pain pills hitting the streets by granting access to the population with a substance abuse problem.

There are several types of medication, each has a purpose and function needed for their administration via the different routes.

The person dispensing must also be appropriately trained, follow safe systems of work and understand the side effects of various drugs; be able to access appropriate information and understand when to access advice or further information

Non care setting - Medications are often stored and administered in a variety of non-health care settings. These settings include: primary and secondary schools, Child day care centres, Board and care homes, Jails and prisons. In all these settings, employees frequently are responsible for handling and administering prescription and over-the-counter medications to clients or residents. Some organizations may employ licensed health professionals to directly manage the medication administration process. However, many of these settings have no licensed health professionals involved. Where medications are stored and administered to individuals, written policies and procedures should address the following: Acquisition of medications (e.g., from parents, caregivers, pharmacies), Specification of which personnel are allowed access to medications and allowed to administer medications to students, clients or residents, Labelling and packaging of medications managed for students, clients

* Trained and designated care workers give controlled drugs, another trained, and designated staff should witness. (Standard 9.7 and 20.9)

The nurse must verify the physician’s medication order, including the dose and time, and then the pharmacy is responsible for their own checks and balances via the BCMA system in order to complete the dispensing phase of the medication (Gooder, 2011). The nurse enters the BCMA system with a login and password and is able then to see a list of the virtual due list for a specific patient. The computer on wheels is then taken to that patient’s room and the five rights of medication administration begin. As nurses, we are taught to use the five rights of drug administration are (1) right patient (2) right medication (3) right dose (4) right route and (5) right time. By scanning the barcode on the patient’s hospital identification band, the nurse then asks for the patient to verbally state their name and date of birth, which can be verified by the nurse on the virtual due list and then choses the medication that are due for administration at that time. The medication is dispensed and the nurse is able to scan the barcode on the medication, the scanning triggers the automatic documentation of the medication given (Kelly, 2012).

The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) gives certain bodies or individuals such as research scientists, pharmacies, doctors and manufacturers the legal right to access controlled substances.

* The National Technical Information Service, Drug Enforcement Agency or Controlled Substance Registration, as confirmation that the doctor is authorized to write prescriptions

Narcotics are central nervous system depressants that relieve pain without causing the user to lose consciousness. It is this reason many people choose to abuse prescription narcotics.

Since states are responsible for providing medical licenses, each state has a slightly different legal definition for the practice of medicine. Sometimes, care that some might deem unauthorized practice of medicine are legal even when performed by unlicensed people

The form prescribed varies depending upon the various categories of drugs for which license is sought (88). The licensing authority may allocate the power to approve a license to any person under his control with prior approval of the state government (89).