~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This message is from PedTalk! To reply to the group, use "" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are not allowed to dispense from the inpatient pharmacy at our institution, either. We do, however, have an outpatient pharmacy that is open from 0730 - 2300 so that gets most people's needs met. When I lived in Austin TX, the hospital where I worked was just like Arkansas Children's - couldn't dispense from the inpatient but could from their OP pharmacy. Don't know if this has changed or if they just still have to have an OP pharm. Anne Weir Arkansas Children's Hospital ---------- From: pedtalk-owner[SMTP:] Sent: Sunday, November 16, 1997 1:32 PM To: pedtalk Subject: hospitals dispensing medications ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This message is from PedTalk! To reply to the group, use "" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am wondering if the following is just a Texas thing or not. The Texas state law does not allow for hospitals to dispense medications to patients that are not inpatients or actually in the ER. For example if I have a patient in the hospital who I have transitioned to oral antibiotics and the child does well and is going home the hospital is not allowed to give the rest of the bottle of antibiotics to the parents for the child to finish his treatment course and the family has to have a new prescription filled even though they "bought" the whole bottle in the hospital and the only thing that is going to happen with the already opened bottle is that it is going to get thrown out. Of course this always stinks but is especially hard to swallow when the child is uninsured and the parents are paying for this out of their own pocket. I can sometimes get around this by either providing samples or asking the parents to fill the Rx while the child is in the hospital with an order "may use meds from home". Needless to say this just makes for more work for all. In the same vein I will occasionally get a call on the weekend that a child is out of her asthma meds or needs a phenergan suppository and none of the pharmacists are available to meet the parents at the drug store. I usually keep samples of these sorts of meds at home to "make it 'til morning" but boy, it would be nice to be able to call the hospital and ask them to sell the parent a unit dose of albuterol or a phenergan suppository. Anyway, a long winded note-- thanks for letting me get it off my chest. Kim Burlingham, MD group.