News Letter

Phone                     1-877-505-4111                                      Fax                          1-877-505-4114

July 2004

Hello!  Hope everyone had a great 4^th of July.  Last month we got a wonderful response from the facilities about the newsletter.  Some homes are even using the newsletter for their in-services.  If your facility did not receive a copy, please contact us or your consultant to request a copy.

If you have any questions or comments concerning the newsletter, feel free to contact us.  We welcome your feedback and would love to hear from you.

Monday – Friday

9 AM – 6 PM

Closed Saturday and Sunday

With increasing volume, it is important that all orders be received by 3 PM.  Orders after 3 PM can’t be guaranteed for delivery that evening unless you call and confirm with the pharmacy.

After hours or on-call is generally reserved for STAT or Emergency orders.  Please make every effort to reorder medications necessary to accommodate filling prescriptions during normal business hours.  Thanks so much for your cooperation!

FYI

ü      CMA’s should not be allowed to do G-tubes, FSBS, insulin, nebulizers, inhalers, etc until they have completed competency standards or prescribed training courses.  These programs are not yet established, but are in the works.  Homes are getting deficiencies because the CMA’s have not been found competent to do such tasks.

ü      Facilities must aggressively offer the pneumonia vaccine to all residents.  This includes documentation explaining the benefits vs. risks.  Recommend at least 60% of residents be vaccinated.  If SNF, Medicare can be billed for this vaccination.

ü      Make sure the facility is doing side effect sheets for the use of antidepressants.  This is a requirement and surveyors are asking for these.

ü      Recommend all supplements (Arginaid, Ensure, etc.) be taken off of the MAR and out of the med cart.  These should be on the dietary flow sheet.  Please work with your dietician to find a place for these outside of the med room also.

ü      Duragesic patches must be flushed and witnessed by 2 people.  This must be documented either on the MAR or on a Duragesic Removal sheet.

ü      Recommend doing quarterly assessments for those who self admister medications to ensure they are still capable of doing so.

ü      Staff needs to pull medications that residents have at bedside if they do not have an order for such products.  They must have an order for the product and to keep it at bedside.

ü      Do not put the time of administration in the directions of a medication unless it differs from policy because if your time code policy changes, the facility must get clarification orders to change the time of administration.

ü      Make sure your facility is using the 2 step TB skin test program.

Deer Creek Pharmacy Services

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Copyright © 2004 Cherokee Services
Last modified: April 04, 2004