Chapter 30 Prescribing and Dispensing Drugs

INTRODUCTION…… 30:1

DEFINITIONS……….. 30:2

PRESCRIBING AND DISPENSING DANGEROUS DRUGS………….. 30:3/

Dangerous Drugs………….. 30:3

Who May Possess, Administer, and Dispense Dangerous Drugs… 30:3

Requirements for Prescriptions………….. 30:4

Recording and Inspection Requirements………….. 30:5

Hypodermic Devices………….. 30:5

PRESCRIBING AND DISPENSING CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES……….. 30:5

Registration Requirements………….. 30:6

Prescription Requirements………….. 30:6

Recording and Storage Requirements………….. 30:8

Appetite Suppressants………….. 30:9

PAIN MANAGEMENT…. 30:10

Adopted Regulation of the Board of Medical Examiners R007-99 30:11

Sample Mailing List request letter………… 30:17

PENALTIES FOR PRESCRIPTION AND DISPENSING VIOLATIONS……… 30:18

MISCELLANEOUS. 30:18

Record Keeping………… 30:18

Silicone………. 30:18

Supervising Physicians Responsibilities…….. 30:18

INTRODUCTION

Prescribing, administering and, to a more limited extent, dispensing drugs are some of the` most common activities of a physician. The bulk of statutes and regulations controlling the dispensation of drugs are directed at pharmacists; nonetheless physicians who prescribe, dispense, or administer drugs are held responsible under many of these statutes and regulations, both in terms of their own actions and for the actions of others who dispense or administer drugs under a physicians supervision. The prescription and dispensing of controlled substances is one of the areas of medical practice in which the federal government has numerous regulations with which the practitioner must be familiar. Physicians who prescribe drugs or dispense medications from their offices must meet certain legal requirements. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action as well as possible criminal penalties under federal or state law. In addition, civil malpractice suits are an all-too-real possibility for even minor errors in prescriptions or in dispensing drugs.

In general, administering, dispensing, or prescribing any controlled substance or dangerous drug (prescription drugs), except as authorized by law, is grounds for the medical board to initiate disciplinary action or deny a physician licensure. Further, any conduct by a physician that violates a regulation adopted by the state board of pharmacy is also grounds for discipline or denial of licensure. NRS 630.306.

DEFINITIONS

The legal definitions of words related to prescriptions of drugs are not always precisely the same as their accepted medical usage. Because this chapter repeatedly uses these terms in their legal sense, their definitions follow:

Administer means the direct application of a drug or medicine whether by injection, inhalation, ingestion, or any other means, to the body of a patient or research subject. NRS 454.191. Drugs may be administered by the practitioner, in the practitioners presence, or by the practitioners agent, or by the patient at the direction and in the presence of the practitioner. NRS 453.021.

Dangerous Drug means any drug, other than a controlled substance, that is unsafe for self-medication or unsupervised use. Dangerous drugs include any drug which bears the federal warning and any drug that the board of pharmacy finds dangerous to the public health or safety. NRS 454.201.

Dispense means the furnishing of a dangerous drug in any amount greater than necessary for the present and immediate needs of the ultimate user. The furnishing of a dangerous drug by a hospital pharmacy for inpatients is excluded from the definition. NRS 454.211. In the limited context of controlled substances, dispense means both the delivery and any action directed toward the delivery of a controlled substance to an ultimate user, including prescribing. NRS 453.056.

Furnish means to supply by any means, by sale or otherwise. NRS 454.006.

Prescription means an order given individually for the person for whom prescribed by means of an order signed by the practitioner, or an electronic transmission from the practitioner to a pharmacist, or a chart order written for an inpatient specifying drugs which he is to take home upon his discharge. Prescription does not include a chart order written for an inpatient to use while he is an inpatient.

PRESCRIBING AND DISPENSING DANGEROUS DRUGS