State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2013 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/30/13. Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.
AN ACT Relating to the safe practice of public health nurses dispensing certain medications; and adding a new section to chapter 70.05 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 70.05 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) A registered nurse who is licensed under chapter 18.79 RCW, and
who is an employee of a local health department or district or a clinic
or facility under contract with a local health department or district,
may dispense a drug or device for purposes of prevention or treatment
of a communicable disease or family planning.
(2) Such dispensing must be pursuant to the order of a person
authorized to prescribe a drug or device in the state of Washington.
(3) The local health officer must establish policies and procedures
that include the following:
(a) Procedures for drug dispensing, documentation storage,
security, and accountability;
(b) Maintenance of all drug records required by federal and state
law.
(4) A drug may only be dispensed by a practitioner authorized by
law to prescribe the drug or by a registered nurse licensed under
chapter 18.79 RCW, and must be dispensed in a container complying with
the federal poison prevention packaging act unless the patient requests
a noncomplying container. A registered nurse may only dispense a drug
or device for purposes of prevention or treatment of a communicable
disease or family planning. Each drug that is dispensed must be
labeled with the following:
(a) Name of patient;
(b) Name of prescriber;
(c) Name, address, and phone number of the clinic;
(d) Date of dispensing;
(e) Name and strength of the drug. If the drug does not have a
brand name, then the generic name of the drug and the drug manufacturer
must be stated;
(f) Directions for use;
(g) Initials of the person dispensing;
(h) Cautionary statements, if any, as required by law;
(i) Manufacturer's expiration date, or an earlier date if
preferable, after which the patient should not use the drug.
A drug information fact sheet must accompany each drug dispensed from
a local health department or district or clinic or facility under
contract with a local health department or district.
(5) A drug repackaged for dispensing must be in a container meeting
United States pharmacopeia standards and labeled to identify at a
minimum:
(a) Brand name, or generic name and manufacturer;
(b) Strength;
(c) Lot number;
(d) Manufacturer's expiration date or an earlier date if
preferable. An internal control number that references manufacturer
and lot number may be used.
(6) In the absence of a dispensing practitioner or a registered
nurse, drugs must be kept in a locked drug cabinet or drug room which
is sufficiently secure to deny access to unauthorized persons. Only
dispensing practitioners and registered nurses may have access to the
drug cabinet or drug room. In their absence, the drug cabinet or drug
room must remain locked. All drugs must be stored in areas that will
assure proper sanitation, temperature, light, ventilation and moisture
control as recommended by the manufacturer. Drugs that are outdated,
damaged, deteriorated, misbranded, or adulterated must be quarantined
and physically separated from other drugs until they are destroyed or
returned to their supplier.
(7) A dispensing record must be maintained separately from the
patient chart and kept for a minimum of three years. The record must
show, at a minimum, the following:
(a) Name of patient;
(b) Brand name of drug, or generic name and name of manufacturer or
distributor;
(c) Amount dispensed;
(d) Date;
(e) Initials of person dispensing the prescription.
All records of receipt and disposal of drugs must be kept for a minimum
of three years. All records required by these rules or by federal and
state law must be readily retrievable for inspection by the board of
pharmacy.
(8) Notwithstanding any other requirements in this section, when a
drug is dispensed in the practice of the expedited partner therapy
treatment protocol, the name of the patient may be omitted from the
label, the patient's name may be omitted from the records and a drug
may be dispensed to the patient to be given to the patient's partner
even if the partner has not been examined by a licensed health care
provider acting within his or her scope of practice.
(9) The board of pharmacy may adopt rules necessary to implement
this section.