Oklahoma News: From the Inspectors

October 1, 2006 9:19 am Topics: Prescription monitoring program, Pseudoephedrine, Inspection, and Brand name generic

Published in the October 2006 Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter

• Pseudoephedrine (PSE) Training: As of September 30, 2006, retailers must train their employees on the new PSE restrictions using Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) materials. Go to www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/meth/trg_retail_081106.pdf.
• Reporting PSE sales: Reporting PSE sales via the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) Web site goes into effect October 1, 2006. If you are unable to comply with this requirement, please contact OBN. Please report the total number of grams sold (not milligrams).
• PSE Inventory: OBN has notified us that pharmacies must inventory over-the-counter PSE products when they conduct their annual CDS inventory.
• Generic substitution: Generic substitution must be approved by the prescriber or the purchaser.
• Hospice Nurses: Hospice nurses are not agents of the physician. If a hospice nurse phones in a prescription, that prescription needs to be verified with the doctor.
• Physician Assistants (PA) and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP): PAs and ARNPs must be licensed in Oklahoma and supervised by a physician licensed in Oklahoma. Pharmacies located in border towns particularly need to take note of this. Prescribing limits for PAs and ARNPs can be found in Appendix E of your Oklahoma Pharmacy Law Book.
• Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP): Regarding the submission of CII, and CIII-V, OBN has asked us to remind pharmacies that they must have a letter from the OBN director granting permission to file in paper format. Identification numbers must be submitted with CII prescriptions, but the identification number is not being enforced for CIII-V prescriptions at this time. If you are already obtaining this information, continue to do so because it will be enforced at a later date. Also, please report the number of tablets or milliliters (if liquid) for the “quantity dispensed” field.
• Inspection deficiencies: The most commonly found deficiencies during inspections are lack of technician training documentation and failure to sign logbooks or nightly logs on a daily basis.