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Oregon News: Oregon PRN
Published in the May 2008 Oregon State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter
The Oregon Pharmacy Recovery Network (OR PRN) was established by the Oregon legislature in 1989 to allow the Board of Pharmacy to work with licensees (pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and pharmacy technicians) whose health and effectiveness has been adversely affected and whose professional practice may become compromised by chemical dependency. Concerned and dedicated pharmacists helping with the OR PRN program strive to assist colleagues before chemical dependency causes impairment, or before impairment becomes a danger to the community and a threat to an individual’s license to practice pharmacy or assist the pharmacist in the practice of pharmacy.
The role of the OR PRN program is one of advocacy, rehabilitative support, and monitoring. In the case of voluntary or self referrals, the program may even shield a participating individual from disciplinary action by the Board of Pharmacy. Some behavioral clues or characteristics of chemical dependency include:
- substances often taken in larger amounts than the person intended;
- one or more unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use;
- excessive time spent in activities for obtaining substances (eg, theft or hook-up or bar hopping);
- frequent intoxication when substance use is physically hazardous (eg, driving while intoxicated);
- continued use despite adverse consequences (eg, hangover, cocaine-induced depression, divorce, peptic ulcer flare up, jeopardized professional license);
- marked tolerance (need to increase the amount of substance taken to achieve desired effect); and
- substances often taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms (eg, quick drink to avoid hangover, small opiate dose to fight cravings, muscle relaxant to relieve pain).
By Edwin Schneider, PRN Program Director
