Medical Office Pharmacology: Review For Medical Assistant Students and Professionals
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HomeAdministering Medications
For medical assistants who need to brush up on certain areas in pharmacology as it applies to a medical office.
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Administering Medications...
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The need for trained medical assistants remains at an all-time high! At any given moment thousands of job offers for medical assistants and other healthcare professionals open and close! Most require knowledge of certain medical office procedures and basic principles of pharmacology.
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Medical Assistants Don't "Give" Medications:
When it comes to medications they are either administered, or dispended, not given! Administration means that the medication is actually placed into a person's body, usually by mouth or injection, dispensed means you handed medication over to a person to whom it was prescribed.
 Consider the following:As a trained healthcare professional you should make a conscious effort to erase the phrase "to give medications" from your vocabulary.
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Always check the medication’s actions, side effects, and patient allergies prior to administering or dispensing a prescribed medication. If you administer or dispense it you may be held partially or fully responsible even though the physician might have ordered it!!!!! Always make sure that the bottles are labeled clearly and that you understand the dose, frequency, and duration of the drug. Also, don't forget to check the expiration date! Also, ask yourself right now what you would do if you look up a medication and find it is contraindicated for your patient’s condition!
Reordering Medications:Medications have a limited shelf live, as indicated by their expiration dates. Medical office staff, including the medical assistant is responsible for frequently checking these expiration dates and disposing of expired medications. Expired medications should never be dispensed to patients!
A complete inventory of medications in the office must be done at least every two years to comply with federal narcotics laws.Careful! Many medicatin names look and sound alike!
Pharmacy Sales Reps
When working in a medical office you will find that numerous different pharmaceutical sales representatives (also referred to as drug reps) will show up to educate the medical staff on their latest products and drop off their medication samples.
It is good practice to set up a certain time for them to arrive. It is customary that only one at the time will be allowed in to check the shelves and leave their samples in a designated area. It is expected that they also take expired samples back to dispose of them properly, if asked.
Needless to say, the pharmacy sales representative is not allowed direct entry to the clinical areas, or access to the medication closet unless accompanied by one of the medical office staff!!!
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Medication Disposal:
Medications must be checked regularly and disposed of properly when they expire. Liquids, ointment, and powders may be opened an poured down the drain. Tablets and capsules may be flushed down the toilet. Two employees should be present whenever medications are being destroyed. Legally, this provides a witness, and both signatures should be recorded in case that verification of this procedure should ever be required.
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To report illegal prescription drug sales and/or rogue pharmacies operating on the Internet call the anonymous Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse Hotline: 1-877-RxAbuse (1-877-792-2873).
More info at: DEA Website
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CONSUMER ALERT:
Buying drugs online may be illegal!
Federal law prohibits buying controlled substances such as narcotic pain relievers (e.g., OxyContin®, Vicodin ®), sedatives (e.g., Valium®, Xanax®, Ambien®), stimulants (e.g., phentermine, phendimetrazine, Adderall®, Ritalin®) and anabolic steroids (e.g., Winstrol®, Equipoise®) without a valid prescription from a doctor. This means there must be a bonafide doctor-patient relationship, which by most state laws requires a physical examination to receive a prescription. Prescriptions written by "cyber doctors" relying on online questionnaires are not legitimate under the law.
Buying controlled substances online without a valid prescription may be punishable by imprisonment under Federal law and it is a felony to import drugs into the United States and ship to a non-DEA registrant.
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