1. Patients often have prescription and non-prescription drugs in their possession at the time they are admitted to the hospital. During the admitting process, the patient should be encouraged to give these drugs to a family member or friend to take home with them. The only exception would be if the drugs are brought to the hospital at the request of the attending physician. The nursing staff are to reinforce this procedure at the time the patient is admitted to the nursing unit.  Document medication given to family on Adult Patient Profile form.
2. In the event that it is not possible to send the medications home, the nursing staff is to bag the medications and forward them to the Inpatient Pharmacy. The patient's name and home address are to be placed on the bag. A "Pharmacy Drug Receipt Form" will be filled out by the Pharmacist and a chart copy and patient copy will be returned to the nursing unit. When the patient is discharged, this chart copy will be sent to the Pharmacy and the patient's medications returned to the patient before she/he leaves the hospital. If the medications remain in Pharmacy for more than 7 days, the Pharmacy will mail the medications to the patient's home address after checking the patient's disposition. Medications of expired patients shall not be mailed.
3. Should the attending physician prescribe a non-formulary drug which is available from the patient's drug supply, policies governing ordering and use of Non-Formulary Drugs apply. Forward the physician's order and the drug to the Inpatient Pharmacy. The pharmacist will attempt to identify the drug requested. In the event that positive identification is made, the drug will be re-labeled and dispensed to the nursing station via unit dose. If a positive identification is not possible or if the drug is not in a usable condition, the nursing station will be informed. The physician's order will then be handled under the policies and procedures for "non-formulary" drugs.
4. Self-Administration of medications by inpatients is occasionally desirable to train the patient and assure dosing integrity is attained and maintained while patients are being instructed under supervision. The procedure to follow is outlined in the Pharmacy Department Policy & Procedure Manual. The physician must note in patient's medical record that self-administration is authorized. Included in this note is name of the drug, dose strength, and frequency of dose. Nursing personnel are then to observe that proper dosing is accomplished and record medication. There will be no more than a seven (7) day supply kept at bedside.

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