I am currently working in a hospital based non chemotherapy outpatient infusion center. We do mostly IV antibiotics, blood transfusions, Remicade, IVIG, Tysabri, Boniva, and just about anything that can be given IV other than chemotherapy. Our current pharmacy policy is to have all of our medication orders renewed every 6 months. Even though the physicians write orders that authorise infusions for 1 year (for example-Remicade is ordered every 8 weeks x 1 year) we must call or fax the MD for a new order every 6 months. We have very detailed order sets for most of our medications and most patients have labs drawn prior to infusion. All patients are assesed head to toe by our very experience nursing staff prior to any infusion. MDs are always contaced if any thing is noted with assessment or the pre infusion labs.
We are meeting with our pharmacy to see if they will extend the expiration date of our orders to 1 years rather than 6 months. So my question is--what does everyone else do? Are your orders renwed every 6 months or yearly? Thanks in advance
Bev George MS RN CRNI