Prescribing or dispensing dangerous drugs without a prior examination is not unprofessional conduct if the licensee transmitted the order to a nurse at an inpatient facility. Prior to transmitting the order the following conditions must be satisfied: the practitioner must consult with the nurse who reviewed the patient's records and the practitioner was designated to serve in the absence of the patient's practitioner.
Unprofessional conduct is defined as falsifying or making grossly incorrect, grossly inconsistent, or unintelligible entries in a medical record for controlled substances or dangerous devices.
A pharmacist may refill a prescription for a dangerous drug without the prescriber's authorization if the prescriber is unavailable, if in his professional judgment the pharmacist believes that a failure to refill the prescription would interrupt the patient's care and have an adverse impact on the patient's well-being. The pharmacist shall inform the patient and the prescriber that the prescription was refilled pursuant to this section.
A pharmacist, registered nurse, licensed vocational nurse, licensed psychiatric technician, working for a licensed skilled nursing, intermediate care, or other health care facility, may orally or electronically transmit to the furnisher a prescription lawfully ordered by a person authorized to prescribe drugs or devices pursuant to Sections 4040 and 4070. The furnisher shall take appropriate steps to determine that the person who transmits the prescription is authorized to do so and shall record the name of the person who transmits the order.
Records of the manufacture, sale, acquisition, or disposition of dangerous drugs or devices must be available for inspection by authorized law officers during business hours.
All records regarding the acquisition and disposition of dangerous drugs and devices by any licensed entity must be maintained onsite and be readily retrievable. Such records must be maintained for 3 years.
All nonresident pharmacies must comply with lawful requests for information from the regulatory/licensing agency of the state in which it is licensed and with requests from the board. All nonresident pharmacies must maintain records of controlled substances and dangerous drugs or devices dispensed to California patients and such records must be readily retrievable.
A pharmacy providing services to a health facility through the use of an automated drug delivery system, must maintain records of the acquisition and disposition of dangerous drugs and devices stored in such system.
All records of prescriptions filled by a pharmacy and records pertaining to dangerous drugs and devices must be maintained onsite and available for inspection by authorized law officers for at least 3 years.
An order for a county or licensed hospital patient to use controlled substances shall be in writing on the patient's record, with the prescriber's signature, date, name and quantity of the controlled substance ordered and quantity actually administered. This record shall be maintained as a hospital record for a minimum of seven years.
