Patient Counseling
The Board has been receiving more complaints and comments
about the lack of counseling in pharmacies. If a patient
asks why his or her medication looks different, it would behoove
the pharmacist to check the drug again and not make
an assumption that it was a change of the manufacturer. This
is a great opportunity to catch any errors before the patient
leaves the pharmacy. K.A.R. 68-2-20 requires a pharmacist to
personally offer to counsel each patient or the patient’s agent
with each new prescription dispensed, once yearly on maintenance
medications, and, if the pharmacist deems appropriate,
with prescription refills. Every Schedule II prescription is a
new prescription and the law applies that the pharmacist shall
make the offer to counsel. Some pharmacies have computerized
signature logs that ask, “Do you have questions for the
pharmacists?” and some pharmacists have the intern, pharmacy
technician, or sales clerk make the inquiry. This does not meet
the requirements of the regulation. The law clearly states that
it is the pharmacist’s responsibility to personally talk to the
patient. This cannot be delegated.
The patient should not be expected to understand the importance
of counseling. Not only does counseling increase
compliance but it can reduce errors and prevent misuse of the
drug by the patient. The patient needs to be verbally advised
about what the medication is supposed to do. He or she needs
to know exactly how long to take the medication and what to
do if he or she forgets to take his or her medicine. He or she
needs to know what the side effects are and what to do if they
occur. Counseling shows the patient that you care and it provides
an opportunity to prevent problems. The Board has seen an
increase in medication errors that would have been prevented
if the pharmacist had taken the time to counsel the patient and
to look once more at the medication that is being dispensed.
quoted from here
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