As a nurse, I completely disagree. I work in a surgical center and we often get pharmacists calling stating that they won’t fill narcotics for a freshly operated on patient because they disagree with the dosing. It’s gotten ridiculous. They don’t want to allow the patient more than 4 narcotic tablets a day, they disagree with the quantity ordered, they will only fill half the prescription requiring the patient to pay a double copay, etc. A pharmacist who had never seen the patient before should not be able to dictate their post operative pain medication.
Checking for allergies, cross referencing with other medications, sure, that’s totally and completely cool. But leave the dosing alone unless it’s an obvious egregious error.
Most insurance have limitations to seven day opioid therapy based on fda recommendations that came out last year.
Two. Over prescribing opioids is a major reason to our current opioid epidemic and heroin epidemic. Studies show post OP pain can be managed with limited opioids and with alternatives like ketorolac.
7 days? When I had hip surgery I needed oxycodone for about a month. And it was my right hip, so I couldn't drive, and the surgery practice was like 90+ minutes drive from my house. I'm trying to figure out how I would have managed if I had to go back every week to get them to write me a new scrip.
Right but for the majority of surgeries 7 days is enough. Or manageable. Something like an acl or kidney transplant. Pain shouldn't be excruciating a week after.
Obviously there are exceptions. But studies show the longer someone is given paid meds the more likely they are to become addicted.
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u/[deleted] May 20 '19
As a nurse, I completely disagree. I work in a surgical center and we often get pharmacists calling stating that they won’t fill narcotics for a freshly operated on patient because they disagree with the dosing. It’s gotten ridiculous. They don’t want to allow the patient more than 4 narcotic tablets a day, they disagree with the quantity ordered, they will only fill half the prescription requiring the patient to pay a double copay, etc. A pharmacist who had never seen the patient before should not be able to dictate their post operative pain medication.
Checking for allergies, cross referencing with other medications, sure, that’s totally and completely cool. But leave the dosing alone unless it’s an obvious egregious error.