Sheldon S. Sones, RPh, FASCP, is president of Sheldon S. Sones and Associates, a pharmacy and accreditation consulting firm based in Newington, Conn.
Q: We currently have clonidine po in our code cart. If I delete it from the code cart contents, can we add it back to the main narcotic box or should it be destroyed?
Sheldon S. Sones: Clonidine is not a controlled drug; it is a adrenergic antagonist that is used to treat mild to moderate hypertension. Practice-wide, I do not see it stocked in code carts. It is not a controlled drug so placing it in the "narcotic box" is not necessary. In fact, most overseers would support not placing non-controlled substances in a "narcotic box" so as to minimize unnecessary entry. Clonidine should not be confused with Klonopin(R) (clonazepam) which is a controlled drug.
Most importantly, any adjustments to the code box/cart should be made with the authorization of the appropriate medical staff committee or, if the meeting is not in the near future, with the concurrence of the medical director, to be followed by making it an agenda item for the medical staff meeting. This is very important in that the emergency/code box is a consensus list and not one that your pharmacy consultant and the clinical director can make without endorsement of said committee.
Learn more about Sheldon S. Sones and Associates and www.sheldonsones.com.
Read more insight from Sheldon Sones:
- Frequency of Narcotic and Pharmacy Audits
- How Long Does an ASC Need to Keep Drug Recall Notices
