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This website publishes administrative rules on their effective dates, as designated by the adopting state agencies, colleges, and universities.

Rule 3701-17-17 | Medicines and drugs.

 

(A) The nursing home shall provide or obtain routine and emergency medicines, drugs and biologicals for its resident except if prohibited by state or federal law. The nursing home shall permit residents to use and continue to obtain medicines, drugs and biologicals dispensed to them from a pharmacy of choice provided the medicines, drugs and biologicals meet the standards of this rule.

(1) Each nursing home shall provide pharmacy services by employing a pharmacist on either a full-time, part-time, or consultant basis or by contracting with a pharmacy service. The pharmacist or pharmacy service shall be responsible for maintaining supervision and control of the stocking and dispensing of drugs and biologicals in the home in accordance with state pharmacy rules.

(2) The nursing home, in conjunction with the pharmacist or pharmacy service, shall:

(a) Maintain an emergency and contingency drug supply for use in the absence of the pharmacist; and

(b) Ensure that the contingency drug supply is maintained in accordance with state pharmacy rules.

(B) Medicines and drugs shall be given only to the individual resident for whom they are prescribed, shall be given in accordance with the directions on the prescription or the physician's orders, and shall be recorded on the resident's medication administration record.

(C) Every container of medicine and drugs prescribed for a resident shall be properly and clearly labeled in accordance with applicable state regulations as to the following:

(1) Date dispensed.

(2) Name of resident.

(3) Directions for use.

(4) Name of the prescriber.

(5) Name of the drug, strength, and prescription number if there is one.

(D) Containers too small to bear a complete prescription label shall be labeled with at least the prescription number and the name of the resident, unless application of this label would impair the functioning of the product, and shall be dispensed in a container bearing a complete prescription label.

(E) The nursing home shall ensure that all medications and drugs are stored under proper temperature controls and secured against unauthorized access. All medicines and drugs, including those requiring refrigeration, shall be kept in locked storage areas and separate from materials that may contaminate the medicines and drugs such as poisonous substances. Where a pharmacist is not present twenty-four hours-a-day, keys to locked contingency drug supplies shall be made available to a health care professional licensed under Chapter 4723. or 4731. of the Revised Code and authorized by such chapters to administer drugs.

(F) Each nursing home shall ensure that the following requirements regarding individual resident's drugs are met:

(1) Appropriate drugs for an individual resident shall, upon order of a prescriber, be sent with or arranged for the resident upon temporary absence other than for hospital leave.

(2) At the order of a prescriber, a resident's drugs shall be sent with or arranged for the resident upon transfer and discharge. Drugs not so ordered by the prescriber upon transfer or discharge shall be returned to the pharmacy or disposed of in accordance with any applicable state or federal laws, rules and regulations.

(3) Upon death of a resident all drugs shall be returned to the pharmacy, or disposed of in accordance with any applicable state or federal laws, rules, and regulations.

(G) Paragraph (F) of this rule does not preclude a nursing home from charging a resident for medications and drugs provided to the resident upon discharge for which the resident has not already paid.

(H) Controlled substances shall be ordered, dispensed, administered, and disposed of in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations.

(I) The nursing home shall ensure that the pharmaceutical needs of each resident are met and that the drug regimen of each resident is reviewed and documented at least once a month by a pharmacist.

(J) The nursing home shall coordinate the ordering of medicines, drugs and biologicals for hospice patients with the appropriate hospice care program.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3721.04
Amplifies: 3721.011, 3721.04, 3721.10, 3721.14
Five Year Review Date: 7/27/2023
Prior Effective Dates: 5/2/1966, 12/21/1992, 10/20/2001