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Review medication orders for ED "boarders"

Pharmacy Regulation Resource, February 18, 2004

Pharmacists should review medication orders for patients temporarily boarded in the emergency department (ED) or other units to comply with Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) medication standards.

Boarded patients are those admitted to the hospital but placed in beds in the ED or other units, such as post-anesthesia care, until an inpatient bed becomes available. Although the requirement for a pharmacist's review of medication orders does not apply for most ED patients, it does apply to those admitted to the hospital but housed in ED beds, says Bud Pate, REHS, consultant for the Marblehead, MA-based The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro.

Have ED staff or pharmacy generate an inpatient medication administration record (MAR) once the patient becomes a boarder-inpatients are considered boarders if they remain in the ED longer than two hours after admission-or the admitting physician makes a significant change in the medications regimen, Pate says.

If the MAR is hand-written, it can be faxed to the pharmacy to bring together all medications for review.

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