Scenario: You receive a prescription from a nurse practitioner (NP) for a controlled drug or substance. You look up the NP on the nurse prescriber list on ACP’s website, and notice that her restriction from prescribing controlled drugs and substances is still in place.
What should you do?
Answer: Before you refuse a fill, contact the College & Association of Registered Nurses (CARNA) to confirm the registrant’s prescribing status!
Why contact another college?
The prescriber lists on the ACP website are not updated in real-time. We rely on other colleges to provide us with their registrant data for these lists, and have no authority to compel them to any method of delivery or particular schedule. They provide the lists to us, and ACP registrants, as a courtesy.
Most colleges provide updates regularly. However, gaps occur, usually due to vacation or staffing changes. Therefore, you should always regard the other colleges as the definitive source of information when it comes to their registrants’ prescribing authority.
The following colleges provide ACP with prescriber list updates:
- College & Association of Registered Nurses (CARNA) (bi-monthly updates)
- College of Dietitians of Alberta (monthly updates)
- College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) (weekly updates)
- College of Registered Dental Hygienists of Alberta (CRDHA) (yearly updates)
The following colleges provide all or some prescriber data on their websites:
- Alberta College of Optometrists
- Alberta Veterinary Medical Association
- College of Midwives of Alberta
- College of Podiatric Physicians of Alberta
The Alberta Dental Association + College does not provide prescriber data online—please contact them directly with questions about dentist prescribers.
Originally published in the November 18, 2014 issue of The Link
