I am writing to support the petition to allow pharmacy to restock an AcuDose with controlled substances WITHOUT a nurse signature. The controlled substance is signed out of stock in the pharmacy, verified by a pharmacist, and loaded into the AcuDose. Checks and balances exist to ensure that what was signed from the pharmacy is loaded into AcuDose. Requiring a nurse to sign for the controlled substance does nothing more than pull the nurse away from patient care and create a delay in delivery by the pharmacy. There are also many nursing units that are closed on weekends or midnight shifts whereby obtaining a nurse signature requires shifting technician staffing to ensure nurse availability for signatures or create a delay in delivery until a nurse is scheduled to work.

The count for controlled substance is independently and blindly verified for each and every entry for controlled substances into the AcuDose, any discrepancy is addressed within the shift. Audit trails exists for all AcuDose transactions. AcuDose access is limited to authorized users with confidential and unique user id and passwords. 

The control of scheduled medications is important but the current requirement for nurse signatures does not validate a correct count and is spending valuable time for nurses that should be spent in patient care.