Question

a pharmacy technician in a hospital setting receives a bottle of a partially used medication that a patient’s prescriber has discontinued. which of the following actions should the technician take?

• credit the patient for the medication.
• set the medication aside in a secure location to await disposal.
• restock the medication to be used at a later time.
• discard the medication in the pharmacy trash bin.

Explanation:

In hospital pharmacy practice, when a medication is discontinued for a patient, partially used medications can't be restocked (due to safety/sterility concerns), can't be casually discarded in regular trash (medication disposal protocols), and crediting the patient isn't standard for discontinued meds. The proper action is to set it aside in a secure location to await proper disposal (following hospital and regulatory guidelines for medication disposal).

Answer:

B. Set the medication aside in a secure location to await disposal.