33-24-136. Filing memorandum of prescription; labels generally; prescription defined; counseling and patient profiles.

(a) Every person who prepares, compounds, processes, packages or repackages, dispenses, fills or sells or offers for sale, at retail or in connection with operation of a health care facility, any prescription, shall place the written or electronic record of the prescription in a separate file marked and kept for that purpose, and shall affix a label to the container in which the prescribed substance is dispensed bearing the name and address of the pharmacy and initials of the dispensing pharmacist, or of the preceptor if the dispenser is an intern, the date on which the prescription is filed in the pharmacy's files, the name of the person who prescribed the substance, the name of the patient or customer for whom the prescription was made and directions for use by the patient as directed on the prescription by the practitioner.

(b) "Prescription" means an order for medication by a person licensed and authorized by the state board of medicine, the state board of dental examiners, the state board of nursing, the state board of registration in podiatry, the state board of examiners in optometry or the state board of veterinary medicine which is dispensed to or for an ultimate user, but does not include an order for medication which is dispensed for immediate administration to the ultimate user. Each prescription record shall be maintained and available for inspection by agents of the board for a period of two (2) years from the date it is filed.

(c) Pharmacists shall offer to and shall counsel patients if requested, concerning and in conjunction with drugs dispensed pursuant to a new prescription.

(d) Pharmacies shall maintain patient profile records of the dispensing of drugs pursuant to a prescription.

(e) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, if, in the opinion of the pharmacist, an emergency exists whereby the practitioner who ordered or prescribed the prescription cannot be contacted for authorization and there is a need to refill the prescription, the pharmacist may provide up to a seventy-two (72) hour supply, or the smallest available unit, of the previously prescribed drug, except a controlled substance. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require a pharmacist to refill the prescription in the absence of authorization from the practitioner.