This great information was shared by Dr. Katelyn Mueller, one of the new Palliative Care Physicians in Victoria:
In 2017, the College changed their position from asking us to keep blue duplicate copies of narcotic prescriptions in our pads, to asking that those blue duplicates actually stay within the patient chart (either a physical paper chart, or scanned in to EMR in which case the blue copy can be shredded).
Our team was not aware of this until recently and we have now modified our practice. We have confirmed with Health Records at RJH that if copies of duplicates are left in patient charts at discharge, they will be kept with the paper chart in Health Records. I confirmed with the College that is is adequate to have a photocopy of the original duplicate, making it easier to fit into the chart on a full sized piece of paper, rather than smaller pieces of blue paper that could fall out. With the photocopy in the chart, then we can shred the blue copy, and the physician doesn’t need to keep any copies in their pads, reducing the risk of confidential patient information being lost/stolen.
What can you do? Double check locally with health records to be safe!
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