Verifying a Prescription Order — Practice Checklist

Step-by-Step Procedure (5 steps)

1. 1.

   Confirm the prescriber, patient, drug, strength, dosage form, and quantity on the order are all internally consistent (e.g., quantity makes sense for the dosage form — don't fill "90" for a drug normally dispensed as a single inhaler).

2. 2.

   Match the NDC on the physical product to the NDC entered in the system — NDC format is a 10-digit number (commonly displayed as 11 digits with padding) split into three segments: labeler code, product code, and package code.

3. 3.

   Check the lot number on the product and confirm it's recorded if your pharmacy's workflow requires lot tracking (standard for certain classes, like compounded or recalled-prone products).

4. 4.

   Check the expiration date on the product; never select stock that will expire before the patient is expected to finish the prescribed course.

5. 5.

   If anything doesn't reconcile — wrong strength in stock, NDC mismatch, near-expired product — set the fill aside and flag it rather than forcing it through.

Quality Checkpoints (4)

Confirm each of these before considering the task complete.

• NDC match is done at the number level, not just drug-name-and-strength.

• Expiration date gives the patient a reasonable margin past the expected end of therapy.

• Lot number is documented wherever the pharmacy's SOP requires it.

• Discrepancies are flagged, not resolved by assumption.

Avoid These Mistakes

• ⚠

  Assuming two bottles with the same drug name and strength are interchangeable without checking the NDC — different manufacturers and package sizes have different NDCs, which matters for insurance billing and recall tracking.

• ⚠

  Reading an expiration date as month/day instead of month/year or vice versa under time pressure.

• ⚠

  Not re-checking the order after an interruption (phone call, question from another coworker) — resuming from memory instead of re-reading the order is a common source of errors.