This homeless shelter is unlicense to dispense meds, but no lockers, what is the best way to handle meds?

Question

So we are not licensed to dispense meds. Since the shelter does not have lockers for residents, we allow the residents to keep their meds in the office. One client reported that he lost 50 tablets of vicodin. What is the best way to handle this and prevent this from happening again?

Answer 1

Could the shelter purchase a safe or lock box? They are available at Wal-Mart and would help to keep the meds secure. A firesafe lock box is small enough that it could be kept out of sight and moved around to different locations within the office so that people would not know where it is at any given moment. I would not let the residents see where the meds are being kept, either. Bring the bottle to them at a different location, then bring the bottle back to the office after the resident is done with it so they don't see where you put it when you get back there.

Answer 2

I used to work at a homeless shelter for women and we had a procedure that when the women came in they had to have their meds locked in the office. Their medication and dosage was written down in a folder and every time they came and got their meds they would sign for them and the staff member would also sign. So we weren't actually dispensing their meds but there was a record of their dosage and what time they had it. Because of this procedure of the residents having to keep their meds locked in the office, none were taken or lost.