During Susie's inpatient stay, she reports to the providers that she is prescribed trazodone, clonidine, lamictal, gabapentin, and lorazepam. The provider, wanting to provide care for all of Susie's medical issues and avoid seizures, writes for the medications and discharges her with prescriptions to provide continuity of care and starts her on buprenorphine/naloxone. What could the provider have done differently?

A. Called Susie's mother
B. Discontinued all of her medications
C. Called her counselor
D. Searched the PDMP if available

The provider could have searched the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to ensure Susie's prescribed medications, including the newly added buprenorphine/naloxone, were appropriate and to check for any risky drug interactions. Therefore, option d is the correct answer.

Explanation:

In the scenario where Susie is being discharged with multiple prescriptions for her mental and physical health conditions, the provider could have taken additional steps to ensure her safety and continuity of care regarding her medications. Specifically, the provider could have searched the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), if available. PDMPs are state-run databases that track the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances. By checking the PDMP, the provider would ensure that Susie's medication regimen is appropriate and that there are no potential risky interactions or duplications, especially since she was being started on buprenorphine/naloxone which has its risks when combined with other drugs such as benzodiazepines.