Under CHOP’s old policy, dietary supplements were treated as home medications. If a family brought them in, an attending doctor or nurse was obliged to evaluate them as best they could and administer them along with hospital-sanctioned meds during the patient’s admission. If the supplements ran out, the provider would order more through the hospital pharmacy. Now, families are entirely responsible–they have to obtain and administer the unapproved supplements themselves, notify a doctor when that happens, and sign a waiver form. The hospital is also distributing additional explainers to families.
CHOP [1] was one of the first hospitals in the country to begin requiring flu vaccines for its workers. In light of the recent revelations about adulterated supplements and the poor state of supplement oversight, CHOP seems to be at the forefront again.