Getting Epinephrine & State Laws

"Stock" or "undesignated" epinephrine means devices kept on hand for anyone who needs them, rather than prescribed to a named person. Getting it takes two documents:

1. A prescription in your organization's name. Not a student's name, not an employee's: the school, camp, or business itself. Most states expressly allow this, and pharmacists can fill it.

2. A standing order. A written instruction from a prescriber describing when staff may administer, at what dose, and what to do afterward. This is what lets a trained non-nurse act in an emergency.

Everywhere else, you need a prescriber to sign one. Any physician, and in most states a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, can do it. Good places to ask: your district or organization's medical consultant, a local allergist, your county or district health officer, or a board member's physician.

The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology publishes a free toolkit with a ready-to-use standing order template and prescription form an allergist can sign, designed exactly for this, because ACAAI found schools were struggling to obtain them. Bring it to the appointment already filled in.

ACAAI Emergency Epinephrine Allergists' Toolkit →

Then get the devices themselves, by whichever route fits: buy standard auto-injectors, EpiPen, Auvi-Q, or an authorized generic, through your usual pharmacy or medical supplier, which is what most organizations do and the only route open to non-school entities; apply to a free program if you're a K-12 school; or use a state purchasing program where one exists.