California CodesBusiness and Professions Code - BPCDivision 2 — Healing ArtsChapter 9 — PharmacyArticle 2 — DefinitionsSection 4019

An “order,” entered on the chart or medical record of a patient registered in a hospital or a patient under emergency treatment in the hospital, by or on the order of a practitioner authorized by law to prescribe drugs, shall be authorization for the administration of the drug from hospital floor or ward stocks furnished by the hospital pharmacy or under licensure granted under Section 4056, and shall be considered to be a prescription if the medication is to be furnished directly to the patient by the hospital pharmacy or another pharmacy furnishing prescribed drugs for hospital patients; provided that the chart or medical record of the patient contains all of the information required by Sections 4040 and 4070 and the order is signed by the practitioner authorized by law to prescribe drugs, if he or she is present when the drugs are given. If he or she is not present when the drugs are given, the order shall be signed either by the attending physician responsible for the patient’s care at the time the drugs are given to the patient or by the practitioner who ordered the drugs for the patient on the practitioner’s next visit to the hospital.