Medications Overview

  • Updated

The Medications module allows users to manage medication orders, administer medication, document meds brought in by patients, and control patient and facility medication inventories. 

Let's review how to enable Medications and the related settings, templates, and assessments.

Medical and Clinical Teams

As a Doctor, Nurse, Tech, or any other user who works with Medications in the EMR, you can perform various actions to document the information about the patient's medical treatment.

This includes:

Super Admin Checklist for Medications Enablement

Super Admins can customize many of the medication workflows. Let's review a few key items that need to be configured to get the most out of Medications. 

  • Enable Medication Database under Settings > Instance.
  • Set up Med Log under Settings > Instance. 
    • Enable MARs Generation by Orders: Controls whether or not MARs will be generated for active orders.
      • Require MAR Patient Signature: Requires the patient signature when a medication is observed/administered.
      • Require MAR task Not Done comment: Requires a typed comment when No is selected on a medication administration row on the MAR.
      • Observation Status: choose from the following options for documenting in the Med Log:
    • Mark MARs observed/administered based on roles: Doctors and Nurses will document as administered and Techs will document as observed.
      • Mark all MARs as observed: All roles will document as observed.
      • Mark all MARs as administered: All roles will appear as administered.
      • Mark all MARs as patient reported: All roles will document as Patient reported to [user documenting].
    • Order duration type: Choose a default order duration type. This impacts how duration is counted for medication administration frequency:
      • 24 Hour: Defines a day as 24 consecutive hours from the start day and time of the order.
        • Example: An order is entered on 6/1 at 11:00 am with a 3-day duration and a frequency of every 8 hours. This means the order will run for 72 consecutive hours (3 days x 24 hours) starting at 11 am (i.e., the start time of the order) and will run for 13 hours on the ordering day, 24 hours on the 2nd day, 24 hours on the 3rd day, and 11 hours on the 4th day before expiring.
          • Looking at our example, the medication will be given at 11am and 7pm on 6/1, at 3am, 11am, and 7pm on 6/2, 3am, 11am, and 7pm on 6/3, and 3am and 11am on 6/4 before expiring. 
      • Calendar day: Defines a day as the span from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.
        • Example: An order is entered on 6/1 at 11:00 am with a 3-day duration and a frequency of every 8 hours. This means the order will run for 61 consecutive hours starting at 11 am (i.e., the start time of the order) and will run for 13 hours on the ordering day, 24 hours on the 2nd day, 24 hours on the 3rd day, then expire. 
          • Looking at our example, the medication will be given at 11am and 7pm on 6/1, at 12am, 8am, 4pm on 6/2, and 12am, 8am, 4pm on 6/3 before expiring. 
        • Please note that Taper Orders will only behave as Calendar Day regardless of the instance setting selected.
    • PRN Medication Administration Interval: Configure the amount of time at which a PRN medication with an interval frequency prior can be given early, if at all. Your options are:
      • After half of the required time interval has elapsed
      • Up to 120 minutes before the next dose: When selecting this option, type in the number of minutes (0 to 120) before the next allowed dose.
    • First Response PRN & Scheduled: This feature allows you to document efficacy and adverse reactions to medications. The First Response button will show up on the first Observed/Administered dose of an order on the Med Log/MAR. 
      • Ongoing Response PRN & Scheduled: Document efficacy and adverse reactions on all doses of scheduled and PRN medications.
      • Ongoing Response PRN only: Document efficacy and adverse reactions on all doses of PRN medications.
      • Ongoing Response Scheduled only: Document efficacy and adverse reactions on all doses of scheduled medications.
        • Minutes Until Response: For each of the above settings selected, set up a specific number of minutes before the medication's response requires documenting. This will appear in the Med Pass on the dashboard when this time interval has elapsed.
  • Enable integrated assessments under Settings > Instance.
  • Create medication frequencies for scheduled and PRN medications under Settings > Orders > Medication/Action Order Frequencies section. Keep in mind the PRN medication's behavior with the scheduled frequencies.
  • Create quick order templates for medications, tapers, PRN, action orders, and protocols.
  • Assign relevant roles and features to the responsible users. Make sure their user profiles contain titles and credentials.
  • Build the forms your teams need to use on a daily basis.
  • Set up Medication Brought In By Patient areas:
    • Add patient.brought_in_medications field to the forms that require this information:
    • Assign non-medical users a feature to log meds brought in to give them access to the Meds Brought In area.
  • Determine if you should use the eRx feature for ePrescription.  

Medication Inventory Management

Track and manage medication inventory from order to administration. You have the flexibility to manage facility-level medication inventory, patient-specific inventory, or both. Medication inventory is integrated with the Doctor's Orders and the Med Log, allowing you to quickly view stock levels. As medications are observed or administered, the inventory quantity is automatically updated and the transactions are recorded in the inventory. 

Key Resources:

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