The custody chain
A supply is prepared, then sent to a ward, returned or destroyed. Every step records who did it and when, so the whereabouts of a supply is never a matter of memory.
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Pharmacy
Prepare supplies and follow them to the ward, back to pharmacy, or to destruction. Keep the list of what this facility stocks and on what terms.
What you can do here
Quantities stay as written
A quantity is kept exactly as you type it. Nothing converts or recalculates it, because a system that quietly reinterprets a quantity can be wrong while looking certain.
Destroying a controlled drug needs a witness
If the formulary marks a medicine as a controlled drug, destroying a supply of it requires a named witness, and the witness cannot be you.
The formulary is a stock and governance list
It says what this facility keeps and on what terms. It does not stop anyone prescribing a medicine that is not on it.
One entry per medicine
Each medicine has exactly one entry, so the answer to whether it is kept here is never two answers. If somebody else changes an entry while you have it open, your change is refused and you are asked to reopen it.
A medicine missing from the formulary
While preparing a supply, a pharmacist or administrator can choose Add medicine to the formulary at the foot of the list. The formulary form opens above the supply and the medicine comes back chosen. If the medicine is already on the formulary you are offered that entry instead of making a second one.
Follow these steps
Prepare a supply
- Select Prepare a supply.
- Choose the patient it is for.
- Pick the medicine from the formulary if it is on it, or name it directly.
- Write the quantity as you would on the label.
Send a supply to a ward
- Select Send to ward on a prepared supply.
- Choose the ward it is going to. No ward is chosen for you.
- Record who took it on the ward.
Destroy a supply
- Select Destroy.
- Record the quantity and why it is being destroyed.
- Name a witness if the medicine is a controlled drug. It cannot be you.
Keep the formulary
- Open the Formulary tab.
- Select Add a medicine, or Change on an existing entry.
- Choose whether it is kept here and what local terms apply. A new entry starts with neither chosen, and each term says whether anything enforces it.
- Add a note if staff need to know something specific about it here.
Helpful habits
- Record each custody step as it happens. A supply whose last recorded step was hours ago is a supply nobody can account for.
- Mark controlled drugs on the formulary before they are ever dispensed, because that marking is what makes destruction require a witness.
- Say why a supply is being destroyed in words a reviewer will understand months later.
- Keep the name shown in lists consistent with the catalog. The catalog remains the authority for what a medicine is.
Tips
- Owners and administrators keep the formulary. Doctors and nurses can move supplies and read it.
- A supply can only move on from the state it is in, so a supply already sent to a ward cannot be sent again.
- The formulary entry for a medicine shows on its supply rows, so you can see the local terms without leaving the queue.