Managing Medications
The Medication section tracks all current and past medications for a patient, organised by type and status.
How to Get There
Open a patient record and navigate to Clinical Record > Medication.
Medication Sections
Medications are grouped into tabs:
- Active - current medications, subdivided into:
- Acute (blue) - one-off or short-course medications
- Repeat (purple) - ongoing medications that can be re-issued
- Paused - temporarily suspended medications
- Past - stopped or expired medications
Both acute and repeat medications expire 12 months after the last issue date, or 12 months from creation if never issued.
Medication Card
Each medication card shows:
- Name and dosage instructions
- Authorising clinician and start date
- Frequency, route, and duration
- Expiry date
- Issues - for repeat medications, the number of times issued vs the authorised total (e.g. "2/6 issued")
- Review badge - appears on medications imported from other systems that need clinical review
Click a medication to open the detail sidebar showing:
- Full medication details (display name, brand, strength, form)
- SIG (directions for use)
- Status badge
- Timeline - history of issues, authorisations, reauthorisations, and type changes
- Medication administrations - records of doses given with date, clinician, dose, route, and site
Key Actions
Two buttons appear at the top of the medications view:
- Issue Medication - search the dm+d database, select a regimen, set dosage and directions, and add the medication to the patient's record. This is the first step before a prescription can be created.
- Issue Prescription - create a prescription from medications that have already been issued to the patient (see the Issuing a Prescription article). This is the second step.
From the detail sidebar:
- Reauthorise - extend a repeat medication
- Change Type - switch between acute, repeat, and repeat dispensing
- Stop - permanently end the medication with a documented reason
- Pause - temporarily suspend
- End Course - mark a course as complete
Tip: The medication workflow is two steps: first Issue Medication to add the medication to the patient's record, then Issue Prescription to create a prescription from that medication.
Note: To issue electronic prescriptions, your organisation must have Signature Rx connected. See the Signature Rx article in Integrations & Apps.