Adding and Printing an Acute Prescription

An acute prescription is a one-off item usually prescribed for acute conditions.

1. From Consultation Manager , select the patient and start a consultation if required.
2. Select List Acute Therapy , all acutes and repeat issues display.
3. Simply start typing, or press Esc on your keyboard, and the Acute Therapy - Add screen displays:

   

   Complete as follows:

   • Date Prescribed - Defaults to today's date, update if required.
   • Prescriber - Defaults to the prescriber logged on, if the person logged on is not a prescriber, the Usual GP is the default for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is blank in Scotland. Update if required.
   • Capacity (Scotland only) - This option displays if you are a non-medical prescriber with both Independent and Supplementary prescriber settings, select under which prescriber capacity you are prescribing this item.

   • Source of Drug - Defaults to In practice. If you select anything other than In practice:

     • Prescriber - Becomes a free text option to record the prescriber of the medication if required. A list forms as you use this option.

     • Organisation - An Organisation option displays, record the organisation that issued the medication if required. A list forms as you use this option.

       See Recording Medication issued by Other Organisations for more details.
   • P/Admin - Tick to record medication given, for example, an injection.
   • Dispensed - Tick to record medication handed to the patient.
   • Private - Tick to record this as a private prescription.
   • Print Script - Remove the tick to stop this prescription being printed, for example, if it had been hand written on a visit and you are recording it.
   • PRN - Adding a drug with an As Needed dosage instruction automatically selects the PRN option on Therapy Add. This enables PRN items to print separately from other items. Remove the tick to deselect, if required.
   • Repeats - Enter the number of repeats if required, if selected this prescription becomes a Repeat Master not an acute.
   • Drug - Enter the first three or four letters of the drug name required, optionally followed by the form and then the strength, for example 'amox cap 250' and press Enter on your keyboard. The medication you require should be returned, if not either:
     • Use the up and down arrows to move through the medication list.
     • Select Switch to generic drug , or
     • Press F3 on your keyboard, the Select Drug screen displays:

       

       Complete as follows:

       1. Name - Enter the first three or four letters of the medication you require. When selecting therapy items Vision 3 breaks down your search criteria in the following way, Name|Form|Strength, for example, 'Amox cap 250' returns Amoxicillin 250mg capsules. When searching for a drug name, if an exact drug cannot be found the 'An exact drug match to the phrase entered cannot be found'message displays:

          

          Select OK to clear the message.

          Important - This can cause an issue where an item name is made up from more than one word, or where a conjoining hyphen is left out, for example, if you enter 'depo prov' Vision 3 searches on Name depo|Form prov. As a Form of Prov does not exist, it returns the first item with a Name of 'depo', hence Depo Medrone. You must check the item returned on a search is the item you require.

          Where a drug name long, or you are not sure of the spelling, you can use '_' to replace one character, or '%' to replace multiple characters, for example:

          • Entering 'depixol_c', returns Depixol Conc 100mg/1ml solution for injection ampoules.

          • Entering 'depo%rov', returns Depo-Provera 150mg/1ml suspension for injection pre-filled syringes.

       2. Form - Select if required.

       3. Strength - Select if required.

       4. Select Find and highlight the medication you require.

       5. Select OK.

          See Using the Select Drug Screen for further details.
       Note - Above Drug, if the item you select is unlicensed, Unlicensed displays, or if the item is highlighted as Availability Restricted within the dm+d, Limited Availability or Unavailable displays.
   • Quantity - Enter the number or amount required.
   • Preparation - Automatically completes with the medication default, update if required.
   • Pack Size (optional) - Select if required.
   • Treat Days - Automatically calculates from Quantity and Dosage.
   • Batch Number (optional) - Select if required.
   • Dosage - Completes with the medication default, update if required. Standard abbreviations are accepted, for example, 'One OD' displays as One Every Day', 'Two PRN' displays as 'Two When Required'.
   • Drug Class - Completes with the medication default, update if required.
   • Additional Information - Select to enter information to print on the right-hand side of the prescription form.
   • Instalment Dispensing - Select to enter additional information for instalment dispensing, see Instalment Dispensing for details.
4. Check the Allergy and Intolerance section, if there are any drug allergies recorded this section is highlighted in red.
5. Select OK.
6. Drug checks run, displaying any contraindications, interactions or drug doubling before you proceed with the prescription, see Drug Checks for details.
7. Providing you want to proceed, select Yes to any warning and where appropriate enter the reason.
8. Select Proceed.
9. The Therapy Records screen re-displays, from which you can print the prescription. If you link medications to Problems, the Add Medication to Problem screen displays. Tick the relevant problems and select OK, see Consultation Manager Setup - Management and Problem Orientated Medical Records for details.
10. If you need to issue more than one acute medication repeat the process from step 3 above.
11. Press F9 on your keyboard to issue.
12. The Therapy Print Records / Prescription Manager screen displays, all acutes added with today's date display. Check the Authorised Signatory and update if required. The Authorised Signatory prints on the prescription.
13. Press F9 on your keyboard again to print the prescription.

If you need to prescribe an acute again, you can:

• Enter it again,
• Copy an initial acute prescription, simply right click on the item and select Copy, or
• Create a repeat master based on this acute, see Creating an Acute from a Repeat Prescription for details.