Administer and Supply Medication

In Communicare V20.1 and later, the separate Supply and Administer functions are merged into a single Administer and Supply function. Use Administer and Supply to record the administration or supply of a medication, or both administration and supply of a medication during the current service.

You can also use Administer and Supply to record the supply of patient-specific inventory. For more information, see Supply Medication Requests.

To access this functionality, the Medications Management module must be enabled for your organisation in the System Parameters window.

To administer and supply medication, your user group requires the following system rights:
  • Medications Administer
  • Medications Supply
  • Medication View

You can administer and supply regular and once-off medications for which a Medication Order has been created, either by you or by other service providers. You can then edit any administer record that you have created within the last 24 hours.

Tip: If your health service uses medication requests, you can also supply patient-specific inventory supplied by an external pharmacy to a patient. For more information, see Supply Medication Requests.
Note: You cannot administer or supply medication added to a patient's clinical record using Medication History. Instead, create new Medication Orders for these medications. Administer and Supply also cannot be used from the Communicare Offline Client, or if the patient is deceased.

Create an administration entry each time you administer medication directly to a patient. You can record multiple administration entries during an extended service.

To record the administration of a medication:
  1. In the Clinical Record, select Medication iconMedication > Admin supplyAdminister & Supply. The Administer and Supply Medication window lists all active medications associated with the current patient, with the medication administered most recently listed first.
    If you are using Communicare V21.1 and later and the CDS service is not available, a warning is displayed at the top of the window. The warning is one of:
    • Condition interaction support not available - if the patient has a recorded condition
    • Pregnancy interaction support not available - if the patient is pregnant and has no other recorded conditions
    • Pregnancy and Condition interaction support not available - if the patient is both pregnant and has a recorded condition
    For example:
    Example CDS service unavailable warning
  2. In either the Regular Medications or Once off/Short Course medications pane, click > to expand the required medication.
    Details of the medication including formulation, dosage instructions and order instructions are displayed. If the medication has been administered in the current encounter or the last 24 hours, administration details are listed.
    Tip: To display the history for medication administered to the patient more than 24 hours ago, click Medication Overview.
  3. If there is an allergy, drug interaction or warning associated with this medication, Medication Interaction is displayed. Click Medication Interaction to display the medication warnings.
  4. From the Brand Name list, select the medication available in Imprest at your organisation, either a brand name or any generic of the same formulation. If the medication brand isn't available in Imprest for your encounter place and a generic alternative is in stock, it is displayed. If neither a brand nor generic are available in Imprest, the Imprest Level displays Stock level not found in imprest.
    Tip: If you select an alternative brand or generic medication in Imprest, that medication is updated for all administer and supply records for the service.
  5. Record the stock details of the medication to update your Imprest system:
    • If the administration uses a whole bottle or pack of medication, for the Whole Stock Used field, click Increment iconIncrement to add the amount of stock used.
    • If the administration completes a bottle or pack of medication, for the Open Stock Finished field, click Increment iconIncrement to add the amount of stock completed.
    • If the administration is from a new bottle or pack of medication, for the New Open Stock field, click Increment iconIncrement to add the amount of stock opened.
  6. Click Add administration.
  7. In the Administration Details fields, record each administration attempt:
    • In the Quantity field, use the arrows to select the amount of medication administered, or enter a fractional amount.
    • From the Unit list, select the measure used for the medication.
    • From the Route list, select the manner in which the medication was administered.
    • From the Site list, select where the medication was administered.
    • From the Status list:
      • If you successfully administered the medication, select Success.
      • If you failed to administer the medication, select Failure.
      • If the status changes in the 24 hours after administration, change the status. For example from Success to Failure.
    • If you failed to administer the medication, from the Failure Reason list, select why the administration failed. For example, Vomited.
    • If required, in the Comments field, add any pertinent information about the event.
  8. Click Save.
An administer record is added to the Progress Notes. The record shows the Administer Medication iconAdminister Medication icon, the date, and and is prefixed with the word <Administer>. For example:
Example administer progress note

An entry is also added to the Detail tab, the Rx - Supply class tab and the Medication topic tab.

Editing administration records

You can edit the status, failure reason and any comments for any medication administration entries that were recorded by you over the last 24 hours. For example, you can edit a medication administration to record that the administration failed because the patient vomited.

To edit the administration details of a medication from the last 24 hours:
  1. If the record is already open, go to step 4.
  2. In the Clinical Record, select Medication iconMedication > Admin supplyAdminister & Supply.
  3. Expand the medication whose details you want to edit.
  4. In the Administration details section, edit the administration details:
    • From the Status list, select whether the medication was successfully administered.
    • If the medication could not be administered, in the Failure Reason field, enter why administration failed.
    • If required, in the Comments field, add any pertinent information about the event.
    • If required, delete a record entered by mistake, click Delete iconBin.
  5. Click Save.

Deleting administration records

You can delete any medication recorded and saved by you in the current service, if it was recorded in error.

To delete administration of a medication recorded in the current service:
  1. If the record is already open, go to step 4.
  2. In the Clinical Record, select Medication iconMedication > Admin supplyAdminister & Supply.
  3. Expand the medication whose administration you want to delete.
  4. In the Administration details section, for the administration you want to delete, click Delete iconBin.
  5. In the Delete Administration window, in the Reason field, enter information about why you're deleting the administration. Enter at least 5 characters.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click Save.

Recording supply of a medication

If you provide medication to a patient or their carer from your stock, record a supply record for the medication. Supply does not affect the Imprest.

Tip: If your health service uses medication requests, you can also supply patient-specific inventory supplied by an external pharmacy to a patient. For more information, see Supply Medication Requests.
If you want to print labels for the supplied medication, you must first set up printing:
  • Select System Parameter > Clinical tab, and in Medication Labels, set Enable label printing and add a value to Default label count.
  • Select File > Printer Assignments, select Medication Labels and from the Medication Label Template list, select a template.
Tip: To display the history of medication supplied to the patient, click Medication Overview.
To record the supply of a medication:
  1. In the Clinical Record, select Medication iconMedication > Admin supplyAdminister & Supply.
  2. Expand the medication that you want to add a supply record to.
  3. In the Supply Quantity and Units fields:
    • Enter the amount of medication supplied, including fractional amounts where required
    • Select the medication units
  4. From the Supply Mode list, select how the medication was supplied.
  5. In the Supply Notes field, enter any pertinent notes.
  6. If you want to print labels to attach to the medication, in the Print Labels field, enter the number of labels required and click Print Labels iconPrint Labels.
  7. Click Save.
A supply record is added to the Progress Notes. The record shows the Supply medication iconSupply Medication icon, the date, and the word <Supply>. For example:
Example supply progress note

An entry is also added to the Detail tab, the Rx - Supply class tab and the Medication topic tab.

Editing supply of a medication

If required, you can edit supply details for a medication recorded by you in the same service. Changes to supply do not affect the Imprest.

To edit the supply details of a medication in the current service:
  1. If the record is already open, go to step 4.
  2. In the Clinical Record, select Medication iconMedication > Admin supplyAdminister & Supply.
  3. Expand the medication whose details you want to edit.
  4. In the Supply details section, edit the supply details where required:
    1. In the Supply Quantity and Units fields:
      • Edit the amount of medication supplied, including fractional amounts where required
      • Edit the medication units
    2. From the Supply Mode list, select an alternative method for how the medication was supplied.
    3. In the Supply Notes field, edit the pertinent notes.
    4. If you want to reprint labels to attach to the medication, in the Print Labels field, enter the number of labels required and click Print Labels.
  5. Click Save.

Deleting supply of a medication

You can delete the supply of medication recorded by you during the current service and saved, if it was recorded in error. Changes to supply do not affect the Imprest.

To delete the supply of a medication in the current service:
  1. If the record is already open, go to step 4.
  2. In the Clinical Record, select Medication iconMedication > Admin supplyAdminister & Supply.
  3. Expand the medication whose supply you want to delete.
  4. In the Supply details section, for the supply you want to delete, click Delete iconBin.
  5. In the Delete Supply window, in the Reason field enter information about why you're deleting the supply record. Enter at least 5 characters.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click Save.