Discontinuing medications (new prescriber)

Note: This information applies to the new prescriber (see New prescriber).

When you instruct a patient to stop taking a medication, you should always discontinue the prescription in the patient’s EMR record. This way, the patient’s active medications list accurately reflects what medications the patient is currently taking. Also, in keeping a patient’s active medications list accurate, you will not receive interaction warnings against medications the patient is no longer taking.

When you discontinue a medication, you have the choice to print a discontinuation report, which can be sent to the pharmacy.

Note: When a medication is discontinued, it can still be referenced or refilled. Discontinued medications are never permanently deleted from a patient’s record.

Steps

1.

Open the Medications and Allergies window: On any window related to the patient (including a SOAP note, and the medical summary), right-click and choose View Medication List.

2.

Perform one of the following actions:

To discontinue only one medication, in the Active Medications list, click the medication you want to discontinue, and then click Discontinue . In the right pane, the EMR displays the Discontinue Prescription area.

To discontinue several medications at once:

a)

Above the Active Medications list, select the Multiple Rx Actions check box and then, in the Active Medications list, select the check boxes beside the medications you want to discontinue.

b)

Click Discontinue . In the right pane, the Discontinue Prescription area displays.

3.

In the Reason list, select your reason for discontinuing the medication. If none of the options are appropriate, select Other and then, in the Comments field, enter your reason.

Tip: The Reason defaults to Rx no longer required. You can modify the default reason if required. See Modifying prescription window defaults (new prescriber).

4.

To add additional notes regarding your reason for discontinuing the medication, in the Comments area, type your notes.

5.

To change the discontinue date (for example, if you want the medication to be discontinued next week), in the Effective Date field, enter a date, or click the down arrow to select a date from a calendar.

6.

Perform one of the following actions:

To discontinue the selected medication(s), click Save .

To discontinue the selected medication(s) and prescribe or record another medication, click Save and New .

To discontinue the selected medication(s), and print a discontinuation report from the printer of your choice, click Print .

To discontinue the selected medication(s), and print a discontinuation report from your default printer, click Quick Print .

In most cases the EMR removes the prescription(s) from the Active Medications list and displays the medication in the Inactive Medications list.