Home Forums One way to print a medication list

If you try to print a medication list from the script writer, it can change the refill dates, etc. The summary sheet has a certain format plus lists other data. I have found that the method below to be helpful if you just want to have a medication list.

Right click on the patient and choose print notes or letters. Click on print note. Clear all of the check boxes on the left. Then check the box for meds. All of the meds will then be copied into the letter which will then just be a basic plain page.

Options including leaving Re: so the patient's name is on there. You could leave the date. If you choose to make the letter To The Patient, you will get the patient's address on there. Of course, you always need to delete the "Dear" which should't be there anyway.

Not that it matters, but I leave the Re: and the date and then just click on Meds. BTW, the check boxes will revert back to being checked for the next letter.

I tried this one out, and I had a problem.

I started an encounter, wrote a prescription for Decadron, completed the encounter, and signed off. I then right-clicked on the patients name, and opened the letter writer. I clicked on "compose letter", and then checked "meds". Decadron did not show up in my letter. Hmmm...

So, I opened up a new encounter, and checked the med list. There was Decadron in my "Current Medication" field. I closed the encounter without saving, and tried the letter writer: Decadron still didn't come up when I checked "meds". Strange.

So, finally, I just did a test note and this time signed off on it. Now, when I opened the letter writer and checked "meds", Decadron was there.

For my final experiment, I created an encounter, clicked in the "Current Medication" box, typed the words "Bert is cool", and then clicked on the Rx button and prescribed Viagra (not for myself, of course, I don't need it). I then signed off.

When I opened the letter writer, and checked "meds", guess what popped up: "Bert is cool."

What I basically found is this: when you open the letter writer and check "meds", the only meds that will come up are the ones that were actually *in* the "Current Medication" box in the bottom left field of your encounter form at the time you signed out.

I think we need to get them to fix this, because this letter writer is supposed to be for writing letters to people about your patients just after the encounter is over. When you click "meds", it should reflect your updated medication list.

I had the same problem, but I figured as little as I need this feature, I could work on it then. I agree about the letter and the meds. The other thing that irks me, and no one ever talks about this, is the formatting of many things like this.

For instance, when you click on meds in the letter writer, it will say "Meds" or "Med list" or whatever. But, then the first medication is on the same line. That, of course, looks terrible.

The same thing happens with the orders. If I type a list like CBC, ESR, etc. The saved order will start with CBC at the upper right on the same line as "I recommended the following labs... so I have to either move it down in the note or move the labs down one line in the order window. For Amazing Charts to tell a list where to start, i.e. on which line takes only a snippet of code from what I know about code.

Oh, and for the record: Cialis.

Well, "BUG SOLVED" is an exaggeration, but there's an easy workaround for the problem described above.

When you type a letter, clicking "Meds" just brings up the medications that the patient was on when the last encounter began. The reason for this is pretty obvious: the letter writer buttons merely paste sections of your last signed note into the letter you're working on. The medications you prescribed at your last encounter are obviously not contained in the "Medication" field of your last note, they are contained in the "Plan" field of your last note!

So, if you want to use the letter writer to create a med list for someone, and you want it to contain your most up-to-date medication changes, it is really very simple:

1. Open the letter writer, following the steps that Bert outlined above.
2. Click on "Meds".
3. Click also on "Plan"!
4. Highlight and cut out all of the unrelated material.
5. Print list.

I am not claiming that this is an elegant solution, just that it is simple and that it works.

Postscript:

Of course, as a matter of note hygeine, we should all make sure that we always inactivate all inactive medications before we sign off on our notes, and type a brief reason (if they finished the antibiotic, just type "completed").

This will make sure that your medication list is correct the next time you open it, and if you're creating a medication list like the one described above, it will help make sure there are no out-of-date medications in the "Meds" field.

Post-postscript (only for the tedious detail minded, I warn you):

There is another solution for this problem, but it is problematic itself. Before you sign off on a note, you can double-click on the "medication" field of the note you are currently working on. The prescription writer screen will appear. Close it. When you look at your "medication" field of the current note, you will find that all of the medication changes you have made during this encounter have now magically appeared inside the "medication" field of the current note!

Now, when you sign off on this note, open the letter writer, and click on "meds", and a completely up-to-date medication list will appear in your letter. However, when you print your last note, it will look like the patient was already taking all of the medications that you ended up prescribing at the end of the encounter. (if that makes any sense).

Oh, well! If you want to use the letter writer to type a medication list for someone, just use steps 1-5 above, and don't worry about the rest! Happy New Year!

Brian,

I agree with and understood everything you said. That scares me. But, just for the record, I always sign the charta and THEN print out a med list using the above method.

Also, I am a fanatic about updating the med list. I think to take it one step further as to its utility, the first thing I do is to open the med list and go over each and every med with the patient. This way we are both on the same page and, of course, many times they have stopped their MiraLax and their Zantac without my knowledge so I get to find out and to educate them about meds. I also update the ones I called in while on call and the antibiotics that the ED obviously gave them.

I must admit I am terrible at writing in the reasons I discontinued a med, but I would be much more likely to do so if Jon would ever heed my idea about having a way to see the meds they are on at the left, and the meds they have been on at the right at the same time.

The doctor I used to work with used to be awful at the above. His med list would look something like, and I am telling you, you should read this:

Augmentin
Cefzil
Zantac
Augmentin
Amoxicillin
Don't watch TV
Diuril
Go to college then get married
Albuterol

AARRGGHH!! I loved it when this got printed for a consult or to transfer records.

Can I start writing prescriptions for "Don't Watch TV" and "Go to college then get married?" I didn't know my DEA registration let me DO that!! Would do a number of my patients a heck of a lot more good than any PILL I could Rx them.

My standard diet prescription is "Eat-Less-Move-More". Comes in a number of sizes and strengths.

V.

Vinny,

LOL! Yes, you probably could. I think the reason my ex-partner (you probably see why from some of my not so polite posts to you ) would put these things there, because they searchable.

It really did get frustrating there along with his belly ultrasounds and CT-scans with diagnoses of Big Head. But, hey, it all works.

Was your ex-partner from the fair state of Arkansas, by any chance?

No more like one of the Pacific islands.