Admissions: Prescribing Medications

The Medication Chart supports safe, standardised prescribing within the Admissions module, enabling medications to be recorded and managed within a digital chart. As medications are prescribed, they are automatically populated onto the chart, providing a clear and structured view of all current orders throughout a patient’s admission.

By centralising prescribing in a digital chart, organisations can reduce reliance on paper-based processes, minimise medication errors, and support compliance with the NSQHS Medication Safety Standard. Integrated clinical decision support, including interaction checking, helps identify potential risks such as drug interactions, allergies, and other patient-specific considerations at the point of prescribing. This also simplifies auditing and strengthens clinical governance by maintaining a complete and accurate record of prescribed medications.

Contents:

1. Medication Types

2. Prescribing a Medication

3. Regular Medications

4. PRN Medications

5. Once Only Medications

6. Telephone Orders

Medication Types

There are several medication types in the Admissions module:

Regular Medication - Given at set times on an ongoing basis during the patient's admission (e.g. daily).

PRN Medication (As Required) - Administered only when clinically indicated, as needed for specific symptoms (e.g. pain relief, nausea).

Once Only (Once Only, Nurse Initiated, Pre-Medications) - Prescribed for a single administration.

Telephone Order Medication (Verbal Order) - Communicated verbally over the phone by an authorised prescriber when they cannot enter the order directly (e.g., after-hours or in urgent scenarios).

Pre-Hospital Medication - medicines a patient is taking prior to hospital admission, including prescriptions, over-the-counter medications (OTC), and complementary therapies. These medications can later be prescribed directly onto the chart if needed. Please see Admissions: Recording Pre-Hospital Medications for more information.

Instructions on prescribing all of the medications above are available in this article, with the exception of Pre-Hospital Medications which aren't prescribed, and can be found in Admissions: Recording Pre-Hospital Medications.

Prescribing a Medication

All prescribed medication types share a common prescribing workflow. The Regular Medication workflow is used as the standard, with other medication types differing only in a small number of fields. Review the Regular Medication steps first, then refer to the sections below for the specific differences relevant to each medication type as required.

1. Click on Admissions in the side-navigation.
   
   
    
2. Select the name of the patient. If the patient is not yet listed, click on New Admission and follow the steps in Admissions: The Admissions List, Admitting Patients, & Moving Patients first.
   
   
    
3. Open the Medications section.
   
   
    
4. Select Chart.
   
   
    
5. Click on New Medication.
   
   
    
6. Select the Medication Type from the buttons at the top of the Medication window.
   
   
    
7. Enter the generic medication name into the Medicine field, and select the relevant option from the drop-down menu.
   
    

📌 Important: Any allergies recorded for the patient are displayed in the left panel. If a potential interaction is identified for the selected medicine, it will appear in the Interactions box below the Allergies list. The Interactions box only loads after a medicine has been selected. For more information, see Medications - MediSpan Clinical Decision Support Interactions Service.

8. If you would like to specify a Brand for the medicine, enter this into the Brand Name field. 
   
   
    

9. Enter the Strength by free-typing into the field provided. Units are specified at a later stage in the workflow (for example, mg or mmol).
   
   
    
10. Begin typing the Form into the Form field, and select the relevant option. Alternatively, you can click into the Form field, scroll through the available options, and select as required. 
    
    
     
11. Begin typing the Route into the Route field, and select the relevant option. As above, if you prefer, you can  click into the Route field, scroll through the available options, and select as needed. Up to two Routes may be selected at a time.
    
    
     
12. Enter the Dose by free-typing into the field provided.
    
    
     
13. Begin typing the Units into the Units field, and select the relevant option. You may also click into the field, scroll through the available options, and make an appropriate selection if preferred.
    
    
     
14. Under the Frequency Type, select from the Pre-Defined and Manual buttons provided.
    • If you have selected Pre-Defined, click into the Frequency Name field, select a relevant option (e.g. Once a day). For most pre-defined frequencies, administration times are automatically populated based on standard scheduling practices. These administration times can be edited if required to suit specific medication regimens. Enter any Administer Times required by typing or clicking on the clock icon to select a time.
      
      
       
    • If you weren't able to find an appropriate Pre-Defined Frequency, you may prefer to use Manual. Enter a Frequency Name, select a Frequency, choose a Repeat Every interval, and select an Intake. 
      
      If you have selected Hourly Intervals, select the Hourly Interval from the field provided, and select a Start Time. Once a start time has been selected, the administration times on the chart will automatically commence from that selected start time based on the interval chosen.
      
      If you have opted for Number of Administration Times, select from the options provided, and input the Times for each Administration Time by typing or clicking into the clock icon beside each Administration Time. 
      
      
       
15. Click into the Indication field, begin typing, and select from the relevant options.
    
     

16. The Start Date for the medicine will default to the current date. If you would like to change this date, click the calendar icon and select the relevant date from the calendar provided. 
    
    
     
17. If required, enter an End Date, or click onto the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar provided.
    
    If an End Date is not entered, the medication will automatically be ceased upon patient discharge.
    • The End Date represents the final day the medication can be administered. After this date, administration cells on the Medication Chart will be greyed out and administration will be prevented. Setting an End Date does not automatically cease the medication; the medication must still be manually ceased to move it to the ceased section of the chart. For more information on the Medication Chart, please see Admissions: Understanding Medication Charting.
      
      
       
18. Enter a Review Date for the medication, or click onto the calendar icon to select a date from the calendar provided. 
    • If the review date is today, it will be highlighted in orange on the Medication Chart.
    • If the review date has passed, it will be shown in red as overdue on the Medication Chart.
    • For more information on the Medication Chart, please see Admissions: Understanding Medication Charting.
      
       
19. If required, add Comments into the field provided.
    
     
20. The Pharmacy fields behind the toggle at the bottom of the window can be ignored for now. These are used by the pharmacist after the medication has been prescribed.
21. Click Save. 
    
     

22. The prescribed medication will then be shown on the top of the Medications Chart.
    
    
     

For more information on reading the Medication Chart, please see Admissions: Understanding Medication Charting.

Regular Medications

Regular Medications are prescribed using the workflow above. 

PRN Medications

When prescribing PRN Medications, you will be presented with an additional field called Max Dose/24 Hours. This is a mandatory field for PRN Medications, and specifies how much of the medicine the patient is allowed in a 24 hour period. 

Once Only Medications

When prescribing a Once Only Medication, most of the Frequency fields are hidden in the window, and replaced with a Once Only Frequency. You are presented with a few new fields:

• If you would like to provide the medicine at a particular time, enter the required Date and Time into the fields provided.

  
   

• Alternatively, if you select Immediately, the medication will be prescribed immediately, and the Date and Time fields will be disabled.
  
   

• Finally, if you have selected Immediately, you may also choose to Administer Now if required.  If you choose this option, the medication will automatically be ceased once you click Save, as it has been administered as a Once Only medication. 
  For more information on Administration, please see Admissions: Prescribing Medications.
  
   

   

Telephone Orders

When you select Once Only, you may also specify if the medicine is being prescribed via Telephone Order, using the toggle. When you toggle on Telephone Order, the Frequency fields are similar to the original Once Only fields, without the ability to Administer Now. 

• If you would like to provide the medicine at a particular time, enter the required Date and Time into the fields provided. Alternatively, if you select Immediately, the medication will be prescribed immediately.
  
   
• When creating a Telephone Order, you must specify a Prescriber, and at least one Witness. Click into the Prescriber Name field, search for the prescriber, and select them from the drop-down meu. The first witness' name will be prefilled with your name, as the creator of the medication record. Click into the Witness 2 field, search for the second witness' name, and select them from the options provided. 
  
   
• Finally, Witness 2's password must be entered into the Password field. Once done, click Verify. If the password has been entered incorrectly, a message will appear under the Password field to explain this. You may wish to click the eye icon within the Password field to reveal the password in case of any typing mistakes, if it is safe and secure to do so. 
  
   

Related Reading

• Admissions: Editing & Ceasing Medications
• Admissions: Intravenous Infusion Charting (IV)
• Admissions: Recording Pre-Hospital Medications
• Admissions: Understanding Medication Charting