How to Fill a Prescription

The Prescription Fill Queue is the primary place for prescriptions that are requested and approved within VetView to be filled.  This is a working screen for pharmacy techs and staff, as well as designated clinical staff in certain hospitals that have prescription issuing rights.

How do I open a prescription on the Pharmacy Fill Queue?

Click on the binoculars in the first column to open the prescription. 

If you want to preview the prescription before opening it, mouse over the info dot next to the drug name to see the prescription details.

How do I reserve a prescription so no one else can edit it?

Click on a prescription's binoculars to begin the fill process.

As soon as a technician clicks on the Start Fill button, the prescription can be reserved.   Click on the Reserve button that appears at the top.  

The status of the prescription will change to In Process, and this can also be used as an indicator to other pharmacy technicians that the prescription is reserved.

If the view/edit reserved prescriptions has been enabled for the technician role, then other techs may view the prescription, but as soon as any one user makes changes on the script, a warning will appear on the other user's screen.

A technician may Unreserve a prescription at any time.

How do I add Fill Comments?

There are four fields that can be changed without reserving a prescription:  The priority / patient status, the status comment, the Fill Comments, and the Prescription Flag. 

In this way, a lead technician may change the priorities of a prescription or even pre-assign them (using the free text prescription flag) without reserving the prescription to themselves.

How do I View Prescription Details?

At the top of the screen, the prescription details as sent by the clinical side appear.  

This includes the patient demographic information, the approval date (with a time stamp), and details regarding the product requested.

If dosage information has been set up on the product, this will automatically be pulled in as well.  

The prescription has a mistake.  How do I edit it before filling it?

If the prescription contains incorrect information, typos, or anything else that needs to be changed, the technician can Edit the prescription (if they have Edit rights for that pharmacy.)

The Edit screen that loads will be identical to the Prescription Request form as it was submitted by the clinical side.

All fields can be modified to some extent, although expiration dates cannot be set any later than the hospital or drug class defaults.  

Depending on your hospital's settings, you can also change the product to a different product in the same generic family, or to any product.  Note that the original prescribed product and the final issued product will all be recorded with the user's name who makes that change.

How do I change the Billing Information?

The bill that a prescription will default to the current open order on the patient's record, if one exists.  CTRL+ Click on the Bill link to open the episode order in another tab without losing this prescription.

If there is no open order, then the pharmacy technician has the option to choose between created a new Bill Only episode in the background and a new order, or opening a related order to the original episode.   Choose the appropriate action based on your hospital's policy.

How do I know if this patient has issues, such as allergies?

The patient and client alerts will appear in a box next to the prescription information. 

The technician should check for any critical information that might affect the safety of this patient on the prescription, such as allergies.

How do I know if this product is in stock?

Check in the section of the prescription labeled Billing and Inventory Information.

If there is an Inventory Area associated with the pharmacy, and the selected product on the prescription has associated inventory in any of its locations, it will pre-load the inventory in the Inventory fields.

Otherwise, the technician who is processing this prescription will need to manually enter in the information.

Choose the pharmacy Inventory Area at the top of the inventory section, and then choose the Inventory Location row by row below.  

The tech can then click on the small green plus sign to copy the inventory information down to the label.

Inventory can come from multiple locations, and also multiple lots from within the same location.  So if a technician will finish out one bottle and start a new one, both bottles can be recorded.

Right click and choose Add Manual Entry to add another row to the inventory section.

How do I assign an Rx number?

Your pharmacy can be set up to automatically assign an Rx number, or you can manually reserve an Rx number from the next available one in the pull.

You can also hand enter the Rx number if your hospital is strict about ensuring consecutive numbers are assigned.

To find the next available Rx number from the pharmacy pool, click on the Get Rx button.  It will pull the next available number.

How do I know what information will print on the prescription label?

The information that will appear on the prescription label automatically copies down from other places that it is entered.  This includes the name of the drug, the instructions, and the inventory information.

The label information can be adjusted to have a cleaner appearance if desired.  The Rx # will load automatically for refills, but will be available to automatically pull (Get Next Rx) or manually input on new prescriptions.

Auxiliary Labels and Drug Sheets

For products that have the auxiliary labels or drug sheets pre-defined either at the generic level or the product level, these fields will load immediately.

The technician can also manually add additional labels or drug sheets as desired.  This info will update in real time on the PDF preview of the label and data card when the prescription is saved.

For prescriptions that are being issued for internal hospital use, you can turn off the printing of the Aux Labels or Drug Info Sheet, by unchecking the box next to the label or sheet's name.

Prescription Label and Data Card

The prescription label can be printed to a label printer that has been set up for the Pharmacy.  Clicking on the button will print it there directly.

Otherwise, clicking on the printer icon on the PDF preview will load any network printers that are available to the computer that the technician is working on.

The drug info sheets will print out from this same printer, on the second half of the label paper. 

The Prescription Data Card (printed copy of the prescription for archival purposes) can be printed in the same manner.

How do I issue a prescription?

The technician has two options to have a prescription issued.  

They can have the issuing pharmacist work over their shoulder and input their username and password.  Or, they can click on Submit for Review, which will change the prescription status to Review and allow the pharmacist to approve it from their own computer.

If an issuing pharmacist is the one filling the prescription, they can input their username into both fields and click Done/Issue without putting the prescription into Review status.

How do I submit a prescription for review?

If a pharmacist is not available to immediately issue the Rx, you can click on Submit for Review.  

You will get a notice that this process was successful, and the option to stay on the script for additional work (such as printing the labels) or to go back to the Queue.

How do I mark a prescription as Ready for Pickup?

If your pharmacy has the Ready for Pickup workflow enabled, then once the prescription has been issued, on the queue it will appear in a new section called Prescriptions Ready for Pickup.

Right click the prescription row and chose Mark Picked-Up from the drop down menu.

A window will open with the prescription information.  The user picking up must enter in their username or choose the other person picking it up, such as the Client or that the prescription was delivered to the unit.  

Click on the Save button to complete the process.