Quick Reference — To create an order for a prescription medication
For instructions on using EPCS for controlled substance prescriptions, see To sign and send controlled substance prescriptions electronically.
- In the Exam stage of the patient encounter, click A/P in the navigation bar.
- You can enter an assessment in the assessment note field. When you begin to enter text, the star icon
icon appears at the right. You can click the star icon to save your text as a macro for future use.
Note: Macros created in this field cannot exceed 4000 characters.
If the note needs to be hidden from patients and family members or caretakers who have access to their health information, click
to mark the note confidential. See User Guide — Lock Patient Data for more information. - Click the plus icon
next to Diagnoses & Orders.
The diagnoses and orders you select are added to the D&O cart. - Search for and select the medication.
- Click the new medication order to open the form and display the details.
The Prescribe tab is displayed by default. - Sig — Enter instructions for the patient on how to take the medication, including the correct dosing.
- Quantity — Specify the quantity and number of refills (if any).
Note: When you create an electronic prescription, athenaOne may convert the medication unit and quantity to a First Databank (FDB) standard quantity. For example, if you select "1 bottle of 150" from the Quantity menu, athenaOne converts this value to the FDB standard quantity of "150 tablets" when it sends the electronic prescription to the pharmacy. The converted quantity appears in parentheses after the selected quantity at the point of order, in the order details view, and in the full encounter summary.
Note: When you change the dispense unit for a prescription, the Quantity field automatically clears. This functionality is intentional and promotes patient safety. After changing the dispense unit, enter a quantity appropriate for the unit you select. - DAW — Select the dispense as written (DAW) option if needed.
- Send to — If the patient's preferred pharmacy does not appear in this field or if you need to select a different pharmacy, click the plus icon and search for the pharmacy.
- Note to pharmacy — (Optional) If you want the order to be filled on a future date (specified using he Earliest fill date field), you can enter a note in this field that instructs the pharmacy to fill the order after the date you specify.
Note: If multiple orders have the same note, athenaOne marks the order as a duplicate and rejects it. Entering a unique note on each order ensures that the pharmacy successfully receives all electronic orders. - Earliest fill date — (Optional) If you want the order to be filled on a future date, enter the earliest date that the patient should receive the prescription (this field applies to both controlled and non-controlled substances and also appears in medication flowsheets). When you sign the order, the prescription is sent immediately to the pharmacy via Surescripts, but the pharmacy does not make the prescription available for the patient until the Earliest fill date (also known as the effective date).
Example: If multiple orders are needed for a patient over a given period of time and the drug name, Sig, and quantity are the same, you can use this field to indicate when the pharmacy should fill each order. - Click Sign orders.