Brief Outline
Medications are prescribed from within the Current Consult window and have been configured to print the information into the designated fields on the Medicare PBS paper. You can prescribe a medication to a patient within a Standard Consult or Quick Consult. This article covers how to prescribe with a MIMS subscription, and how to create your own custom medication.
Short Version
- Start a consultation for a patient.
- Click the Plus + icon under the Current Medications heading.
- If you have a MIMS subscription, search for the drug brand name in the Medication field.
- If you do not have a MIMS subscription, click the Plus + icon beside the Medication field to add a new drug, fill in the required fields and click Save.
- Complete the remaining fields.
- Click Save and Print.
Instructions
You can prescribe a medication for a patient during either a Standard Consult or through a Quick Consult.
1. If you are prescribing during a standard appointment, double click on a patient's appointment to open the Clinical Window.
2. If you are prescribing for a Quick Consult, click the Quick Consult button and search for and select the patient. 
3. Open the Current Consult tab.
4. Click the Plus + icon under the Current Medications heading.
Searching for a Medication using a MIMS Subscription
1. If you have a MIMS subscription, type the brand name of the drug into the Medication field and select the drug from the drop-down menu. 
Note: If the brand name you require is not available for selection, try searching for the generic brand name. If you are still unable to find the medication you are looking for, then you may need to add the drug manually. Skip to the Adding your Own Medication heading below for instructions on manually adding drugs.
Some information will be prefilled for you from the MIMS database. 
Adding your Own Medication
Note: When adding your own custom medication and using a MIMS subscription, updates made to the MIMS database will not be reflected on custom medications. Adjustments will need to be manually to custom medications.
1. Click the Plus + icon beside the Medication field.
2. Type the name of the drug into the Name field.
3. Choose the prescription code from the Code drop-down field. 
4. The following fields are not mandatory, but you may type the information into them if known:
- Form
- Composition
- Strength
- Dose Information
- Repeats (this can be completed in the next window which allows you to change the quantity per patient)
- Quantity (this can be completed in the next window which allows you to change the quantity per patient)
5. Click Save. 
Completing the Prescription
The remainder of the instructions are relevant for whether you are using MIMS or manually adding medications.
1. Select a dose from the Dose drop-down menu, or click the Plus + icon to add a new dose if required.
A) If you clicked the Plus + icon above, click Add Item. 
B) Type in the required dose and click the Tick √ icon.
C) Click Close or the X icon. 
D) Select your new dose from the Dose drop-down menu.
2. Select the category from the Category menu if required.
3. Choose the frequency that the medication must be taken from the Frequency menu or click the Plus + icon to add a new frequency. 
A) If you clicked the Plus + icon above, click Add Item. 
B) Type your new frequency into the text field and click the Tick √ icon.
C) Click the Close or X button. 
D) Select your frequency from the Frequency menu. 
4. Type any instructions required for taking the medication into the Instructions field. 
5. Choose the number of repeats from the Repeats menu by typing or by using the Up ▲ or Down ▼ buttons. 
6. Choose a quantity from the Quantity field by typing or by using the Up ▲ or Down ▼ buttons.
7. If you are prescribing an authority drug, you will need to add the approval code into the Authorisation Approval Number field. The process for prescribing an authority medication is covered in this article.
8. If this is a drug that you will prescribe again in future, you can click Save as Favourite to allow you to quickly prescribe this drug in future. 
A) If you clicked the Save as Favourite button then you will need to provide a name for your favourite. We would recommend providing a descriptive name, so you may recall what the favourite includes.
B) Click Save. 
C) When you next want to prescribe this drug, you can select your favourite from the Favourites drop-down field. 
D) Unwanted favourites can be permanently deleted by selecting the favourite from the Favourites drop-down menu, and clicking on the Trash Can icon. 
9. Click Save, or Save & Print.
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- Save will save the prescription to the patient's file without printing. This can be used to save a medication that a patient may be taking, that may have been prescribed by another doctor.
- Save & Print will prescribe the medication to the patient, and trigger the prescription to print. Please ensure you have loaded your Medicare PBS paper into your printer before clicking the Save & Print button.
10. Make a selection regarding your printing preference for the prescription:
- If you would like to print the active ingredients list and brand name, select Yes.
- If you would like to print without the active ingredients, select No.
11. The drug will then be saved to the patient's Current Medications list. 