Procedure
Order a medication
Order a medication in Forge, set the drug, dose, route and frequency, and send it to pharmacy for verification and dispensing.
Order a medication in Forge, set the drug, dose, route and frequency, and send it to pharmacy for verification and dispensing. A medication is one kind of order, placed from the Add Orders card with a little more detail than most.
Order a medication
- 1
Choose the drug
Open Add Orders and search the catalogue for the medication. Choose the drug to add its line. A diagnosis is on the visit before the card opens, so this step follows the diagnosis.
- 2
Set dose, route and frequency
Set the dose, route and frequency from their pickers. Forge proposes a dose from weight and renal function, a route from the drug's default, and a frequency from the indication. Each proposal is yours to confirm, so confirm every one before you place.
- 3
Clear any safety stop
A hard stop reads on the line in plain words: a dose above the ceiling, a severe allergy match, or a contraindication in pregnancy. Where your role allows, choose Override and place, pick the reason and write the justification. The override stays on the order for whoever reads it later. A softer advisory you acknowledge on the line, and the order proceeds.
- 4
Preview and place
Choose Create. The preview shows the line ready to place and carrying no charge yet, since a drug is billed when pharmacy dispenses it. Confirm to place the order.
- 5
It reaches pharmacy
The order lands with pharmacy for verification and dispensing. Its operational step shows beside the status as it moves: submitted to pharmacy, dispensed, received in the ward, administering, then administered.
drug catalogue item Required | Chosen from the catalogue and snapshotted at placement. |
dose quantity Required | Confirmed from the proposed value. |
route picker Required | Chosen from the route list. |
frequency picker Required | Chosen from the frequency list. |
special instructions text | Bounded free text for the one thing a picker leaves unsaid. |
From order to bedside
A medication order runs the same lifecycle as any order, with an operational sub-cycle beside it that tracks the dose from pharmacy to the bedside.
Safeguards at dispense and at the bedside
A controlled drug asks for a witness. A high-alert drug asks for a second check. The five rights are confirmed at the bedside when the dose is given, so the safeguards sit at the moment they protect the patient.
Common questions
When is a medication charged?
At dispense, per strip or vial issued, rather than per dose. A drug ordered but held for a while carries its charge only once pharmacy issues it.
The dose Forge proposed looks off for this patient.
Change it on the line before you place. The proposal is a starting point from weight and renal function, and the value that places is the one you confirm.
Pharmacy sent the order back with a query.
You see the query on the order and confirm the change. Pharmacy verifies before dispensing, so a question reaches you before the drug goes out.
Read how a medication schedule turns each dose into a due task, and how medication orders run their sub-cycle.
Track the doses as they fall due and are given on the ward.