Overview of Epic Medication Administration Record Functionality

A patient’s medication administration record, also known as a drug chart, is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of patient care by facilitating better medication management practices for patients and members of their care teams.

Read on to learn more about the medication administration record in Epic, as well as where our team of senior-level Epic consultants can fit in your organization to help leverage Epic software to maximize the quality of patient care.

What is the Medication Administration Record?

A medication administration record (MAR) is a component of a patient’s medical chart, and it is created to monitor, manage, and control patient prescriptions and medications to ensure medications are administered and recorded accurately across the continuum of patient care.

A MAR must be completed every time a patient takes a dose of their medication to help reduce dosage errors and prevent harmful drug interactions in the long run.

Here are a few main components included in a typical medication administration record…

• First and last name of the patient
• Name of physician(s) on patient treatment team
• Name and dosage of prescribed medicines
• Method and frequency of medicine delivery
• Documentation for time and date medication was administered
• Patient allergies (if applicable)

Things to Consider When Completing a MAR

1) A medication administration record (MAR) is a legal document, so all patient and medication documentation must be accurate and reliable.

2) Document medication immediately after drugs have been administered (not before).

3) Only sign off on meds and orders that you administer or monitor in the MAR.

4) Provide support for patients to ensure medication is documented correctly and risks for errors within patient care data are prevented or reduced.

Medication Management in Epic

Whether you’re managing new medication requests, refilling current prescriptions for patients, or discontinuing medications no longer needed, medication management tools within your Epic system can simplify this process and improve efficiency for patients and their individual care teams.

Here are a few key steps to take to manage, refill, or discontinue medications in Epic…

New Medications or Refills

When it comes to filling refill requests or prescribing a new medication for patients within your Epic system, it’s important to follow the following steps…

1. Review current patient medications to ensure patients do not already have refills available or to confirm the status of each medication.
2. Navigate to “Patient Care” in Epic and select the “Refill Medication” tab.
3. For new prescriptions, type the name of the new medication in the “Order Entry” box. For refills, click “Reorder” for the medication you wish to refill.
4. View order to ensure medication information is accurate and the “E-Prescribing” category is selected under the “Class” section.

Medication Discontinuation

If a certain medication is no longer included in a patient’s care plan, the medication needs to be discontinued in their Epic EHR. Here’s how to discontinue medications in Epic…

1. Navigate to “Patient Care” in Epic and select the “Refill Medication” tab.
2. Review the Epic medication list that outlines a patient’s current medications.
3. Click the “Discontinue” button for any medications you wish to discontinue.

Key Features of Medication Administration in Epic

When it comes to leveraging interoperability between Epic modules, applications, and other external systems, ensuring each solution enables organizations to maximize effectiveness and ensures clinicians are able to spend most of their time building relationships with and caring for patients is essential.

Here are a few of the main features of medication administration and management in Epic, as well as how each feature can benefit your organization in the long run…

Improved Dose Accountability

Integrations between the Epic EHR and a patient’s medication administration record provides a higher level of closed loop functionality to automatically compare medications dispensed across systems and identify outstanding medication waste for nurses, physicians, and anesthesiologists.

With improved dosage accountability, Epic users are enabled to…

• Stay up-to-date with medication dispensing and related documentation
• Reduce errors in medication data and save time spent tracking medication variances and discrepancies
• Improve speed and accuracy of medication ordering and prescribing processes
• Increase surveillance of controlled substances across their organization

Efficient Medication Queuing

By integrating Epic electronic health record information with the core medication administration record, clinicians are able to monitor medication management and administration tasks within a single Epic system rather than multiple siloed systems.

With remote medication queuing, clinicians can…

• Streamline processes for adding or removing medications from the patient record
• Check medication availability and accessibility in real time
• Facilitate automatic documentation of medication waste and returns
• Preselect and remove medications from automated dispensing cabinets

Main Advantages of MAR in Epic

• Improved controlled substance accountability across your organization, including nursing, pharmacy, and anesthesiology
• Streamlined medication administration and management to ensure the right patient gets the right medicine at the right time
• More accurate system of record to improve data integrity and prevent medication errors
• Enhanced nurse and physician engagement across departments
• Increased time spent with patients to enable and improve satisfaction
• Seamless integration with other Epic modules (i.e., Epic Willow, Epic MyChart, etc.) to facilitate collaboration and interoperability between care teams and patients

How Can We Help?

Whether you need an extra hand connecting your medication dispensing system with the Epic electronic health record (EHR), additional support navigating complicated tasks in your Epic barcode medication administration (BCMA) module, or anything else Epic-related, Surety Systems is here to help.

Our team of senior-level Epic consultants has the technical knowledge and functional expertise needed to handle even your most complex Epic application needs, and they are guaranteed to handle projects of any size, scale, or scope.

Getting Started with Us

Interested in learning more about our Epic consulting services? Need more information to understand where our team of consultants can fit in your organization?

Contact us today to get connected with us!