OVERVIEW – Medication with a Future Start Date
When your pharmacy adds a new drug to one of your resident’s medication list they must decide on when the medication is start:
• Immediately
• Tomorrow
• Next Medication Cycle
• Free choice
This could result in you being in receipt of medication with a future start date.
Any items that have been approved by your pharmacy, but not started “immediately” will now appear in Grey at the bottom of the list of medication for the resident on your handset.
You can update the future start date chosen by your pharmacy, by selecting the “Start Now” option to start the item
immediately.
At present the ability to amend the start date is only available via the Atlas eMAR app on your handset(s).
Additionally items will show in grey when an item is stopped for one of your residents, either by your pharmacy, or one of your team, it will appear for 14 days on your handset(s) at the bottom of the resident's medication list in Grey with the Heading “Recently Stopped”.
If the item has been stopped in error, it is now very easy to reinstate the item.
If you wish to reinstate the medication select the medication and select 'Details'
Now select Edit drug and change the 'Stop Drug' slider so it no longer displays green, Select 'Next' and get someone to witness the change, the medication will then be restarted for the resident.
After 14 days of the item appearing in Grey, it will not be displayed on your handset. However, it can still be reinstated either on Atlas Central, or on a handset, with a version of Atlas eMAR of v9.0.14 or higher
Safety Tip
It is important to check why your pharmacy has chosen a future start date for the item. It is possible that this new item is to replace an existing item already “Active” on the resident’s medication list, which would need to be stopped before starting the medication.