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A hospital pharmacy unit does two separate jobs: a clinician writes the prescription, and pharmacy staff fill it from stock. This page covers both, and the batch and witness controls that sit between them. The whole group needs the In-house pharmacy care area in Settings → Facility. See Care areas.

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Where everything lives

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Write the prescription

1

Start it

Either open the consultation and use the Orders tab, or open Pharmacy Station and select New Prescription. Prescribing from the consultation keeps the script attached to the encounter that justified it.
2

Choose the patient and date

Fill Select Patient and Prescription Date.
3

Add each medication

Use Search medications… to add a line, then complete Mode, Quantity, Dosage, Frequency and Duration — all five are required — and, if it helps whoever dispenses, Instructions (Optional). Repeat for every drug on the script.
4

Review and save

Additional Notes carries anything the pharmacist needs to know. The Prescription Summary panel shows an Estimated Total so nobody is surprised at the counter. Save, and the Prescription Created dialog appears with a Reference: — quote that number if you need to find the script again.

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Fill it from stock

Filling happens against inventory, so the stock that leaves the shelf is the stock the system knows about.
1

Open Fill Rx

In the pharmacy unit’s inventory area, open the Fill Rx tab. It lists prescriptions waiting to be dispensed.
2

Open the script

Select the row. The Fill prescription sheet opens — “Draw from stock against this script — FEFO, patient-linked, audited.”
3

Pick the stock and quantity

Choose the Stock item and the Location it comes from, then enter the Quantity. Stock is drawn oldest-expiry-first, so you are not choosing a batch by hand and short-dated stock does not sit at the back of the shelf.
4

Add a witness for a controlled item

If the item is a controlled drug the sheet shows Witness (controlled item) in red and will not let you continue without one — “DEA requires a witness to dispense a controlled substance.” Choose the colleague who actually watched, not whoever is nearest.
5

Dispense

Select Dispense. Stock comes off, the script is marked filled, and the dispense is recorded against the patient with your name and the witness’s.
A controlled item cannot be sold at the till. If you try, the counter refuses it — “requires a witnessed dispense — use the inventory Fill Rx flow instead of POS.” Take the script to Fill Rx rather than looking for a way past the message.

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Check it worked

  • The script no longer appears under Fill Rx, and shows as dispensed in Prescription History.
  • The stock item’s on-hand figure has dropped by the quantity you dispensed — see Inventory.
  • A controlled dispense shows both your name and the witness’s.

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If something goes wrong

Fill Rx draws from inventory, so a drug that has never been received into stock cannot be dispensed from it. Receive the stock first, then fill the script.
Dispense what you have and leave the rest outstanding, or move stock in from another location — the Location picker only offers what that location holds.
It only lists staff in this workspace who are permitted to witness. If the person is standing with you but not in the list, they need a staff account — see Invite staff.
That is the controlled-substance rule, not a fault. Controlled items are dispensed through Fill Rx with a witness, never rung up at the counter.
Either the In-house pharmacy care area is off, or your workspace is not on the Enterprise plan. See Change your plan.

The pharmacy counter

Selling over the counter from the same stock.

Drug interaction screening

Automatic interaction checks — available from the Professional plan upward on the Pharmacy edition.

Inventory

Receiving stock, batches and expiry.

Prescriptions in the chart

How prescriptions appear to clinicians.