What you’re looking at
The till is a two-part screen: a searchable product list on one side, the cart and payment on the other. A scanner works from anywhere on the page — you do not need to click into the search box first. Above the cart you may see the offline bar. It appears when the till has lost its connection or is working from a cached catalogue, and it labels stock figures as stale rather than pretending they are live. Trust the label. The buyer is whoever is at the counter, which is not always the patient on a script. An anonymous sale is recorded as Walk-in Customer.Ring up a sale
1
Add the items
Scan the barcode or search by name. A scan confirms with Scanned: {item}; an unrecognised code gives No medication matches that barcode.
2
Watch for stock warnings
Selling more than the recorded stock is allowed but flagged — “Beyond recorded stock — the sale will be logged for reconciliation in Inventory.” A completely untracked item warns “has no recorded stock — the sale will be logged for reconciliation in Inventory.”
3
Park a cart if you need the till
Hold parks the cart so you can serve the next person, and Cart resumed brings it back. Adding nothing first is refused with Add items before holding the cart.
4
Take payment and finish
Choose the tender, complete the sale and issue the receipt. Full detail — cash, card, split payments and change — is on Taking payment.
What is different inside a hospital
Stock is shared
The counter sells from the same inventory the wards and the dispensary draw on. A sale at the till moves the same on-hand figure a ward issue does.
Controlled items are refused
An item needing a witnessed dispense cannot be rung up — “requires a witnessed dispense — use the inventory Fill Rx flow instead of POS.”
A sale is not an invoice
Counter sales appear under Pharmacy sales. Patient billing — consultations, procedures, admissions — is separate and lives in Billing.
Screening interrupts, rarely
Drug-interaction screening blocks only on contraindicated and major findings, and then only once, with a reason recorded.
Interaction screening at the till
Screening is tuned so that it means something when it fires:
Over-alerting is how staff learn to dismiss warnings without reading them, which is the outcome this design exists to avoid. Full detail: Drug interaction screening.
Who can do this
Role decides whether the till opens: pharmacists, doctors, nurses, managers and owners pass, and everyone else is refused. POS needs the In-house pharmacy care area, and an owner can hide the Pharmacy group from a role under Settings → Role Navigation — where note that no built-in role rule reaches the Pharmacy Station, so switching Role Navigation on takes the till away from your pharmacist until you add it to their rule. Nothing at the counter is governed by an individual permission: the till and cash-drawer permissions belong to the standalone Pharmacy edition and are inert in a hospital workspace.
Enforcement is opt-in per person: someone never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns “Saving starts enforcing” before that changes. A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not.
Check it worked
- The sale appears under Pharmacy sales with its Sale # and status Completed.
- The items’ on-hand figures in Inventory have dropped.
- The customer has a receipt, printed or downloaded.
- A sale rung up offline shows Sale saved — will sync when back online and appears in Sales once the connection returns.
Common issues
The till refuses an item as needing a witnessed dispense
The till refuses an item as needing a witnessed dispense
That is the controlled-substance rule. Take the script to the Fill Rx tab of Inventory and dispense it with a witness — see the pharmacy station.
An item shows as out of stock but it is on the shelf
An item shows as out of stock but it is on the shelf
The recorded figure is wrong, not the shelf. You can still sell it — the sale is logged for reconciliation — then correct the count in Inventory.
The scanner types into the wrong place, or does nothing
The scanner types into the wrong place, or does nothing
A wedge scanner works anywhere on the page, so nothing needs focus first. If it is typing into a field, check the scanner’s own suffix setting — see Barcode scanning.
A held cart came back with the wrong contents
A held cart came back with the wrong contents
Clearing a cart starts a new one, so the next Hold parks a fresh cart rather than overwriting the one you resumed. See Held carts.
Figures look wrong while the offline bar is showing
Figures look wrong while the offline bar is showing
They are stale, and the bar says so. Stock levels and totals catch up once the till reconnects — see Selling offline.
FAQ
Does a counter sale create an invoice?
Does a counter sale create an invoice?
No. A sale is settled on the spot and recorded in Sales. Invoices are for billed care and live in Billing.
Can I sell against a prescription?
Can I sell against a prescription?
Ordinary items, yes. Anything needing a witnessed dispense must go through Fill Rx so the witness and the patient link are recorded.
Does the till keep working in a power cut?
Does the till keep working in a power cut?
It keeps selling on battery and replays the sales when the connection returns. Payment by card and any live figure are the parts that stop — see Selling offline.
Who does the sale belong to if the buyer is not a patient?
Who does the sale belong to if the buyer is not a patient?
It is recorded as Walk-in Customer. Nothing is written to a patient’s chart.
Where do I reprint a receipt?
Where do I reprint a receipt?
From Pharmacy sales — Print Receipt or Download PDF on the row. See Receipts.