Create Custom Medication Items in PCC eRx
Your practice can create custom medication entries to make it easier to find and prescribe non-standard prescriptions or instructions a particular supply or piece of medical equipment, or your practice’s preferred albuterol inhaler dosing.
First and Second Steps: As you follow the directions below, you’ll learn that custom medication items for your practice can be either a custom “First Step”, meaning the drug and form, a custom “Second Step”, which refers to the dosing statement for a common drug, or both.
Compounds: While it is possible to create compounds as custom medication items, please note they will be saved as instructions-only prescriptions and will not participate in drug safety checking. As an alternative, try using the standard entries for “Magic Mouthwash” and “All-Purpose Nipple Ointment (ANPO)” already offered in PCC eRx, which contain itemized lists of ingredients and their ratios and participate in drug safety checking. If the “recipes” aren’t quite right or there are other compounds you wish to have added to the medication list, contact PCC Support. On request, PCC may be able to manually add additional compounds to your practice-wide list of medications that will participate in drug safety checking and streamline communication to pharmacy staff.
Watch a Video: You can watch a video explaining everything in this article here: PCC eRx – Custom Medications Items.
Create a Custom Medication
Follow the procedure below to create a new custom medication in PCC eRx.
Search For Your Desired Drug or Item and Click “Full Product Search”
Before you create a custom medication item, double-check that it isn’t available already. You may have already searched, but a few key tips may help you find what you are looking for.
Click 'Full Product Search', Especially For DMEs: PCC eRx drug search results are based on a patient’s age. If you are looking for a drug that does not have age specificity, you may need to use “Full Product Search” to find it. Additionally, DMEs do not have age restrictions. You will always need to click “Full Product Search” to find equipment and most supplies.
Use Fewer Words For a Broader Search: If you type in the full drug name or trade name, you may miss a character or enter a limited search that prevents you from finding what you are looking for. Start searching with a single word or drug name for a broader result.
Open PCC eRx and Click “Administration”
When you are ready to create a new medication item, visit the PCC eRx queue or the PCC eRx section of a patient’s chart and click “Administration”.
You must be a PCC eRx administrator to proceed. For help, contact your PCC Client Advocate.
Click “Custom Medication Items”
Find and click the “Custom Medication Items” link on the right-most column.
Enter Description and Route For a New First Step Item
What’s the drug or medication that you wish to prescribe? Enter the name in the Description field and select a Route.
What Should Be In the Description?: The description is the name that will appear on the prescription bottle. Typically, it would include both the drug and form, or in some other way specify what is being prescribed. In the “Second Step” you will define the dosing statement, or how the drug should be taken.
Skip These Steps?: If you just want to add a custom dosing statement for an existing drug, you can skip the next few steps and create only a “New Second Step Item”, as described below.
Select DME, Compound, or IV Fluid
Click “Is DME” for a supply or “Is Compound” for a medication.
Required: If you do not click one of these options, the prescription can not be sent to a pharmacy electronically.
Click “Add Custom First Step Item” to Save Your Selections
Click to add your custom item. It will appear in a list.
Search For a Medication in “New Second Step Items”
Now that you’ve created a new First Step Medication Item (or if you skipped those steps because the medication is already available), search for the medication in the “New Second Step Items” section of the screen.
In our Magic Mouthwash example, you can find and select the First Step Item that you created.
If you are creating a new dosing statement for an existing medication, you can search for any drug.
Click “Add Custom Medication Item”
After selecting the medication, you will see a list of any existing second medication items that may match your selected drug and be prompted to add a new one. If you are starting from a new medication item, you will see an empty list.
However, if you are adding a new dosing statement for an existing medication, you will see all the existing statements.
Scroll to the bottom and click “Add Custom Medication Item”.
Enter Dosing Statement Details
Next, enter any dosing statement details.
For a DME and some unusual compounds, you might choose to check “Instructions Only” to remove fields that are not relevant.
Your Prescriber Can Change Details As You Prescribe: Keep in mind that you are creating a new custom medication listing that will appear in search results. Your prescribers can still select your new item and then make changes to frequency, duration, or any other field as they prescribe.
Click “Save” to See Your New Medication Item
Click “Save” to finish. You will see your new custom medication item(s) listed on the screen.
Test Your New Medication Items
Next, you should test your medication to see if it behaves as you expect. You can open a test patient and create the prescription without sending it.
Delete a Custom Medication Item
You can delete an erroneous or unneeded custom medication item with the “Custom Medication Items” tool in the Administration section of PCC eRx.
For First Step medication items, just click the red “X” next to the item.
For Second Step items, such as a custom dosing statement, search for the medication item and then click “remove custom” next to the custom dosing statement listing.
