Prescriptions can be created from 2 key areas:

After you’ve navigated to the Rx section of the SOAP, click the +Add New button.

This will redirect you to the prescription creation page. Here, you'll define the details of your prescription.

From the patient profile, navigate to the Prescriptions tab. Here's you'll find any previous prescriptions listed, and can also create a new prescription by selecting the +Add Rx button.

This field indicates the medication you are prescribing. If you are handling an in-house dispensed item, the medication field will be a drop-down menu that you will use to search your existing item list for the item you wish to prescribe.

If you are handling a written prescription, the medication field is a free-type text box. You will custom enter the medication name.

In-House prescriptions are automatically recognized as involving a controlled medication based on your medication admin settings. If a medication prescription is not recording within your controlled drug report as expected, ensure you've indicated the medication as controlled within your product settings.

If you select 'Written' as the prescription type, you'll be additionally offered a checkbox to indicate the written prescription is handling a controlled substance.

When a prescription is marked as handling a chronic medication, this will add additional filtering capabilities when viewing a patient's prescription list to more easily recall commonly discussed prescriptions.

On written prescriptions, when substitutions permitted is marked, an alternative signature line will appear on written prescriptions with the Dr signature placed accordingly. When this election is not marked, the prescribing Dr signature will be placed in alignment with the ‘Dispense as Written’ signature line.

This field indicates the quantity you wish to prescribe for each refill, or the initial dispensing if no refills are indicated.

This field indicates the number of refills permissible within the prescription's validity period. Indicating PRN refills will mute this field, and you cannot define a specific refill quantity.

Indicating that refills are permissible as needed (PRN) is available for both in-house and written prescriptions. Selecting this option allows refills as needed. PRN indicated refills are not valid past the original prescription expiration date.

This date field indicates the validity of the prescription. This typically aligns with the VCPR (veterinarian-client-patient relationship) expiration to when the next exam is required, or the expiration of the prescription to when the treatment should be concluded. The default expiration of this field is 12 months from the date of the prescription creation, but it is fully customizable.

This date field relates to the expiration date of the prescription medication. This field is only offered for in-house prescriptions. The default expiration of this field is 12 months from the date of the prescription creation, but it is fully customizable.

Enabling the quantity calculator via the available toggle will provide calculation fields to assist with determining your total prescription quantity based on dose and the number of doses involved in the complete treatment.

Use the free-type direction field to specify the administration instructions for your clients when giving the medication to their pet. You can utilize pre-defined clinic shortcuts to add efficiency into your prescribing workflow. Default prescription directions can also be custom configured within your item settings. These will automatically appear once you've selected the medication. Prescription directions print on the Rx label or written prescription.

This is the Veterinarian approving and prescribing the medication treatment. The prescribing doctor is the default production user recognized within production reporting.

Add medication specific information, such as guidance on possible adverse reactions, or additional follow-up care instructions to the discharge instructions area. You can manually add custom discharge instruction text, upload documents, or modify automatically imported discharge instructions that can be pre-defined within your item's admin settings.

Once the appropriate fields have been filled out, select Save and Print or Save to add it to the patient record and invoice simultaneously, as well as automatically populate any discharge instructions associated with the prescription.

For more information on printing Rx labels, check out our help article on Printers and Prescription Labels.

If a prescription was created accidentally, or the client subsequent creation declines the prescription, you can cancel or delete the Rx.

From within the SOAP, navigate to the Rx tab, and locate the prescription row that needs updating. Along the right side you will see several action icons - select the edit pencil to open the prescription details.

Within the prescription details, you will appreciate a trash bin icon towards the upper portion of the prescription. Selecting this icon will initiate the cancel action, and request a cancellation reason before concluding the prescription cancellation. A prescription cancellation is similar to a delete or void event. The record of the prescription will be removed from the SOAP and patient history once cancelled.

You can view cancelled prescriptions from the Patient profile Prescription tab.

If a prescription was created accidentally, or the client subsequent creation declines the prescription, you can cancel or delete the Rx.

From the Patient profile, navigate to the Rx tab, and locate the prescription row that needs updating. Along the right side you will see several action icons - select the circle icon with an x within to initiate the cancel action. You will need to confirm a cancellation reason before proceeding.

From the Patient's profile, you can access a complete prescription list by selecting the Prescription tab. Here you'll have access to search and filtering features in addition to action options.

Use the free-type search bar to manually recall any prescription based on key phrases.

Use the Show Chronic Medication toggle to recall prescriptions marked as chronic medications.

Use the Show Cancelled toggle to view a history of cancelled prescriptions.

Use the pin icon to pin a prescription row at the top of the prescription list for efficient recall of commonly handled medications.

Use the circular medication icon to duplicate an expired prescription, creating a new prescription with pre-defined fields. This is helpful in events where you are wanting to duplicate an existing previous prescription to create a new similar prescription. A renewed prescription will open a new prescription page, with suggested details from the existing prescription that the renewal was initiated from. Cancelled prescriptions do not support renewal capabilities.

Within the Prescriptions tab of the Patient profile, you'll appreciate a Download button. Selecting this will allow you to export a history of prescriptions for the patient, with or without discharge instructions included. You can export the prescription list for a specific time range or request the entire record.

Shepherd integrates with several prescription pharmacies. Prescriptions handled via an integration will be listed in a separate table outside of the main Shepherd prescription table.