How to Enable Medications for the Drug Count

Once the Drug Count feature is enabled for your community, individual medication orders must be enabled in order to be included in a Drug Count. This can be done when first processing an order in the Pharmacy Inbox or at any time for an existing order on the Manage Orders page. 

Enable 'Based on Dose' or '1 Packed Unit'

Prior to enabling orders for the Drug Count, it is important to decide how the inventory count will be recorded upon administration. This is determined by the Packaging field in the Scheduling/Administration & Dosage section when processing an order for the first time, or editing an existing order. 

Count Based on Dose (Default)

To track the precise amount of medication administered, leave the Packaging field as "Based on Dose (default)". This is ideal when inventory must reflect the exact fractional amount of the drug used, particularly for medications where the dose often varies (i.e., cutting a pill in half).

• How it Counts: The count decreases by the exact dose amount given.

  • Example: If a resident receives a 0.5 tab dose, the drug count will show " -0.5" (half of a unit). If they receive 1.5 tabs, the count shows " -1.5".

Count as 1 Packed Unit

To track each administration as a single unit used, regardless of the precise dose contained within the unit/package, change the Packaging field to "As 1 Packed Unit". This is ideal for pre-packaged, multi-dose, or single-use items like blister packs, syringes, or vials, where the community's primary inventory tracking method is the number of packages/units received and administered, rather than the exact drug quantity. Note that you will also need to enable the Packed

• How it Counts: The count decreases by -1 for every administration, even if the dose is less than a full tablet or unit.

  • Example 1 (Half-Pill): If a pre-packaged blister pack contains a 0.5 tab dose, the administration will show "-1" in the count because one unit/pack was used. This is useful if the pharmacy provided a 30-day supply in 30 separate packs, and the community wants the count to match the number of packs (30) rather than the total number of actual pills (15).

  • Example 2 (Injection): If a full syringe is administered, even if the dose is 1.5 MG, the count shows " -1" because the entire syringe (1 packed unit) was used.

• When an order is set to "As 1 Packed Unit", note that the Dose Administered field in Pass Meds will change to read: "Unit Administered - ____ UNIT(S)". 

Enable when Processing an order 

When you first process an order from the Pharmacy inbox, you have the ability to enable that order for the Drug Count. For more information on how to process incoming orders, refer to this How to process Incoming Order Messages guide. 

1. Once you have verified initial Order Information on the Process Order page, navigate to the Order Details section.
2.  Scroll to the bottom of this Order Details section and move the Add to Drug Count toggle to Yes. 
   • If this toggle is not visible, the Drug Count feature most likely has not been enabled for your community. For assistance, contact your Account Manager or our ALIS Customer Success Team.
3. This opens the Drug Count Setup section with the required Type dropdown menu. You must select from one of the following options: 
   • Create New Account - Most often, you will select this option. Creating a New Account allows you to add the current quantity of this order. This is the option you should choose if this is the first time you are adding the quantity to be tracked for this order.
   • Link to Existing Account - This option is less frequently used but important to understand its functionality. When you select Link to Existing Account, this gives a menu to select another order on the resident's chart that already has the drug count enabled. 
     • This option allows you to link two separate orders (a Routine and a PRN Medication) to be tracked as a single quantity. Any time either of the orders is administered in ALIS, only one quantity is affected. 
     • This is used when there is a single drug container from which you give the Routine and PRN doses. Since Routines and PRNs are tracked as separate orders in ALIS, we need this option to link the two together. More commonly, pharmacies will package routines and PRNs in separate packages even if they are the same drug strength, in which case you will not need to do this.
4. Review the Packaging field in the Scheduling/Administration & Dosage section to ensure accuracy for the count. See the above Enable 'Based on Dose' or '1 Packed Unit' section for more information.
5. Click Process Order at the bottom of the page. The order is now immediately enabled for the Drug Count.

Enable for an existing order

If an order already exists, you can easily enable it for the Drug Count on a resident's Manage Orders page.

1. In the Orders tab, locate the specific medication order.

2. Click the Options menu on the right side, and select Enable Drug Counting.

3. This will open the Enable Drug Count pane. Select the Type: Create New Account or Link to Existing. Review Step 3 in the above section for more information on which option to choose.

4. Click Enable Counting. The order is now enabled for the Drug Count. 

   • Note that you may want to "edit" the order to review the Packaging in the Scheduling/Administration & Dosage section to ensure accuracy for the count. See the above Enable 'Based on Dose' or '1 Packed Unit' section for more information.

After enablement

Orders enabled for drug counting will display a pill icon and a Quantity button on the Manage Orders page.

Enabled orders will be immediately available when starting a new Drug Count. For more information on how to perform a Drug Count, refer to this How to perform a Drug Count guide.

The Quantity button takes you to the Manage Quantity page. Here is where you can see the current quantity on hand and review all events that changed the quantity since it was enabled on the drug count. For more information on how to manage drug quantities, refer to this How to manage Drug Quantity guide. 

Disable orders from Drug Count

If you need to disable an order so that it no longer is included in your counts, click the Options menu > Disable Drug Counting. Note that you can only disable drug counting from orders with a quantity of zero. If the existing quantity is above zero, you will need to adjust or destroy the quantity first.

Related Articles:

• Manage Orders
• Drug Count Reference Guide
• Drug Count Settings
• How to Perform a Drug Count
• How to Adjust Drug Quantity

For more assistance: 888.404.ALIS (2547)  |  support@go-alis.com