How to Pass Meds

Pass Meds is where you can document the administration of routine orders and PRNs. The page is organized into four different time frames so that it is easy to see if orders are overdue and what orders are scheduled for the future.

The Time Frames are set in Medication Settings by an administrator and represent ranges of time throughout each day. If you would like to update this or any settings, please contact ALIS Support!

Notification Badge and Banner

The number indicated in the notification badge on the Pass Meds icon is the sum of any unrecorded scheduled orders within the current time frame and those in the previous two time frames. 

The reason for this is to help you see the progress of the current med pass, and if there are any outstanding orders from previous shifts. This makes it a useful tool for preventing holes on your resident MARs.

The breakdown of these totals displays in the orange banner at the top of the Pass Meds page as shown below:

Time Frames

The breakdown of the time frames displays below the notification banner, focused on the current time frame by default. Click the tabs to the left to see the details of the two previous time frames, and click the tabs to the right to see details of the next three future time frames.

Filters

In the blue area, you can use the filters to find specific residents, decrease the time frame to look at orders within a smaller window of time, see which orders are still outstanding to be recorded, look at a specific med cart, and look at orders that are specifically for nurse administration only.

Pass Meds for a Resident

Once you have applied filters and you need to start passing meds for a resident, scroll down to find the residents in the list.

• You can reorder the list by clicking some of the column headers:
  • Resident Name will sort by alphabetical order
  • Room will sort by room number
  • Outstanding Meds will sort by residents with the earliest outstanding med schedules

Click the Pass Meds button to get started recording meds for a resident within the filters.

Record Pass Meds Page

The top of the page will show you basic information about the resident including diagnoses, allergies, and diet. If the resident has a Pharmacy content set on their profile, you can see their contact details when you click the View Pharmacy Contact button. For more information about resident contacts, read this article: Resident Contacts Reference Guide

In the Routines tab, we have a list of all Routine Medication and Treatment orders scheduled within the filters you selected on the previous page. Read the information about the orders on the left, and use the buttons on the right to indicate if the order was Passed as directed, or if there was an exception. Read the next section for more information about exceptions.

You can also update the date, time, and dose fields. Add notes if needed. 

You can record all orders on the page before saving your work. Once you are ready to submit it, click the green Record Med Pass button at the top right of the page. This button won't be available until all required details have been filled in for any orders you have recorded. 

Additional fields may be required for specific orders such as injection locations, patch locations, or pain scales.

The badges toward the middle of the page indicating OK, WAIT, and LATE are there to guide you on the appropriate administration time based on the schedule. These do not prevent you from recording any details. For more information, read this article: Why does a medication say "WAIT" or "LATE"?

If your community uses Barcode Scanning for the Med Pass, be sure to review the details here: How to Use Barcode Scanning in Pass Meds

You can navigate to the next resident within your filters on the previous page using the resident menu at the top right of the page. No need to click the back button each time!

Exceptions

If the order was not Passed, you have a few other options: Refused, Adverse Reaction, or Other.

When you select Other, there may be a text field required for you to type a reason why the medication was not passed. Alternatively, you may be able to select an option in an Exception Reasons list.

If you would like to enable an Exception Reasons list, contact us to set this up. There is a list of ALIS default options, but we can also customize the list to include any options your team needs on the Medications Settings page.

Vitals Records

Some orders may require vitals checks, or some Treatments may be only there for the purpose of recording vitals at scheduled times.

These require you to save a vitals record before you can see the options to mark the order as Passed or an exception reason. 

PRNs and PRN Outcomes

Click the PRNs tab to get to the resident's available PRNs to administer. Click the Administer PRN button for the order you wish to record. 

If a resident has an exclamation symbol within a triangle next to their name on the main Pass Meds page and on their PRNs tab, this means there is an outstanding PRN outcome for the resident. These outcome requirements remain until the outcome is recorded.

Related Articles:

Video: Pass Meds and PRNs

Residents Who Should Not be Showing on Med Pass