ALIS Drug Database Reference Guide

The ALIS Drug Database is a feature we can enable separately to enhance the safety of your Pass Meds experience, and to provide adverse reaction details to your MAR documents.

ALIS uses order NDC numbers to connect the orders to the database.

It is necessary for this to be enabled by your ALIS Onboarding Manager. Please contact us if you are interested!

Database Features

With this feature enabled, we have a few options we can turn on based on your needs. 

• Show Adverse Effects In MAR: This is exactly what it sounds like! Under each order linked to the database will be a list of the adverse effects.
• Show Adverse Effects in Med Pages: Refer to the screenshot above to see how this looks. Med Passers can click the list to view the complete list with information about the severity, how common the effect might be, and other details.
• Show Drug Photos: Orders linked to the database will have thumbnail images that can be clicked on to view zoomed-in.
• Restrict Free Form Drug Names: This option is less commonly used. Turning this on will not allow anyone to add orders at the community without linking them to the database. 

Linking Orders

This feature works optimally when you have an active pharmacy connection. The connection allows the order NDC number to flow directly to ALIS, and therefore you do not need to search for the correct NDC when you are adding an order. Just one of many good reasons to connect ALIS with your pharmacy!

For more information about pharmacy connections, read this article: Pharmacy Connection Reference Guide

Manually Linking Orders to the Database

The RX NDC number showing next to the order name will determine which photo and which set of Adverse Effects will display for the order. This number refers to the specific Drug Package you receive from the pharmacy.

After you select the name of the order, use the Drug Package menu to select the correct NDC. Quantities within the package are listed to help you find the right NDC.

Drug Database Conversion Report

This report allows us to link orders to the database when they were added prior to turning on the Drug Database feature.

Also, if you do not have the "Restrict" setting mentioned above, you can use this report to periodically audit whether your residents' orders are all linked. 

Find this report on Reports > Medication Reports > Drug Database Conversion.

• The first thing to do if you are new to using the Drug Database feature is to click the Auto Link by NDC button. This will automatically use all NDCs associated with your orders to connect them to the database to show the photos and adverse reactions. 
• After you have waited for the auto-link to process, use the filter 'Linked to Drug Database' to find any remaining orders that are not linked. Click 'No' and click the Refresh button.
• You will need to manually link these remaining orders, possibly because a manually-added order was added with no NDC. You will need the medication package on hand to verify the NDC. Click the Link button for an order, working one order at a time. 
  • When you click Link, a Search opens in a pane on the right side of your screen. Start typing the name of the order to find the exact strength of your resident's order. 
  • Once you have the correct name and strength selected, use the Drug Package menu to find the correct NDC. 
  • Once you have the correct NDC associated with the order, you have the option to keep the same name you had before going forward on the MAR, or update it to the name associated with the NDC.
  • Click Link to Drug Database. Repeat this process for any order you need to link!