Appropriate and Inappropriate Use of Notes to Pharmacy Sub-Item
The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) SCRIPT v10.6 standard for E-prescribing allows a custom note to be sent to the pharmacist/pharmacy personnel using the Notes field. This field is designed to convey information to the pharmacist/pharmacy personnel only and should not contain redundant or conflicting information that has already been entered in any of the other designated fields within the prescription.
Adding a Pharmacy Note
To included a note to the Pharmacy with additional information regarding the prescription, click Notes and type a message within the brackets that appear.
Examples of Inappropriate Notes Content
Inappropriate use of the Notes field includes information that already has a structured and codified field within the e-prescription. The most concerning inappropriate use of this field is for patient directions, either supplemental or conflicting. This can lead to critical information not being conveyed to the patient. All directions, dose, frequency, and route should be contained in the SIG sub-item. The following link provides instructions for Creating a Custom SIG.
Examples of Appropriate Notes Content
The Notes field should only include information to the pharmacist that does not already have structured fields designated for such information, so long as it does not conflict with information sent in other structured fields.