Medication SmartLink Style Guide

This section relates to SmartLinks intended for inclusion in Connect Care standard documentation templates or for any summative documentation object. Medication SmartLinks are of two broad types:

  • Medication Lists

    • Context: MedList SmartLinks pull-in information about medications that a patient may be taking in different contexts. Common contexts include pre-admission home medications, inpatient medications, outpatient medications, long-term (no end date) medications and emergency department medications.

    • Grouping: All medications can be listed (alphabetically) or lists can be sub-grouped. Available sub-groupings include scheduled, as needed (PRN), infused, pharmaceutical class, and specialty.

  • Medication Reconciliation

    • Context: MedRec lists always compare medications in one context with those that were or should be taken in another context. The most common MedRec contexts are Home compared to Admission meds (Admission MedRec), Home compared to Discharge meds (Discharge MedRec) and Home compared to Trasfer meds (Transfer MedRec).

    • Grouping: MedRec lists support four sub-groups to reflect medications that continue, change, are added or are stopped.

Returned Content (Summative Documentation)

Special considerations apply to SmartLinks that return medication information. It is important that these are rendered consistently in order to avoid cognitive dissonance and possible reader error.

  • Sort Order

    • Always sort medications in lists or subgroups alphabetically, unless there is a compelling clinical reason to do otherwise or the needed SmartLink template does not support this option.

    • Consistent sorting eases users' comparisons of information from different medication lists (e.g., Home vs. Discharge).

  • Clinician Friendly Sig

    • Always select "Clinician Friendly Sig" where this is an option.

    • Medication information is displayed in ways that clinicians can quickly recognize.

    • Use patient-friendly sig if a documentation object is intended for patient use (e.g., patient handout).

  • Format Dose vs. Intended Dose

    • When listing medications for clinician information during encounters or at transfers, avoid format options where the medication format dose (e.g., "500 mg tablet, give 1.5") is specified alone or in front of the intended dose (e.g., "750 mg") and always include the intended dose.

    • This is an important patient safety consideration.

    • Medication format and multiples information is pharmacist-friendly and patient-friendly but not necessarily clinician-friendly.