Please note: The following feature is available as part of Birdie’s Core, Advanced, Plus, Care Management and Advanced Care Management packages (Also known as Care Management & Rostering, Care Management, Rostering & Finance, Premium, Entry and Essentials) Please get in touch if interested in more information on this feature!
The risks posed by poor medication management can result in serious or fatal consequences. Health and social care providers often manage medicines on behalf of people using their services and the CQC stipulates that they must be committed to ensuring the safe and effective use of medicines in homecare settings.
Inputting reliable data about which medications are to be taken in the first instance is the first step a provider can take to support safe medicines management, which means transcribing accurately from the original source.
Birdie is linked to the dm+d, which is the NHS medicines database. This means that rather than having to rely on free-text transcription, you can search for the medication you are looking for as it appears on the pharmacy label.
Because it is a database centrally managed by the NHS, Birdie is not able to add or edit any medications in the database ourselves. All prescribed medications should be directly searchable using the search bar.
If you cannot find the medication you are looking for there are a few things you can check:
Type the name of the medication out - do not copy and paste it into the add medication search bar
Check your spelling- check that you are using the correct spelling of the medication
Check the name of the medication- see whether the medication is more commonly known by another name e.g. a brand name
Consider that the dosage may not be specific to your care recipient- e.g. a medication may only show a 10ml dosage but the care recipient has been prescribed 20ml
Consider whether the medication is listed with an equivalent dosage- e.g. 1000mg may appear as 1g
Pro tip: If you need to add a non-prescribed item such as foot oil or hand cream and you cannot find it in the medication search bar you can add this as a task- To do this see this article How to create a task plan for your Care Recipient.
If you are still unable or unsure about the medication you are looking for, please contact the person who prescribed it to seek their professional advice. The Birdie support team cannot add medication onto the system.
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