Take back unused ward medicines

Before an inpatient's final bill, return the medicines the ward did not use, put them back into stock and credit the stay.

Medicines dispensed to a ward patient and not used go back to the pharmacy before discharge. The return puts them back into stock and takes them off the patient's bill at the rate they were charged.

Before you begin

• The medicines were dispensed to this admission from Dispensing & Stock, as a ward prescription.
• The patient is still admitted and the final bill has not been made. After the final bill, the Returns button disappears.
• Your role needs the discharge permission or the pharmacy dispense permission. See Users & Roles.

Where to find it

Open IPD → Work → Admissions, find the patient and click Discharge. The Discharge checklist at the top has a Pharmacy returns step.

Return medicines

1. On the Pharmacy returns step, click Returns.
2. The table lists each medicine given to this stay, with its Rx, batch, Given and Back already.
3. Type the quantity coming back in Returning. You cannot return more than was given.
4. Check Credit on each line and Credit to the stay at the bottom.
5. Optionally type a Note, for example 3 strips returned by the ward nurse.
6. Click Return & credit.

The step is ticked with the time and your note. To return more later, click More returns.

Nothing to return

When every medicine was used, click Returns, then Nothing to return. The step is ticked so the discharge can go ahead. When the hospital marks this step Required, the patient cannot be discharged until it is done.

What happens in the books

• Stay: a minus pharmacy line is added to the stay's charges, at the rate the medicine was charged. The final bill nets it off.
• Stock: the medicine goes back into the store it left from, into the same batch, at the cost it went out at.

Common questions

The table says nothing can be returned. Nothing was dispensed to this stay, or everything given has already come back.

The Returns button is missing. The final bill is done, or the patient is already discharged. Medicines can no longer be credited to this stay.

Can I return a counter (OPD) sale here? No. This return is only for medicines charged to an admission.

A medicine was charged at a tariff rate. What is credited? The same rate it was charged, not today's price.