Occasionally, you may find yourself in a position where the existing medication schedule changes before a new cycle begins. This is quite common with medications like Warfarin or patches, where adjustments are often needed.
More often than not, you’ll be tempted to simply edit the existing medication schedule to reflect the new timings. However, this is a bad idea for several reasons.
Why you shouldn't edit the existing schedule
The reasons you shouldn't edit the existing schedule are that:
It creates gaps in your MAR because the original schedule wasn’t followed from the medication’s start date.
It results in retrospective missed doses from the start date.
It makes your historical MAR reports inaccurate, which can cause compliance issues.
Suggested process
To manage changes correctly, follow this process:
Create a new medication with the new schedule.
Transfer inventory from the existing medication to the new one.
⚠️ Important: If the new prescription has a different strength:
Dispose of the existing medication inventory via drug disposal and ignore step 2.
Add the received inventory to the new medication using interim check-in or monthly check-in.
Discontinue the existing medication.