Medications & Rx
Prescribe, dispense, and track medications with a full audit trail.
On this page
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Prescribe from the SOAP
In the Plan section of a SOAP note, click Add medication. Search for the drug by name or NDC. Enter the dose (mg/kg is calculated automatically from the patient's weight), route, frequency, and duration. Save the prescription — it appears as a line item on the pending invoice.
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Dispense in the pharmacy tab
After the SOAP is saved, open the Pharmacy tab within the visit. Pending prescriptions appear here. Click Dispense next to each item, confirm the quantity dispensed, and record the lot number and expiry date. Inventory is decremented automatically.
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Print or send the prescription label
After dispensing, Chartling generates a printable label with the patient name, drug, dose, instructions, and prescribing vet. Click Print label or Send to portal to make it available in the owner portal.
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Finalize the visit
All dispensed medications are included in the invoice automatically. Finalize the visit to lock the record and generate the invoice. See Invoicing & payments.
Controlled substances
Controlled substance workflows require two separate users and are logged to a DEA-compliant audit trail (21 CFR Part 1304).
The dispenser and the witness must be different staff members. Chartling enforces this — you cannot witness your own dispense.
| Action | Permission required | Who can hold it |
|---|---|---|
| Dispense a controlled substance | rx.controlled.dispense |
Vet, Associate Vet, Owner / Admin (included in those packs by default) |
| Witness a dispense | rx.controlled.witness |
Vet, Associate Vet, Vet Tech, Senior Tech, Owner / Admin — must be a different person from the dispenser |
| Run the reconciliation report | rx.controlled.reconcile |
Senior Tech, Owner / Admin (included in those packs by default) |
These permissions are included in the relevant default packs (see above). Other staff must be granted access by an Admin — assign them a pack that includes the permission, or create a custom pack for them under Settings → Team & permissions → Permissions.
DEA audit log
Every controlled substance dispense creates a tamper-evident log entry: drug, quantity, lot, patient, prescriber, dispenser, witness, and timestamp. The log is accessible under Inventory → Controlled log. To run the reconciliation report, go to Inventory → Biennial Inventory — this requires the rx.controlled.reconcile permission.
Medication history
All medications dispensed to a patient are visible on the patient record under Medications. The history shows the drug, dose, prescribing vet, dispense date, and visit. Owners can see a summary of current medications in the owner portal.
FAQ
Only licensed veterinarians. The prescription is linked to the prescribing vet's license. Vet techs can add medications to the plan as suggestions, but a vet must confirm and sign before dispensing.
Yes. Go to the patient record → Medications → find the prescription → Refill. The refill creates a new dispense record and invoice line item. A SOAP note is not required for a refill, but the prescribing vet must authorize it.
The dose is calculated from the weight recorded at the visit. If the patient's weight has changed significantly, the vet should update the prescription dose before dispensing. Chartling shows the weight used in the dose calculation on the prescription record.
Yes. Under Inventory → Controlled log, you can export a date-range report as a PDF or CSV. The export is signed with a hash for tamper-evidence.