24.11.1. Drug Chart / Protocol Setup

Drug Chart Setup

Your clinician will need to establish the protocols and drug doses used for standard and non-standard anesthetic procedures. To get started, go to Settings > Patient Flow Setup > Drug Chart/Protocol Setup.

You will need:

1. Your clinic's protocols.
2. Current drug charts.
3. Formula for dosing.

Note: Before entering your charts, establish whether your clinic measures weight in kgs or lbs. This setting is located in Settings > Clinic Profile > Preferences.

The chart setup should be your standard dosing based on species and maturity. The charts cannot be restricted to sex. Any deviations from one standard dosing would be set up as a non-standard protocol. These would be for cases where your clinic uses different dosing for animals such as aggressive, male vs. female, brachycephalic, etc.

If you follow the ASNA drug protocol, we have that available HERE.

Dog Protocols

1. From the Standard Protocols section, click Dog Protocol.
2. This is broken into Pre-Med, Induction, Surgery, Emergency, and Reversal drugs. The section you set the chart up under is where you will draw and record the drugs in Patient Flow. Pre-med = Pre-med & Exam tab Induction = Drug Draw tab Surgery = Surgery tab Emergency = Any PF Tab Reversal = Surgery tab #_ Click Create a New Drug Chart on the right of Pre-Med Drug Protocols.
3. Search for and select the medication you would like to create a chart for. Choose the administration route and chart color. For compounded drugs, enter the size bottle you typically mix up at a time. This allows you to confirm the recipe matches yours.
4. In the Chart Generator section, click +Add Weight Range.
5. Enter the drug formula used to create your physical drug chart. If the formula is unknown, consult your veterinarian. If your protocol deviates from the formula, you will need to manually adjust those values on your draft chart.
6. If there are multiple formulas for each weight range, you can click +Add Weight Range. It is important that your weight ranges do not overlap, and that all weights down to a tenth of a decimal exist on your chart. If they do not, the system will have no value to reference and no suggestion will be displayed in Patient Flow.
7. Click Create Draft Drug Chart.
8. Review your chart and compare it to your physical chart. Make any adjustments as needed. These exact values are what will populate in Patient Flow, and Clinic HQ is not responsible for any errors or omissions in drug calculations.
9. If the values are correct, click Save Final Drug Chart at the bottom of the screen.

Note: If your drug chart has two different concentrations for different weight ranges, you will set up one chart for each concentration. For example, in the ASNA Protocol, we would set up a chart for Acepromazine 1mg/mL and one for Acepromazine 10 mg/mL. This creates two columns in Patient Flow and the dosage amount for their weight will show up in the corresponding column.

Complete these steps with each category of drug, entering the individual drugs in the order they are drawn.

Cat Protocols

1. Go to Drug Charts / Protocol Setup > Cat Protocol.
2. Select the drugs that apply to your clinic and complete with the same steps as dog protocols.

Since cats are often not given a pre-med, you may record your charts under the Induction section. When in Patient Flow, you will push the patient to the Drug Draw page, then draw up induction meds there.

Non-Standard Protocols

1. Go to Settings > Patient Flow Setup > Drug Charts / Protocol Setup
2. Under the Non-Standard Protocol section, Click +Add Protocol.
3. Enter the protocol name (e.g. Brachycephalic Protocol) and the species it is for.
4. If there is overlap from your standard protocol, click Copy From Standard Protocol and make adjustments as needed for this chart.

In Patient Flow, when you click on the animal's Drugs button rather than selecting Given, which would input the standard protocol, you can select the name of the non-standard protocol.