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National Medication Chart (NMC)

It is envisaged that nationally standardising the way that medicines are charted in the public hospital setting will decrease inconsistencies across the various clinical areas and between the 20 DHBs. The adult National Medication Chart and the medication charting standards are improvement strategies to address safety and quality issues associated with the prescribing, dispensing, administering and reviewing of medications in hospitals. The adult National Medication Chart designed for a general ward is the first of a planned suite of national medication charts. The adult National Medication Chart was piloted in three DHBs. How the National Medication Chart worked in practice was closely monitored and assessed during the pilots. Both the design elements of the chart and the charting standards were evaluated for safety, quality and usability. The results and the feedback collected were used to revise the charting standards and the National Medication Chart before they were made available nationally.

• promote consistent best-practice prescribing

• standardise the way medicines are prescribed nationally

• reduce the risk of medication errors and improve patient safety

• enable District Health Boards (DHBs) to easily adopt the national medication charting standards

• reduce the need for re-education with regards to hospital-specific medication charts for prescribers, dispensers and administrators when moving between DHB

• allow standardised training to begin at undergraduate level for all health professionals who use the medication chart

• standardise documentation recording so that ePrescribing and Administration is able to be more easily implemented in the future

Medication Charting Standards

The medication charting standards are the minimum requirements for patient safety for prescribing, dispensing and administering of medicines (either paper or electronic forms).

The SMM Programme began working on national medication charting standards in September 2008. A working group of 15 clinical staff from 11 DHBs came together to undertake the task of identifying best practice standards for a medication chart. The standards were based on work done by DHBNZ Safe and Quality Use of Medicines Group (SQM) on a developing a national chart. The standards were reviewed by approximately 45 clinical staff from various DHBs before being assessed in two DHBs for their applicability and practicality. The standards were updated based on the feedback received from the DHBs and the SMM Clinical Leadership Group. Version 1 of the medication charting standards was subsequently approved by the SMM Steering Group.

Standards (PDF 598KB)

The Medication Charting Toolkit has been prepared for: health practitioners who are implementing the National Medication Chart and/or conducting education and training on how to use the National Medication Chart. To obtain a full copy of the toolkit when implementating the NMC, please contact info@hqsc.govt.nz

Toolkit Introduction (PDF 575 KB)

User Guide (PDF 13.7 MB) - provides step by step instructions on how the NMC is to be used

Presentations (used by the trainers in conjuction with the modules in the Trainer’s Guide)

Medication Charting Standards (PDF 79.6KB)

National Medication Chart (PDF 2.20MB)

The NMC set (PDF 6.11MB)

NMC non administration codes (PDF 52KB)