An order or request for both supply of the medication and the instructions for administration of the medication to a patient. The resource is called "MedicationRequest" rather than "MedicationPrescription" or "MedicationOrder" to generalize the use across inpatient and outpatient settings, including care plans, etc., and to harmonize with workflow patterns.

This records identifiers associated with this medication request that are defined by business processes and/or used to refer to it when a direct URL reference to the resource itself is not appropriate. For example a re-imbursement system might issue its own id for each prescription that is created. This is particularly important where FHIR only provides part of an entire workflow process where records must be tracked through an entire system.

Protocol or definition followed by this request.

A plan or request that is fulfilled in whole or in part by this medication request.

A shared identifier common to all requests that were authorized more or less simultaneously by a single author, representing the identifier of the requisition or prescription.

Requests are linked either by a "basedOn" relationship (i.e. one request is fulfilling another) or by having a common requisition. Requests that are part of the same requisition are generally treated independently from the perspective of changing their state or maintaining them after initial creation.

A code specifying the current state of the order. Generally this will be active or completed state.

This element is labeled as a modifier because the status contains codes that mark the resource as not currently valid.

Whether the request is a proposal, plan, or an original order.

It is expected that the type of requester will be restricted for different stages of a MedicationRequest. For example, Proposals can be created by a patient, relatedPerson, Practitioner or Device. Plans can be created by Practitioners, Patients, RelatedPersons and Devices. Original orders can be created by a Practitioner only.

An instance-order is an instantiation of a request or order and may be used to populate Medication Administration Record.

This element is labeled as a modifier because the intent alters when and how the resource is actually applicable.

Indicates the type of medication order and where the medication is expected to be consumed or administered.

Indicates how quickly the Medication Request should be addressed with respect to other requests.

Identifies the medication being requested. This is a link to a resource that represents the medication which may be the details of the medication or simply an attribute carrying a code that identifies the medication from a known list of medications.

If only a code is specified, then it needs to be a code for a specific product. If more information is required, then the use of the medication resource is recommended.  For example, if you require form or lot number or if the medication is compounded or extemporaneously prepared, then you must reference the Medication resource. .

A link to a resource representing the person or set of individuals to whom the medication will be given.

The subject on a medication request is mandatory. For the secondary use case where the actual subject is not provided, there still must be an anonymized subject specified.

A link to an encounter, or episode of care, that identifies the particular occurrence or set occurrences of contact between patient and health care provider.

SubstanceAdministration->component->EncounterEvent.

Include additional information (for example, patient height and weight) that supports the ordering of the medication.

The date (and perhaps time) when the prescription was initially written or authored on.

The individual, organization or device that initiated the request and has responsibility for its activation.

The healthcare professional responsible for authorizing the initial prescription.

It is expected that the type of requester will be restricted for different stages of a MedicationRequest. For example, Proposals can be created by a patient, relatedPerson, Practitioner or Device. Plans can be created by Practitioners, Patients, RelatedPersons and Devices. Original orders can be created by a Practitioner only.

The organization the device or practitioner was acting on behalf of.

Practitioners and Devices can be associated with multiple organizations. This element indicates which organization they were acting on behalf of when authoring the request.

The person who entered the order on behalf of another individual for example in the case of a verbal or a telephone order.

The reason or the indication for ordering the medication.

This could be a diagnosis code. If a full condition record exists or additional detail is needed, use reasonReference.

Condition or observation that supports why the medication was ordered.

This is a reference to a condition or observation that is the reason for the medication order. If only a code exists, use reasonCode.

Extra information about the prescription that could not be conveyed by the other attributes.

Indicates how the medication is to be used by the patient.

There are examples where a medication request may include the option of an oral dose or an Intravenous or Intramuscular dose. For example, "Ondansetron 8mg orally or IV twice a day as needed for nausea" or "Compazine® (prochlorperazine) 5-10mg PO or 25mg PR bid prn nausea or vomiting". In these cases, two medication requests would be created that could be grouped together. The decision on which dose and route of administration to use is based on the patient's condition at the time the dose is needed.

Indicates the specific details for the dispense or medication supply part of a medication request (also known as a Medication Prescription or Medication Order). Note that this information is not always sent with the order. There may be in some settings (e.g. hospitals) institutional or system support for completing the dispense details in the pharmacy department.

This indicates the validity period of a prescription (stale dating the Prescription).

Indicates when the Prescription becomes valid, and when it ceases to be a dispensable Prescription.

It reflects the prescribers' perspective for the validity of the prescription. Dispenses must not be made against the prescription outside of this period. The lower-bound of the Dispensing Window signifies the earliest date that the prescription can be filled for the first time. If an upper-bound is not specified then the Prescription is open-ended or will default to a stale-date based on regulations.

An integer indicating the number of times, in addition to the original dispense, (aka refills or repeats) that the patient can receive the prescribed medication. Usage Notes: This integer does not include the original order dispense. This means that if an order indicates dispense 30 tablets plus "3 repeats", then the order can be dispensed a total of 4 times and the patient can receive a total of 120 tablets.

If displaying "number of authorized fills", add 1 to this number.

The amount that is to be dispensed for one fill.

Identifies the period time over which the supplied product is expected to be used, or the length of time the dispense is expected to last.

In some situations, this attribute may be used instead of quantity to identify the amount supplied by how long it is expected to last, rather than the physical quantity issued, e.g. 90 days supply of medication (based on an ordered dosage) When possible, it is always better to specify quantity, as this tends to be more precise. expectedSupplyDuration will always be an estimate that can be influenced by external factors.

Indicates the intended dispensing Organization specified by the prescriber.

Indicates whether or not substitution can or should be part of the dispense. In some cases substitution must happen, in other cases substitution must not happen. This block explains the prescriber's intent. If nothing is specified substitution may be done.

True if the prescriber allows a different drug to be dispensed from what was prescribed.

This element is labeled as a modifer because whether substitution is allow or not cannot be ignored.

Indicates the reason for the substitution, or why substitution must or must not be performed.

A link to a resource representing an earlier order related order or prescription.

Indicates an actual or potential clinical issue with or between one or more active or proposed clinical actions for a patient; e.g. Drug-drug interaction, duplicate therapy, dosage alert etc.

Links to Provenance records for past versions of this resource or fulfilling request or event resources that identify key state transitions or updates that are likely to be relevant to a user looking at the current version of the resource.

This may not include provenances for all versions of the request – only those deemed “relevant” or important. This SHALL NOT include the Provenance associated with this current version of the resource. (If that provenance is deemed to be a “relevant” change, it will need to be added as part of a later update. Until then, it can be queried directly as the Provenance that points to this version using _revinclude All Provenances should have some historical version of this Request as their subject.).