MAR Overview

The MAR is found under Patient Shortcuts on the Patient Desktop.

Key Features of the Mar:

1. Conditional Orders: Medications orders that must meet certain conditions before they can be activated (e.g. "Start If" orders).

2. Scheduled Orders: Medications or reminders that are scheduled to be given or checked at specific times.  Note:  Medications with a common trade name are indicated by curly brackets and capital letters, as seen with the scheduled medication {HUMULIN R SC sliding scale} insulin regular (human) SC sliding scale.

3. PRN Orders: Medications that have no scheduled time. This section also contains important electronic reminders for medications where administration is documented on the paper MAR.

• Paper MAR Reminders - Certain medications and solutions are not documented electronically.  This is a reminder to review and document on the paper MAR. 

• MAR – Normal saline IV prn – See Paper.  Always refer to the paper MAR for the actual frequency.

Note:  Medications that have POM at the end indicates that the patient has their own medications.  Self at the end of the medication indicates that the patient is on a Self-Medication Program.

4. Last Admin Column: The last admin column will populate with the latest date and time that the dose was documented as given. Because PRN medications do not have a time associated with the medication the Last Admin cell is used to document the medication as given.

5. Date and Time: When a dose is scheduled for a particular medication a status indicator will appear in the time/date columns that corresponds with the listed medications on the left side of the screen.

6. Possible Status Indicators:

•  X - Scheduled dose

•  X1 -  One-time dose order (red lettering means that it is STAT)

•  NEW - Order has not been reviewed in the Nursing Inbox.

•  HELD - Order or dose has been held (dose cannot be given)

•  CHG - Order has been changed, but has not been reviewed in the Nursing Inbox yet

• COND - A condition must be met for the patient to receive the dose (the order itself is active, so this is different from the Conditional Orders – ‘Start If’ section in the Medication List).  Hovering over the text COND in the cell displays the condition associated with the order (e.g. hold if BP <100 ).

• LAST - The last dose for an order with a stop date or specific number of doses as indicated by the physician

• UNAUTH - Order requires a physician signature before it is active/authorized.

7. Transaction Line Options:

• Cancel – allows you to cancel a medication dose

• Reschedule – allows you to reschedule a dose

• Resolve – Not Used at UHN

• Med Summary – allows you to review administered medications

• Review I&O – Not Used at UHN

• Previous -  allows you to view the previous window of time

• Next – allows you to view the next window of time

• Refresh – updates the screen to the current window of time

• View Advisories – allows you to view any advisories for medication orders. This will be indicated on the MAR with a red !

• Order Detail – shows the detail of the order

• Event Comment – allows you to enter a comment to be included with the order. A plus (+) beside the scheduled dose on the MAR represents that there is an Event Comment included in the order.

• Instructions ­– shows whether product instructions exist in a specific order. This will be indicated on the MAR with a red #

Colours on the MAR

1. Red Text: Doses in red text on the grid are STAT orders.

2. Dark Blue Fill: Medications where the cell is fully dark blue indicate that an earlier dose exists and you must press the “Previous” button. In other words, the time-frame you are looking at is too far ahead and you must look for an older outstanding dose.

3. Blue Text: PRN Medications will appear in blue text when the Prescriber has included a “start at __” condition. Blue text means that the PRN medication is inactive and should not be administered (EPR will block you). When the “start at __” date arrives, the text will change to black and the order will be active.

Back to Top