This guide provides step-by-step instructions on formatting your custom drug list. The fields in this are applicable to both Organisation Upload and Individual Prescribers.
‼️ It is important to follow the naming conventions below to ensure your prescription remains legally valid and compliant with Australian prescribing regulations. Incorrect formatting can lead to errors in dispensing, rejection by pharmacies, or failure to meet legislative requirements. Adhering to the correct structure ensures clarity, reduces the risk of misinterpretation, and supports seamless integration with prescribing and dispensing systems.
Steps
⚠️ All fields are mandatory, except for
Trade Name
Brand Name
Description
Product ID (this can be used to match drugs more easily within your software if integrating)
⚠️ Each drug quantity amount must be on it's own row. So if you have pack quantities of 30/60/90, there should be three separate rows of the same drug with different quantities
Generic Name
The Generic Name is the medicinal product required by law for active ingredient prescribing:
Inclusions
active ingredients
strength of each active ingredient
dosage form
number of doses
Exclusions
Do not include any brand identifiers here
Column Example:
This is how your drug should look under item generic name, it should have the active ingredient/s, strength, form and dose in one cell
paracetamol 500 mg tablet, 100
Brand/Trade Name (Not Mandatory)
A drug brand/trade name may also be included, but is not mandatory. This replaces the active ingredients with a brand name:
Inclusions
Brand Name
Strength
Dosage Form
Number of Doses
Exclusions
Replace active ingredients with the brand name
Column Example:
This is how your drug should look under item generic name, it should have the Brand Name, strength, form and dose in one cell.
Panadol 500 mg tablet, 100
Brand Name (Not Mandatory)
The brand name is appended to the prescription and should only include the specific brand of the prescribed drug if applicable. This field is mandatory only if a trade name has been entered. This field is used to append the brand name to a custom script if Prescribe as Brand Name is selected to ensure you are following the active ingredient prescribing laws.
Column Example
Panadol
Quantity
The Quantity field represents the total number of doses in a pack.
For tablets, the quantity reflects the number of tablets in a pack (e.g., atorvastatin comes in packs of 30 tablets, so the quantity = 30).
For forms like inhalers, oils, injections or vials, the quantity is 1 (e.g., Symbicort Turbuhaler or Cannabidiol, as each pack contains a single inhaler or vial of oil).
For multi-pack items, the quantity reflects the total number of units in the pack (e.g., Novorapid comes in packs of 5 pens, so the quantity = 5).
Max Repeats
Max Repeats represents the maximum number of repeats legally allowed for a prescription and should be a number only.
Poison Class
Poison Class refers to the schedule under the Australian Poisons Standard that the drug is prescribed under and should be formatted as S4, S8 etc.
Item Form
Item Form should specify the medication’s form in text (e.g., tablet, capsule, inhaler, solution).
Item Strength
This should include the strength of the active molecules. If only one active ingredient, you can just put in the strength. If multiple you can separate the strengths with a /.
The detail of the strength is represented in the Generic Name.
Route of administration
Route of Administration should specify the method by which the medication is administered (e.g., oral, inhalation, subcutaneous, intravenous).
Description (Not Mandatory)
You may also include a description of the drug. While this field is not yet used in Parchment, it may be incorporated in future updates.
Custom Product ID (Not Mandatory)
This field is optional. However, if you wish to add a custom product ID to assist with matching within your practice management software, you can do so here. This is an alphanumeric field.