Create and Print a Veterinary Prescription in Tennessee

PawthosX One allows Tennessee veterinary practices to issue written prescriptions for medications that will be filled by an outside pharmacy. The Tennessee Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners permits veterinarians to issue a written prescription or contact the pharmacy electronically or by telephone. Tennessee’s state tamper-resistant prescription-paper requirement does not apply to prescriptions written by veterinarians.

Written By Brendan Baker

Last updated About 1 month ago

Before Creating the Prescription

Confirm that:

  • A valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship exists.

  • The veterinarian has reviewed and authorized the medication.

  • The client’s full legal name and address are correct.

  • The patient’s name and species are correct.

  • The veterinarian’s Tennessee license information is current.

  • The veterinarian has an individual DEA registration when prescribing a controlled substance.

Create the Prescription

  1. Open the patient’s record.

  2. Select New Medication Request or open the medication workflow from the current visit.

  3. Search for and select the medication.

  4. Enter:

    • Medication name

    • Strength or concentration

    • Dosage form

    • Quantity

    • Dose, route and frequency

    • Duration

    • Complete directions

    • Number of refills

    • Prescribing veterinarian

  5. Under Fulfillment Method, select Print/Fax.

  6. Confirm the prescription contains:

    • Client name and address

    • Patient name and species

    • Date issued

    • Drug name, strength and dosage form

    • Quantity

    • Directions

    • Refills

    • Veterinarian name

    • Practice address and telephone number

    • Tennessee veterinary license number

    • DEA number when required

  7. Select Generate Prescription.

Printing the Prescription

Both controlled and non-controlled veterinary prescriptions may generally be printed on ordinary prescription paper because Tennessee’s special tamper-resistant-paper requirement does not apply to veterinarians.

Use:

  • Plain white prescription paper

  • Actual size or 100% scale

  • Black ink

  • No browser headers or footers

  • No page scaling that reduces readability

After printing:

  1. Review the medication, quantity and instructions.

  2. Confirm the prescription date.

  3. Have the prescribing veterinarian manually sign the prescription.

  4. Give the original to the client or send it to the chosen pharmacy through an authorized method.

  5. Confirm the prescription is saved in the patient record.

Controlled-Substance Prescriptions

A written controlled-substance prescription must be dated and signed on the date issued and contain:

  • Client or owner’s full name and address

  • Patient’s name and species

  • Drug name

  • Strength

  • Dosage form

  • Quantity

  • Directions

  • Veterinarian’s name and practice address

  • Veterinarian’s DEA registration number

  • Veterinarian’s manual signature

Federal regulations require computer-generated paper controlled-substance prescriptions to be manually signed by the practitioner.

Schedule II prescriptions cannot contain refills. Schedule III and IV prescriptions may contain no more than five refills and cannot be filled or refilled more than six months after issuance.

Licensed Tennessee veterinarians are not required to check the Controlled Substance Monitoring Database before prescribing a controlled substance to a non-human patient. Registration and reporting obligations may still apply based on the duration and nature of the veterinarian’s prescribing or dispensing activity.