The problem
Medications are currently free-text — staff type the name when a med is set up. That works, but every serious UK eMAR records meds against the NHS dm+d (Dictionary of Medicines and Devices), the standard vocabulary for medicines in England. It prevents typos ("Paracetomol"), makes records interoperable, and is a prerequisite for ever meeting the NHS DSCR standards (#4).
Rough shape
- Add a dm+d lookup when creating/editing a medication: type-ahead search that stores the dm+d code alongside the display name
- Keep free-text as a fallback (homely remedies etc. still need to be recordable)
- dm+d data is published free by NHSBSA via TRUD — needs an import/refresh strategy (it updates weekly)
Where to look
supabase/migrations/003_medications.sql — medications schema (needs a dmd_code column)backend/routes/mar.js and frontend/src/components/mar/ — where meds are created and displayed
Open questions (comment before building!)
- Bundle a subset of dm+d, or query an API at runtime? Offline-first matters here.
- Which dm+d level do we store — VTM, VMP or AMP?
If you have NHS interoperability experience this one has your name on it.
The problem
Medications are currently free-text — staff type the name when a med is set up. That works, but every serious UK eMAR records meds against the NHS dm+d (Dictionary of Medicines and Devices), the standard vocabulary for medicines in England. It prevents typos ("Paracetomol"), makes records interoperable, and is a prerequisite for ever meeting the NHS DSCR standards (#4).
Rough shape
Where to look
supabase/migrations/003_medications.sql— medications schema (needs admd_codecolumn)backend/routes/mar.jsandfrontend/src/components/mar/— where meds are created and displayedOpen questions (comment before building!)
If you have NHS interoperability experience this one has your name on it.