Audience: prescribing veterinarians using PetBooqz with the VetScript integration. Example used throughout: Keppra (levetiracetam), a registered human medication prescribed off-label, typically collected from a brick-and-mortar retail chemist.
Where to find VetScript in PetBooqz
Open the patient file. Alongside the Details, History, Sales, Handouts and Pathology tabs you'll find the VetScript tab.
[Screenshot: Patient file showing the VetScript tab]
The VetScript tab shows a table of the patient's prescriptions and their statuses:
Status | Meaning |
Draft | Created but not yet sent. You can still edit or submit it. |
Submitted | Sent to the pharmacy. |
Scanned | Pharmacy event: the pharmacy has scanned the script. |
Dispensed | Pharmacy event: the pharmacy has dispensed the medication. |
Draft and Submitted reflect actions you take as the vet. Scanned and Dispensed are pharmacy events sent back to PetBooqz automatically. Click any barcode in the table to view that prescription's details.
Before you start: local pickup pharmacies
Human medications prescribed off-label are typically filled at a brick-and-mortar retail chemist for local pickup. Our recommendation: email [email protected] nominating two to three pharmacies within walking distance or a short drive of your practice, and VetScript will get in touch with those pharmacies to enable them on the network. Once enabled, their catalogues appear in your PetBooqz medication list.
Step 1: Create the script
Prescribing an eScript in PetBooqz is a two-step process: add a medication, then associate a pharmacy with it.
In the VetScript tab, click New.
If an existing draft script is available, PetBooqz will ask whether to use it or create new. Choose Create new.
Enter your staff password when prompted.
[Screenshot: New script prompt and staff password dialog]
Step 2: Add the medication
Click Add Medication. A pop-up e-prescribing screen appears.
Leave the custom compound checkbox at the top unticked. That option is for compounded medications only. Instead, use the Medication dropdown.
Searching the medication list
The dropdown lists every medication that pharmacies in the VetScript network can supply (pharmacies price their own catalogues, and PetBooqz pulls the updated list daily). You can search by:
Active ingredient (e.g. levetiracetam)
Brand name (e.g. Keppra)
Pharmacy name: narrows the list to what that pharmacy supplies
Searching "Keppra" returns the available variants: active ingredient, strength, form, quantity, brand name, the pharmacies that can supply each variant, and the price (excluding GST).
[Screenshot: Medication dropdown showing Keppra variants]
Selecting a variant
Select the variant you want. The strength, form, quantity and item count fields pre-fill. Item count is the number of units in a single package; for a full pack, leave it at 1.
Prescribing a broken pack (e.g. 20 tablets)
The same broken-pack logic used for veterinarian-only medications applies to registered human medications:
Go back to the dropdown and select the single-tablet variant instead of the full pack.
Change the item count from 1 to the number you're prescribing (e.g. 20).
Tick the Unusual quantity checkbox (see below).
In Additional comments, state the quantity in both words and numerals, e.g. "Twenty (20) tablets". This is required whenever Unusual quantity is ticked.
Complete the clinical fields
These fields are required. They mirror the conformance standards used for electronic prescriptions in human healthcare. For off-label use, they document your clinical justification.
Directions for use: dosing instructions for the animal owner.
Reason for prescribing: the clinical justification, the specific therapeutic effect intended for this pet.
Primary diagnosis: choose from the dropdown.
Expiration date
The expiration date defaults to one year from today (e.g. a script written 10 July 2026 expires 9 July 2027) and is currently fixed. An editable field is planned for a future PetBooqz release. If you need a different expiry, state it in Additional comments.
Repeats
Maximum repeats: does not include the original supply. To authorise four supplies in total, enter 3 repeats (original + 3).
Minimum days between repeats: set an interval (e.g. 28 days) if you don't want the owner purchasing all repeats upfront. Enter 0 to allow all repeats to be purchased at once.
Checkboxes
Allow brand substitution: applicable to registered human medications. Ticking it gives the pharmacy discretion to offer the owner a substitute brand if the prescribed brand is out of stock, reducing back-and-forth between the pharmacy and you and avoiding delays to the patient receiving medication.
Emergency supply: flags the script as a script owing. Leave unticked unless applicable.
Unusual quantity: tick only when prescribing a broken pack (and state the quantity in words and numerals in Additional comments).
Additional comments
Free-text comments directed to the pharmacy: expiry-date changes, broken-pack quantities in words and numerals, or anything else the dispensing pharmacist needs to know.
Click Submit. You'll return to the screen with the Add Medication and Find Pharmacies options.
Step 3: Associate a pharmacy
Click Find Pharmacies and select the retail pharmacy that will fill the script.
Client and patient details pre-fill automatically, with no double entry.
Confirm client contact details
Before submitting, confirm with the client that their mobile number, email and delivery address are current. The pharmacy uses these details to contact the animal owner to organise payment (and collection or delivery). If anything is out of date, update it in the client file first.
Postal address
You have three options:
Use the client's delivery address on file: the standard choice where the pharmacy charges the client and delivers directly to them.
Send to the practice: generally used for compounded medications.
Custom address: for one-off deliveries such as an office or temporary location.
For local pickup at a retail chemist, the client simply collects in store; use the client's details so the pharmacy can contact them when the script is ready.
Click Submit.
Enter your vet registration number when prompted and click OK.
The prescribing window closes and a new entry appears in the VetScript tab with status Submitted and its barcode.
[Screenshot: VetScript tab showing the new Submitted entry]
Step 4: Billing
PetBooqz will prompt you whether you'd like to bill for the script you've just created. Generally, click Yes. This takes you to the client's billing section, showing the medication and its associated script fee.
Tip, distinguish script fees from in-clinic stock: invoice item names are taken from the medication list. Click the pencil (edit) icon on the line item and add a prefix such as "SCRIPT - " to the name so scripted items are easy to tell apart from in-clinic stock.
Setting your script fee: configure a fixed, practice-wide script fee (e.g. $35) in PetBooqz Admin Central. If your fees vary per script, use the pencil icon on the invoice line to adjust the amount each time.
Who pays for the medication? In the PetBooqz admin panel, go to Preferences > VetScript. A checkbox controls whether the client pays for the medication in clinic:
Unchecked (most common): you charge the script fee only; the pharmacy charges the client for the medication.
Checked: you charge the client for both the script fee and the medication cost in clinic.
Viewing, printing and cancelling a script
Open the script from the VetScript tab to view its details: medication, quantity, repeats, expiration date, additional comments, destination pharmacy, client and patient details, and postal address.
Print: fires a print job producing a formatted paper script: prescribing veterinarian, order details, animal details, medication details, a field for your signature and date, and a barcode the pharmacy can scan into their dispensing software.
Cancel: sends a cancellation request; a cancelled script can no longer be downloaded or dispensed by the pharmacy. You'll be prompted for your staff password, then your vet registration number.
Note: if the pharmacy has already dispensed the script, cancellation will fail. Contact the pharmacy and ask them to cancel or reverse the dispense; this unlocks the script so you can cancel it.