Printing Labels

It is not a good idea to add names and addresses to the label maker, rather you should use the Address Book as it has additional features along with the ability to print labels.

Chapter contents

Labelling

To begin creating or editing labels you select Labelling from the main menu, or if using {new style} menus it is under 'Fee and Stock Management'. Premvet 5 displays a blank label, and the prompt line:

Configure

This option will allow you to change the size of labels you are using and the number of characters you can print on each line. This option is protected by Access Permission 67.

Drug

Short cut option to display/edit the layout of the labels used for drug labeling.

Forward

Display the NEXT label on file e.g. move forward through the stored labels.

Back

Display the PREVIOUS label on file e.g. move backwards through the stored labels.

Use

Identify which label you want to 'Use'. Accesses and displays one of the stored labels ready for you to print or edit it.

Save

Once you have completed a new label or edited an old one you can save this label for later use. You will be prompted for the label number to save it as, with the default being 'A'uto. If Auto is used the system will first check and see if there are any deleted labels. If there are, Premvet 5 will re-use the first one it finds - otherwise a new label will be created. This process simply helps to save space.

New

This will start a new label, you will first of all be asked the 'mode' for each line - do you want the text to be in Normal, Enlarged or Condensed text. Move around with the arrow keys.

List

Lists the first line of all the labels currently held by the computer. You can list either on the screen or printer.

Print

Will start the print run. You will be asked the number of labels to be printed.

Zero

This will delete the current label being displayed (The label will be filled with 'ZZZZZ's). You will be warning if the label you are about to delete is one of the templates for drug labeling.

Edit

This will allow you to change any of the details on the current label.

If the label you are viewing is one of the templates using in Drug labeling or Repeat prescriptions this will be displayed in the upper left of the screen as a reminder.

Setting up Label sizes

                     Layout      1   2  3  4  5
Number of printable lines        8   9  0  0  0
Lines to skip                    5   0  0  0  0

Characters (Normal)             40  40  0  0  0
           (Enlarged)           20  20  0  0  0
           (Condensed)          40  60  0  0  0

This first screen specifies how many lines can be printed on a specific label and the number of lines to skip between each label. Along with the number of characters you can print on each lines in each print mode.

                         Related label parameters (PVS)

                                         <SA> <FC> <EQ>
Drug label number                          2    2    2
Rep. script label number                   2    2    2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Layout                         ------------
Address labels                 1                           | 1 .. P8 S5 |
Recall labels                  1                           | 2 .. P9 S0 |
Stock (Description)            1                           | 3 .. P0 S0 |
Stock (Bar codes)              1                           | 4 .. P0 S0 |
Diary label                    1                           | 5 .. P0 S0 |
Report Generator               1                            ------------
Un-used                        1
Un-used                        1
Un-used                        1
Un-used                        1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Change Quit

The options on the lower left can be configured to use any of the layouts, use the change option to set the required layout. The box on the right is a reminder as to the different sizes.

The Laser option will display:

                            Laser label setup (PVS)


    Number of lines to skip BEFORE printing        1
    Number of FULL labels per page                 7
    Number of lines PER label                      9
    Margin offset (Left Label)                     5
    Margin offset (Right Label)                   50



    Default Paper Length =                        64
    Laser Label Paper Length =                    64

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit Test Quit

These are the setting for 2-up laser labels available in Recalls and Client Lists.

It is recommended you set Laser_Labels = X in params.txt to the printer you are using for laser labels. The system will automatically switch to this printer as needed.

You specify the number of labels on the page and where the system should print. Based on the entries the system will compare the number of lines with that specified for the printer - if they differ you will get an message on the screen.

Once you are happy with the settings the Test option will send a sample to the printer to allow you to check they fit.

Creating or editing labels

The type of text you indicate will affect the number of characters you can use on each line (because enlarged text takes up more room, while condensed text enables more characters to fit, etc.). Once you have made your choice, the system will display the current line. You can use the left and right arrow keys to move along the line. Insert and delete will add and delete characters as appropriate. By using the up and down arrow keys you can move around the label as required.

Text can be centred (when printed) by preceding the line with an exclamation mark '!'. The ! will not be printed.

If you try and quit before saving a label you have been editing, Premvet 5 will warn you that the current label has not been saved.

Using labels with other Premvet 5 functions

• Drugs labels
  See below

• Veterinary Written Directives - the manufacturer address details are stored on a label (1st Line should contain VWD).

• Repeat Prescriptions
  See Chapter 2

• Recalls
  One of the recall output options is a label. A label is produced with the client details on it. An optional label can be appended if required. You can create the optional label using the editing facility we've described in this chapter - just make a note of the label number when you save it. When you wish to print this label in Recalls, turn on the option (8 and 9) to append a label. Premvet 5 will now prompt you for a label number. Enter the number of the label you designed for this purpose.

Note: All the programs that use labels will automatically try to fit as much text onto 1 line as possible. So if the layout specifies the line should be printed in enlarged text and the number of characters to be printed exceeds the line length for that mode then the mode (enlarged) will be changed.

Generating Drug Labels

There are four ways to generate a label to affix to drug containers.

1. Use the label maker to enter the full details required on the container, save it and print as required. This does not allow for automatically adding the animal, client's name, dose etc. If you need these facilities, use one of the other options, described below.

Under the other options, labels are created as previously described in this chapter, but reserved words are added so each label can be customised according to client name, drug, animal name, etc.

The short-cut option on the label maker prompt line Drug will allow you quickly display the Small, Farm and Equine label templates used for Drug Label Generation. If you are only using one label for all three client types this option will prompt you and create additional labels as required if you want separate layouts.

2. The 'Quick' label - If you enter either an asterisk (*) at the 'Items ..........' prompt (<A>uto from the clinical record prompt), or select 'L'abel -> 'D'rug from the management prompt line, you can print a quick drug label without having to select, destock and charge for stock.

   This is the only way of printing drug labels available for users who do not use (or have access to) the stock or automatic pricing modules. You are asked the appropriate questions and the label is filled out according to your design in the normal way.

3. 'Automatic' label - When an asterisk '*' is entered along with a stock item a label is printed for this client/animal with the drug details and this replaces certain keywords with text. e.g. 25 syn250 * . Any dose details should be added as a comment e.g. 25 syn250 * ' 1 Twice daily.

4. If the stock item is set to Automatically generate a label the label will be printed automatically. This can be combined with (iii) on a per sub-unit basis.

Doses

In all cases any dose details will be checked for abbreviation. e.g. QID, BID etc. These abbreviations can be setup via:

General Apps -> Parameters -> Lookup Tables -> Dose Details.

There may be times where you don't know until the drug is dispenced what the dose should be or you want a generic option. This can be handled via the && sequence. e.g.

ASK - Give && tablets every && days

The system will prompt you to fill in the &&.

There are four reserved dosage abbreviations that will be recognised automatically by the system:

FHT	FreeHand Text	You will be prompted for the full dose
WOT	Work Out Tablets	A box will pop-up asking you for the details the system will also determine the number of tablets to be supplied and use this as the quantity.
WOI	Work Out Injection	As WOT except it relates to mls rather than tablets.
WOC	Work Out Capsules	As WOT except it relates to capsules rather than tablets.

Tip: Add FHT to the end of your existing lines to allow free hand text to be added after the specified dose.

Reserved words used in drug labelling

Use the labelling program to create a new label and fill in the standard details required e.g. practice name, warnings etc. Then insert the keywords onto the relevant lines.

The Reserved words you can use are in Table 2

In addition to the normal printer codes e.g. &bs, &bf etc. (See Table 10).

If the text on Labels is tight against the left margin, you can add an 'offset' to labels via the option:

{Classic} Gen Apps -> Params -> Hardware -> Printer -> Select Printer -> Page Width/Offset

{New style} System -> Setup -> Params -> Hardware -> Printer -> Select Printer -> Page Width/Offset

Enter a number here (Between 0 and 10), this number of spaces will be added to the left margin. This applies to label printers only.

Printing issues

Star DP8340 printers
If a Star DP8340 label printer is installed on the system then you will NOT be able to print condensed characters. This will limit you to having a line length of 32 characters MAXIMUM. If the usual condensed codes are used the printer will print that line in red ink. This could be used for any warning messages.

Citizen iDP3540, Star SP320 printers
Like the Star DP8340, these printers will only print a maximum of 40 columns, and you should therefore make sure that the line lengths are set as:

Normal 40 characters
Enlarged 20 characters
Condensed 40 characters

Epson Thermal Printers

Some notes on using the Epsom TM-60 Thermal printers

Label:

Set 'Need FF' to yes
If you want the label to roll forward after printing set the Form Feed Command to \029 \012. This will require you to press the 'Paper Feed' button on the printer to re-wind the label prior to printing the next one. Dip Switch 2-6 must be set to ON

POS:

Add \010 times 5 as the form feed command
Dip Switch 2-6 must be set to OFF

Citizen CBM-270 Thermal Printers

To enable the printer to correctly print barcodes you should set Bar_Code_printer_CBM = Yes in params.txt.