A controlled substance log, filled in — worked example

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The blank log answers what to write down. This one answers what a correct month looks like — including the two entries people get wrong: a patient return, which increases the balance and then usually leaves it again as a witnessed destruction, and a partial fill.

The closing balance is worked out at the bottom, so a new staff member can check their own arithmetic against a known-good example rather than against nothing.

What is on it

  • The same columns as the blank perpetual log
  • A month of dated entries with real reference numbers
  • The closing-balance calculation, written out

When you reach for it

  • Training a new technician or assistant on the narcotic book.
  • Settling an argument about how a return should have been recorded.
  • Checking your own sheet against a worked one before an assessment.

How often a Canadian pharmacy has to count, how long a completed sheet must be kept, and the difference between a log and a count sheet are all answered on the count sheets hub. Every sheet prints the Ontario and federal retention rules in its own footer.

More sheets

The counting is the easy half

Working out what you should have — last count, plus purchased, minus dispensed, minus destroyed, per drug — is the part that takes the afternoon. NarcCount does that arithmetic from records you already keep. See it worked through on one drug or get the data out of your dispensing system.