Medication Administration Record (MAR Chart)

What is a MAR chart?

MAR stands for Medication Administration Record. Care workers fill it in at each visit to show which medicines a person had, at what time and who gave them. A box holds either the worker's initials, meaning the medicine was given and taken, or a code that explains why it was not. NICE guideline NG67 sets out what a MAR in home care should contain, and this chart follows it.

The chart forms part of the person's care record, and regulation 17 says those records must be accurate, complete and made at the time you give the care.

Should a refused medicine be recorded on the MAR chart?

Yes. NICE says care workers must record whether the person took or declined their medicine. On this chart you write code R, tell the office and fill in the Medication Refusal Record.

What this MAR chart template includes

• Person details, GP practice and supplying pharmacy

• Allergies, swallowing difficulties and covert medicines, which are allowed only when a best interests decision in the care plan authorises them

• A numbered medicines list with dose, route, times and review dates

• A 31-day administration chart, split into days 1 to 16 and 17 to 31

• A codes key (P, R, N, F, H, A, M, W and O)

• A "when required" record for the reason and outcome of each dose

• Changes to the chart, medicines received and returned, staff signatures and a monthly audit

How to use it

Use one chart for each person for each month and keep it with the medicines in the person's home. If the pharmacy supplies a printed MAR, use theirs and agree your codes with them; this template is for when they do not.

Only staff trained and assessed as competent write or change the chart, and a second competent person checks each new entry. Copy details from the dispensing label, never from last month's chart alone, and before each dose ask the person whether they have already taken it. Then check the chart. A blank box is a gap in the record, so tell the office straight away if you find one.

This version is written for home care. Your Medicines Management Policy & Procedure sets the rules the chart puts into practice, and the Daily Care Notes record the rest of the visit.