DIS Transactions-Pick Up Date vs Dispense Date

We have struggled a little with this as well especially with users who this terminology is new. many users have workflow and use pick up as an extra step and as such this does not pose an issue, however many have found this to be a new concept and don't really utilize it. we have found however that it is better to autopopulate with a pickup time then to leave it out. it is easier to retract a pickup if it hasn't happened than to have thousands of pickups not recorded that actually happened. it is important to inform users of this possibility until this becomes practice in all pharmacies. it does pose data quality issue for the time being...

One of the pieces of feedback we have received from DIS users is potential confusion around the dispense date and pick up date on drug transactions in our DIS. In NS some pharmacy vendors auto populate the pick up date with the dispense date, and others use an actual pick up date if their users have pharmacy work flow that records it separate from the dispense. The feedback from users is that they assume the RX has been picked up if there is a pick up date there and they were not aware that this was often auto populated with the dispense date. They have also commented that they would have no idea which pharmacies have the work flow to allow for an actual pick up date to be used, so pick up dates in the DIS aren't meaningful. Those users who are doing medication reconciliation felt most strongly about this.

Wondering how other jurisdictions with a DIS handle this and what the feedback has been from users? Thanks in advance for your feedback.