Update as follows:  This resource covers all type of orders for medications for a patient. This includes inpatient medication orders as well as community orders (whether filled by the prescriber or by a pharmacy). It also includes orders for over-the-counter medications (e.g. Aspirin), total parenteral nutrition and diet/ vitamin supplements. It may be used to support the order of medication-related devices  e.g., prefilled syringes such as patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) syringes, or syringes used to administer other types of medications. e.g., insulin, narcotics. This resource would not be used when ordering a device(s) that may have a medication coating e.g. heparin coated stints, or similar types of devices.  These types of devices would be ordered via Operating Room(OR) Supply or Material Management systems. It is not intended for use in prescribing particular diets, or for ordering non-medication-related items (eyeglasses, supplies, etc.). In addition, the MedicationRequest may be used to report orders/request from external systems that have been reported for informational purposes and are not authoritative and are not expected to be acted upon (e.g. dispensed or administered). The MedicationRequest resource is a "request" resource from a FHIR workflow perspective - see  Workflow Request. The MedicationRequest resource allows requesting only a single medication. If a workflow requires requesting multiple items simultaneously, this is done using multiple instances of this resource. These instances can be linked in different ways, depending on the needs of the workflow. For guidance, refer to  the Request pattern