What is a Prescription?
A prescription is a legal document or order written by a qualified healthcare professional for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a specific patient's disease.
- Is written by a licensed
practitioner
- Is written as part of a
proper physician-patient relationship
- Is a legal document,
"prima facie" evidence in a court of law.
(Note: A prima-facie case is a lawsuit that alleges
facts adequate to prove the underlying
conduct supporting the cause of action and thereby prevails.)
Definition
Literally, "Recipe" means simply "Take...." and when a medical practitioner writes a prescription beginning with "Rx", he or she is completing the command.
It is probably originally directed at the pharmacist
who needed to take a certain amount of each ingredient to compound the medicine
(rather than at the patient who must
"take/consume" it).
Types of Prescription forms
1. Private prescription form: This type of prescription is generally written on a form that includes the name, address, and qualification of a prescriber. Rx is written to indicate this is a prescription form. This is issued by private prescribers.
2. National Health Service (NHS)
prescription form: It is only issued for NHS patients i.e. patients suffering from certain
diseases and is issued by Government
Prescribers.
Parts of the Prescription
1. Date
2. Patient Information
3. Superscription
4. Inscription
5. Subscription
6. Signa
7. Signature lines, signature, degree, brand name
indication
8. Prescriber information
9. DEA (Drug enforcement administration) if
required
10. Refills
11. Warnings/label
1. Date
All prescriptions expire after one year. In the case
of narcotics and other habit-forming drugs, the date prevents the misuse of the
drugs by the patient. It helps a pharmacist to know when the medicine was last
dispensed and if the prescription is brought for dispensing.
2. Patient Information
• Name
• Address
• Age
• Weight (optional, but useful – especially in pediatrics)
• Time (used only with inpatient medication
orders)
3. Superscription
Represented by the symbol Rx, a traditional
symbol for prescription which is always written before writing a prescription.
This is derived from the Latin word 'recipe' which means to take. Instruction was
given to the pharmacist as well as the patient to take the medicine as
prescribed. Another theory proposed by some scholars is that it derives from
the symbol for the god Jupiter. The connection to healing was via prayers that a
specific treatment would be effective and the individual would get better.
4. Inscription
This is the main body of prescription which includes the name and quantity o medicine which are prescribed. This is written in the English language. All medicines are written in separate lines along with the required quantity needed to treat the disease.
What is the pharmacist to take off the shelf?
Drug Name
Dose = Quantity of drug per dose form
Dose Form = The physical entity needed, i.e. tablet,
suspension, capsule
Simple versus compound prescriptions
Manufactured versus compounded prescriptions
Clarity of number forms 0.2, 20 not 2.0 (Zeros lead
but do not follow!)
5. Subscription
These are instructions given to the pharmacist for
dispensing the number of doses to the patient and how the medicine has to be
taken before meal or after a meal.
What is the pharmacist to do with the
ingredients?
Quantity to be dispensed (determines the amount in
bottle) Dispense #24.
For controlled substances write in numbers and letters
(like a bank cheque)
i.e., 24 (twenty-four)
Any special compounding instructions.
6. Signa, Signatura of Transcription
Siq – write, or let it be labeled (Latin terms: Siqna
or signature)
Instructions for the patient
• Route of administration
Oral, Nasally, Rectally, etc.
Take by mouth…, Give, Chew, Swallow whole, etc.
• Number of dosages units
per dose
Taje one tablet, give two teaspoonfuls, etc.
• Frequency of dosing
Every six hours, once a day.
• Duration of dosing
for seven days, … until gone,...if needed for pain.
• Purpose of medication
for pain, asthma, headaches, etc.
VERY IMPORTANT to include purpose as this reduces
errors!
"As directed by a physician"
• Special instructions
(shake well, refrigerate, etc.)
• Warnings
7. Refills or renewal Instruction
Indicate either no refills or the number of refills
you want (do not leave it blank).
Determines the maximum duration of therapy.
8. Signature, address, and registration of the Prescriber
This makes the prescription a legal document. A signature
and the prescriber registration number are necessary, especially in the case of
habit-forming drugs. A prescriber must write
"brand necessary," "brand medically necessary," or
"DAW" (Dispense as Written) to get non-generics.
