WHAT IS MEDICAL PRESCRIPTION ?????
verifier1
Department of General Medicine
A Prescription is an order written by Registered Medical Practitioner or other licensed practitioner, such as Dentist, with instructions to the pharmacist for dispensing a specific type and quantity of medication for a specific patient.
It is an important document for establishing a diagnosis, starting the treatment, tracking the recovery and determining future treatment path of the patient.
Important characters of a prescription :
Directions are given to the pharmacist about what type of preparation (ie, power, tablet, mixture etc.) is to be prepared.
It contains directions for the patients, the dose of the drug and the dose interval, and how it should be taken.
Prescriptions are generally written in Latin language, so that the prescription is unknown to the patients to avoid self-medication.
Parts Of a Prescription
A common prescription consists of the following parts:
Date
Date in the prescription helps the pharmacists to know when the medicines were last dispensed ,if the prescription is brought for re dispensing . In case of habit forming drug the date helps to prevent the misuse of the drug by the patient.
Name, age, sex and address of the patient
The name and address of the patient and the prescription can be identified. Age and sex of the patient is mainly needed for child patient to check the prescribed dose.
Superscription
Superscription is represented by a Latin symbol ℞, an abbreviation of Latin term ‘recipe’ which means 'you take’ or ‘take thou’. In ancient time, the symbol was considered to be originated from the sign of Jupiter, God of healing. This symbol was used by the ancient in requesting God for the quick recovery of the patient.
Inscription
It is the main part of the prescription. It contains the names and quantities of the prescribed medicaments. The medicament may be official preparation or non official preparation. If it is official preparation (i.e. from formulary or pharmacopoeia) then only the name of the preparation is written e.g. Piperazine Citrate Elixir IP.
If it is non official preparation then the quantity of each ingredient will be given. The type of preparation will also be given;
eg: Sodium bicarbonate 3g
Simple Syrup 6ml
Purified Water q.s. 100ml
The inscription part of prescriptions containing several ingredients are divided into the following parts:
- Base: The active medicaments those are purposive to produce the therapeutic effect.
- Adjuvants: These are incorporated either to increase the action of the drug or to make the preparation more palatable.
- Vehicle: It is the main carrier of the drug. In liquid preparations drugs are either dispersed or dissolved in the vehicle.
Subscription
In this subscription part , the prescriber gives direction to the pharmacist about the dosage form to be prepared and the number of doses is to be dispensed.
Signatura
It is written as ‘Sig.’ The instructions given in the prescription should be written in the label of the container so that the patient understand can follow them. The instructions includes following,
- The quantity to be taken
- The frequency and timing of administration of the preparation
- The route of administration
- The special instruction (if any)
Renewal instructions
The prescriber indicates the Renewal instructions in every prescription, whether it should be renewed or not, and if renewed, for how many times. It is very important particularly for the case of habit forming drugs to prevent its misuse.
Signature,address and registration number of the prescribed Medical Practitioner.
The prescription must be signed by the medical Practitioner by his / her own hand.Their address and registration number should be written in the case of dangerous and habit forming drugs.
An example of a typical prescription is given as follows:
You may have come across some abbreviations written after a medicine name on prescriptions. They usually specify the frequency of use. The commonly used ones are :
OD: Once daily
BD: Twice a day
TID : Three times a day
QID: Four times a day
SOS: If required/as required
STAT: Immediately
So next time a doctor writes you a prescription do not just wait for his instructions but go a step further and ask him questions about your medications and other aspects of your treatment. Remember that it is your right as a patient to have an understanding of your medication and what it does to your body.