Doc. No.

MOM/PO/MGM
Issue No. 01
POLICY ON PRESCRIPTION OF
MEDICATIONS Rev. No 00
Date April’2019
Page 1 of 5

PURPOSE
To prevent medication errors, avoid misinterpretation, and to ensure patient safety.

RESPONSIBLLITY

All Consultants, Registrars, and Duty Medical officers.

POLICY
 Medicines will be prescribed by the registered Medical/Dental practitioners (since den-
tal surgery is in the scope).
 The prescription shall have the name of the patient, UHID no, name of the drug, dose,
route and frequency of administration.
 Medicines are prescribed by approved generic names unless the brand name is clini -
cally significant.
 Prescriptions shall be clear, legible, dated, timed, named and signed and shall have the
registration no.
 All hand written prescriptions shall be in capital letters.
 Instructions shall be in English.
 Drug allergies shall be documented in the MAR (Medication administration record)
chart.
 Doses in microgram, milligram, milliliter and units shall always be written with univer-
sal approved abbreviations.
 The unnecessary use of decimal point should be avoided.
 Prescriptions should not be overwritten. Prescription errors or illegible prescriptions
will be initialed after single strike through and rewritten.
 Drug should be written in uniform location (MAR)

Prepared by
Approved by
Associate Director of medical services Chief
Executive officer
 Doc. No. MOM/PO/MGM
Issue No. 01
POLICY ON PRESCRIPTION OF
MEDICATIONS Rev. No 00
Date April’2019
Page 2 of 5

The prescription must contain the following:

 Full name of the patient.

 Age, sex, Unique Hospital Identification No (UHID), date and time.

 Frequency, route of administration, direction (if any)

 Body weight, body surface area should be written for immunosuppressant and
chemotherapeutic agents.
 Duplication of same generic with different brand name is not acceptable.
 Whenever there is a modification in the medication order in the existing order for a par -
ticular drug, a fresh order will have to be written for that drug. Stop order should be
signed by the physician and the same to be documented in the MAR chart as “STOP”
with a line
 Verbal order should not be accepted unless otherwise emergency and it is counter-
signed by the Physician within 24 hrs.
 Verbal orders must be recorded in the nursing chart/progress notes in case documented
by the duty medical officer which includes name of the drug, strength, frequency, route
of administration, Name of the physician, date and time, Name and signature of the
nurse.(Refer verbal order policy)

8.0. ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED as per ISMP

GUIDELINES
Abbreviations Derivation Meaning

a.c Antecibum Before meals

p.c Post cibum After meals
a.m Ante meridien Before noon
Prepared by
Approved by
Associate Director of medical services Chief
Executive officer
 Doc. No. MOM/PO/MGM
Issue No. 01
POLICY ON PRESCRIPTION OF
MEDICATIONS Rev. No 00
Date April’2019
Page 3 of 5

p.m Post meridien After noon 

alt.die Alternis diebus Alternate days
o.m Omni mane Each morning
o.d Omni die Daily (once a day)
o.n Omni nocte Each night
h.s Hora somni at bed time
h.n Hac nocte to-night
c.m Cars mane tomorrow morning
p.r.n pro re nata when required
s.o.s si opus sit If necessary in emergency
b.d(b.i.d) bis in die twice a day
t.i.d(t.d.s) ter in die three times a Day
q.i.d quarter in die four times a day
q6h - every 6 hours
q8h - every 8 hours
stat statim at once
Rep repetatur Repeat
h. hora Hour
q. quaque every

LIST OF PROHIBITED ABBREVIATION

 Official “Do Not Use” List for Physician’s Guidelines
Do Not Use Potential Problem Use Instead

U (unit) Mistaken for“0”(zero)the number Write Unit

“4”(four)or “cc”
IU (International Unit) Mistaken for IV (intravenous) or the number Write “International Unit”

Prepared by
Approved by
Associate Director of medical services Chief
Executive officer
 Doc. No. MOM/PO/MGM
Issue No. 01
POLICY ON PRESCRIPTION OF
MEDICATIONS Rev. No 00
Date April’2019
Page 4 of 5

10(ten)
Q.D, QD, qd, qd(daily) Mistaken for each other Write “daily”

Q.O.D,Q OD, q.o.d, qod (every Period after the Q mistaken for “I” and the
other day) “O” mistaken for “I” Write “every other day”
Trailing zero (x. o mg) Decimal point is missed Write Xmg
Lack of leading zero(.x mg) Write O .X mg
MS Can mean morphine sulfate or Write“morphine
MSO4 &MgSO4 magnesium sulfate sulfate”Write
Confused for one another “magnesuim sulfate”
HCTZ Hydrochlorthiazide Use complete drug name
Mistaken with hydrocortisone (HCT)
IV vanc Intravenous Vancomycin Use complete drug name
Mistaken as Invanz
Drug designations and other Indent Meaning Place adequate space
information: Inderal 40mg between drug name, dose
Drug name and dose run Tegretol 40mg and unit
together (Especially
problematic for drug names Misinterpretation
that end in “l” such as Mistaken as Inderal 140mg
Inderal40mg
Tegretol40mg)

Additional Abbreviation, Acronyms and symbols

Do Not Use Potential Problem Use Instead

>(greater than) Misinterpreted as the number Write “greater than”

Prepared by
Approved by
Associate Director of medical services Chief
Executive officer
 Doc. No. MOM/PO/MGM
Issue No. 01
POLICY ON PRESCRIPTION OF
MEDICATIONS Rev. No 00
Date April’2019
Page 5 of 5

<(less than) “7 ” (seven)or the letter “L” Write “less than”

Confused for one another
Abbreviation for drug Misinterpret due to similar Write drug names in full
names abbreviations for multiple drugs
Cc Mistaken for U (units) when poorly Write “ml” or “milliliters”
written
µg Mistaken for mg ( milligrams) Write “mcg” or micrograms”
resulting in one thousand – fold
overdose

RECONCILIATION OF MEDICATIONS AT TRANSFER OF PATIENT:

All the present medication shall be documented in the transfer out form while the patient is trans -
ferred from one unit to another unit. And at the time of admission the medicines which are brought
by the patient shall be documented in the reconciliation column in the History & Physical form.

Prepared by
Approved by
Associate Director of medical services Chief
Executive officer