PRESCRIPTION

1
ANERI DESAI
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICS
2 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION OF PRESCRIPTION

PARTS OF PRESCRIPTION

TYPES OF PRESCRIPTION

LEGAL REQUIREMENT FOR VALID PRESCRIPTION

HANDLING OF PRESCRIPTION

ERROR IN PRESCRIPTION

ABRIVIATIONS
3 INTRODUCTION
 It is an written order by a physician, dentist, veterinarian or a
registered medical practitioner (RMP) to a pharmacist to
compound and dispense a specific drug for the patient.
OR
 Prescription is a written order for medication, issued by
physician or RMP. Prescription is relationship between
physician and pharmacist.

Physician (RMP) Pharmacist Patients

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 The word "prescription" is derived from the Latin term

praescriptus.
(Prae - 'before' and Scribere- meaning 'to write').

 Prescription means 'to write before' which means prescription

had to be written before a drug could be compounded and
administered to a patient.
5 PARTS OF A PRESCRIPTION
1. Prescriber office information
2. Date
3. Patient information (Name, Age, Sex And Address Of The
Patient)
4. Superscription (symbol ℞)
5. Inscription (Medication prescribed)- Main part of prescription
6. Subscription(Direction to Pharmacist/Dispenser )
7. Signatura or Transcription (Direction for Patient)
8. Renewal instructions
9. Prescriber’s signature and registration number
6 1.Physician (Prescriber) office information:
 Information about physician is essential so that the patient
could be contact in emergency. Following information is
mentioned on the prescription

i. Doctor's or office name.

ii. Address with phone number and e-mail.
iii. Prescription number, (required when calling the pharmacy
for a refill)
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2. Date
 It helps a pharmacist to find out the date of prescribing and
date for filling the prescription.
 It also helps in know when the medicines were last
dispensed if the prescription is brought for redispens.
 In case of habit forming drug(Narcotic) must bear the date
to prevents the misuse of prescription by patient.
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3. Patient information
 Name, Age, Sex and Address of the Patient must be written
in prescription for the identify the patient.
 In case of any of these information is missing the same may
be included by the pharmacist after proper enquiry from
patient.
 Name and address of the patient for identification purpose.
 Age and sex of the patient is required for child patient to
check the prescribed dose.
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4. Superscription (symbol ℞)
 It is written as ℞ which is written before writing the
prescription.
 ℞ (Latin term) “recipe” which means “take thou” or “you
take”.
 In olden days, the symbol was considered to be originated
from the sign of Jupiter.
 Jupiter is the Greek God of healing.
 This symbol was use for requesting God for the quick
recovery of the patient.
10 5. Inscription
 It is the main part of the prescription.
 It contains the names and quantities of the prescribed
medicaments.
 Names of ingredients are generally written in English but
common abbreviation used to written in both English and Latin.
 The medicament may be official preparation or nonofficial
preparation.
a.) Official preparation (i.e. from pharmacopoeia) - Only name of
the preparation is written E.g. Piperazine Citrate Elixir IP
b.) Nonofficial preparation - Quantity of each ingredient will be
given and type of preparation will also be given.
11 In case of special or individual formula the quantity of each ingredients
will be stated together with description of the type of preparation . E.g
Cream,lotion,Mixture.

The name of ingredients is written on separate line along with quantity.

In complex prescription Incription is divided into 3 parts

a) Base – It include API which produce therapeutic action.
b) Adjuvant – Include either to enhance action of drug/Improve the
palatability of preparation.
c) Vehicle – Include the agent to dissolve the drug /to increase the
volume of preparations.
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6. Subscription
 This Comprises the direction to the pharmacist
a) Regarding Preparing the Prescription
b) Number of doses to be dispensed
 These days the Prescriber are omitting the specific
instructions TO the Pharmacist because the majority of the
prescription are not Compounded and Dispensed.
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7. Signatura
 This consist the Direction to be given to the Patient regarding
the administration of drug.
 It is usually written as “Sig”.
 The Signatura written in English and use some Latin
abbreviations like T.I.D (thrice a day), B.I.D (twice a day)
and o.d (once a day).
 The instruction given in the prescription are required to
transfer on Label of Contanier in which medicament is
dispensed.
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 Instructions should be written on the label of container so that
the patient can follow them. The instructions may include
a) Quantity to be taken(dose of drug)
b) Frequency and timing of administration of the preparation
(dose interval)
c) Route of administration
d) Special instruction (if any) such as dilution direction.
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8. Renewal instructions
 The prescriber indicate on every prescription Order ,Whether
it may be renewed and if So , how many times.
 It is very important Particularly in the Prescription
Contaning the Narcotic (Habit) Forming drugs to prevent the
missuses.
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9. Prescriber’s signature and registration
number
 The Prescription must bear the signature of the prescriber
along with its registration number and address.
 It is very important Particularly in the Prescription Containing
the Narcotic and other habit forming drugs to prevent misuse.
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19 TYPES OF PRESCRIPTION

Prescriptions can be classified as

1) Compounded prescription
2) Non compounded prescription
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(1) Compounded prescription
 Also known as extemporaneous prescription.
 It is an order that requires mixing of one or more ingredients
(active medicaments).
 It contains several ingredients which are divided into the
following parts:
(a) Base - The active medicaments (Produce the therapeutic effect).
(b) Additives - It enhances the action of the drug.
(c) Vehicle - It is the main carrier of the drug.
E.g. Sodium bicarbonate 3g ,Simple Syrup 6ml, Purified Water
(q.s.) 100ml
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(2) Non compounded prescription
 Does not require compounding of pharmaceutical product.
 Pre compounded drugs supplied by a pharmaceutical company
by its official or proprietary name.
22 LEGAL REQUIREMENT FOR VALID
PRESCRIPTION
1) Prescription should be written in indelible (can not erased) ink
(may be handwritten or computer generated)
2) Prescription must be signed in indelible ink by the practitioner
using his own name.
3) Prescription must be dated by the prescriber.
4) Prescription should state address of the practitioner.
5) If issued by a dentist the words “for dental use only”.
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6) Prescription always writes legibly.
7) Prescription always space out words and numbers to avoid
confusion.
8) Prescription always contains complete medication orders.
9) Avoid abbreviations.

 Now a day’s electronic prescriptions use to minimize

medication errors. The use of Latin word in prescription
writing is traditional.
 Now a day’s Latin has slowly gone.
24 HANDLING OF PRESCRIPTION

 The following procedures should be adopted by the

pharmacist while handling the prescription for
compounding and dispensing:
I. Receiving
II. Reading and checking
III. Collecting and weighing the materials
IV. Compounding, packaging and labeling
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I. Receiving
 The prescription should be received from the patient by the
pharmacist himself .
 While receiving a prescription, a pharmacist should not
change his/her facial expression.
 It gives an impression that he/she is confused or surprised
after seeing the prescription.
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II. Reading and checking
 On receiving a Prescription , always check it that it is written in
a proper format i.e doctor’s pad or OPD slip of the
hospital/home and signed by the prescriber along with date.
 After receiving the prescription it should be screened behind
the counter.
 Prescription authenticity should be checked.
 The signature of the prescriber and the date of prescription
should be checked.
 The pharmacist should read all the lines and words of the
prescription.
27  He/she must not guess any word. If there is any doubt, the
pharmacist should consult with the other pharmacist or the
prescriber over telephone.
 Sometimes Prescription is received on Telephone by senior
Pharmacist.
 In such cases after taking down the Prescription ,it should e
verified by repeating on telephone to the prescriber.
 Because number of drugs with almost same pronounciation
and spelling are available in market
Acidin Apidin
Prednisone Prednisolone
Digoxin Digitoxin
Althrocin Eltroxin
28 III.Collecting and weighing the material
 Before compounding a prescription all the materials should be
collected from the shelves or drawers.
 All the materials kept in the left hand side of the balance &
After measuring each material should be kept on the right hand
side of the balance.
29  While compounding the label of every stock bottle should
be read at least three times in order to avoid any error:
(i) When collected from the shelves/drawers.
(ii) When the materials are measured.
(iii) When the containers are replaced back to the
shelves/drawers.
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IV.Compounding, packaging and labelling
 Only one prescription should be compounded at a time.
Compounding should be done on a clean table.
 All equipment required should be cleaned and dried.
 The preparation should be prepared according to the direction
of the prescriber or as per methods given in pharmacopoeia or
formulary.
 The compounded preparations should be filled in suitable
containers & Label the container.
 White plain paper of good quality should be used for labelling
container.
31  The size of label should be proportional to the size of container.
 The label should be fixed with a good quality of adhesive.
 The container is polished to remove the finger prints.
 While delivering to the patient ,the pharmacist should be explain
the mode of administration , direction of use and storage.