First Year Pharmacy Students Clinical Pharmacy Program Orientation to Pharmacy

By Prof. Dr. Osama Abd El-Azeem Soliman, Ph.D.

Professor of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University

Lecture (4)
Prescription

THE PRESCRIPTION A prescription is an order from a

1. 2.
3.

Doctor (physician), Dentist or

Veterinary surgeon (veterinarian)

for the supply of a:1.

2.
3.

Medicine (drugs), Dressing or Surgical appliance (tools)

to the patient.
It contains the following information :

1- The date 2- The patient's name and address

3- The patient age (years or months)

4- The superscription (Rx) 5- The inscription 6- The Subscription 7- The Transcription or Signature 8- The prescriber Signature and Address

1 2

October 27th 2011 Mohamed Ali, El Kamal St.

3 4 5
6 7 8

Age: 14 years Rx Sodium bicarbonate Sodium carbonate Fiat: Pulv., mitte XX

Sig. Pulv., I dose t.d.s., Dr. Khalil

0.6 g 0.3 g

1- The date It must written by prescriber

2- The patient's name and address It must written by the prescriber

3- The patient age (years or months) It must written by prescriber For the child, the age is also given to help when the pharmacist is checking the dose.

4- The superscription
This is a sign Rx/ which is an instructions to the pharmacist. It is derived from Latin word recipe meaning " taking ".

5- The inscription
It contains a list of ingredients and their quantities. It is called the base

The medicaments may be prescribed as :

A- An Official
N.F; B.P.C; together required. or B.P preparation, with the quantity

B- Proprietary Product
Together required. with the quantity

C- Special Formula
In which, the quantity of each ingredient will be stated together with a description of the type of preparation, e.g. mixture, lotion, tablet.

6- The Subscription:

It includes the instructions to the pharmacist for:

1.

Compounding of the several ingredients into a form suitable for use by the patients,

2. The class of preparation [capsules, ointment, mixture, etc.]. 3. Also the number of doses to be prepared is indicated.

7- The Transcription or Signature It includes the instructions to the patient for the use of the prescription. 8- The prescriber Signature and Address

Types of Prescription:
1-Simple prescription
2- Compound or complex prescription

3-Narcotic prescription

1- Simple prescription In which the inscription consists of one or two substances as active ingredients.

2- Compound or complex prescription In which the inscription may contain four distinct portions, Known as:1.
2.

3.
4.

the the the the

basis, adjuvant, corrective and vehicle.

1- The base Is the main active ingredient, and from it, the patient will derive any other ingredients

2- The adjuvant

Is that medicament included to aid or assist the basis, it enhances its activity.

3-The corrective Is that substance or those substances added to qualify the action of the basis and adjuvant.

Correctives are used to make other drugs less irritating or to serve as flavoring agents i.e. mask the odor and taste.

4-The vehicle Is added to dilute the active constituents to a reasonable dose, so that the patient can take the dose by household measures.

The vehicle is usually devoid of therapeutic activity and simply act as a diluent.

It may be:1. distilled water, 2. aromatic water, 3. infusion or decoction. It forms the medium which the substances are dissolved or suspended.

Sometimes it may has an auxiliary or subsidiary medical action.

may has a preservative or sweetening effect e.g. chloroform water, or

It has a flavoring effect such as peppermint water, anise water etc.

Also,

it

3- Narcotic prescription Is that, the prescription which contains a narcotic substance

or contain other habit forming drugs.

It must include, in addition to the contents of the simple prescription, the address of the patient, the narcotic registration number of the prescriber.

Such prescription should be:

1. 2.

3.

written by ink or typewriter. The quantities of the narcotic substance must be written in words and numbers. The prescription should be stored in a special file which must be opened all times for inspection by the proper authorities.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rx Morphine ampoules Fiat: Ampoules Sig. Ampoule I (one) when the pain is sever Age

12-10-2001 36 years Marwa Ahmed 10 El-Gendy street 3 (three ampoules)

Dr. Ibrahim Ali