Hello from a pharmacist

[raindrop]

Hi everyone

I am a retail pharmacist stopping in to say hello. I'd like to know how much time do pre-med students spend learning about how to write prescriptions. I'm not referring to how legible you can or cannot write; that's an individual characteristic

More specifically, is there a class (or classes) that you take in school regarding proper prescription writing? Such as, to remember to put a date on each Rx, to put the correct patient's name, to indicate clearly what medicine you want, etc?

I know it sounds like child's play to write out a Rx, but in the pharmacy, we could tell you horror stories of scripts we've seen.

I see prescriptions all the time with missing patient name, missing Sig, missing quantity, etc. I'm not even counting the many barely-legible ones! There are other issues as well.

I once had a patient, "Bob Jones" The prescriber did not put a date of birth on any of the many scripts he gave the patient. After a few months, it was discovered, by accident, that the doctor was writing for Bob Jones Jr, who was about 30 years old. The person presenting the scripts was Bob Jones Sr, who was 55. The elder Mr Jones would say the Rx's were for him because he had insurance, while his son did not. As a result, many prescriptions were fraudulently billed to the elder's insurance.

Here are 4 scripts I received last week. They were for the same patient, written by the same doctor. I blacked out the patient's info (for HIPAA reasons) and the name of the PCP. The PCP wasn't the one who wrote the Rx's. The prescriber was that squiggle - (it was up to me to figure out what the squiggle said!)

Anyway, can you see the errors in each of these scripts?

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[THP]

Premeds have no training in writing scripts. I'm almost finished with my second year of med school and I have no idea who to write one.

 

[CatsandCradles]

Wow it's terrible handwriting too

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

Anyway, can you see the errors in each of these scripts?

*gets out secret decoder ring*

 

[CatsandCradles]

Let see now, the "doctorspeak" that few people understand:

ac............ before meals
alt die....... alternative days
bid............ twice a day
c.............. with
dol urg....... when pain is severe
hs............. at bedtime
prn............ when needed
sig............. write on label
sos............ if necessary
stat........... immediately
tid............. three times a day
2X............. refill two times a day
wa............. while awake

Some of these have Latin and Greek historical roots. I found the list in Reader's Digest, March 2006.

I can make out a "Sig" on one of the prescriptions so far. But this guy's (or gal's) hand writing is just bad

 

[CatsandCradles]

I once had a patient, "Bob Jones" The prescriber did not put a date of birth on any of the many scripts he gave the patient. After a few months, it was discovered, by accident, that the doctor was writing for Bob Jones Jr, who was about 30 years old. The person presenting the scripts was Bob Jones Sr, who was 55. The elder Mr Jones would say the Rx's were for him because he had insurance, while his son did not. As a result, many prescriptions were fraudulently billed to the elder's insurance.

Now that there is an interesting story.

 

[Moxxie]

I just started my first retail pharmacy job a few weeks ago. I'm sure that I'll get better with practice, but I still have to show ~25% of the scripts to the pharmacist/another tech to be able to decipher them (mostly the drug names). The handwriting is actually gorgeous on these scripts. Very legible. And the sigs aren't too bad either. But every script is for #QS - sufficient quantity/amount. WTF? How is the pharmacist to know how much to dispense, especially on something like prednisone (is this course for a week? a month?). Another thing about the pred - the sig says "take two tabs every morning then 2.5mg every evening." That's easy enough to interpret, but why not write "iiT PO qAM then iT PO qPM?"

What else am I missing? I'm assuming that WA means "with inhaler." I got yelled at tonight because I didn't know what HHN meant. The script was for Albuterol 0.083 % - it said "one HHN q6H." I hadn't seen that one yet. Ended up putting down "use one vial in hand-held nebulizer every 6 hours."

 

[Shredder]

how much time do pre-med students spend learning about how to write prescriptions

sorry, premeds dont spend time learning anything except how to kiss up to med schools

 

[MollyMalone]

What else am I missing? I'm assuming that WA means "with inhaler."

WA is "while awake." I agree that the handwriting is lovely.

 

[mustangsally65]

I took a medical terminiology class at my local community college (both Med Term 1 and Med Term 2 were online) while I was in undergrad at a bigger university. There was a chapter with abbreviations like CatsandCradles posted, and I since I had three years of Latin in high school these things made sense to me (ante cibum etc.). So whenever I get a prescription I know what it means, which is good because just last November I was prescribed a drug that was bid and it came from the pharmacy with a label that said three times a day. If I hadn't looked at the prescription before I dropped it off I would have been taking it more frequently than I was supposed to.

I'm still pre-med, but it's a good skill to have. It wouldn't take much to teach med students about writing prescriptions.

Threads like this one are great. I love how physicians and pharmacists and dentists on SDN offer advice and teach those of us who are still in school. Maybe some of you can start a thread about the do's and don't's of writing prescriptions.

 

[deleted87716]

Maybe some of you can start a thread about the do's and don't's of writing prescriptions.

Read this article, for starters.

 

[Moxxie]

WA is "while awake." I agree that the handwriting is lovely.

Ah. I suppose that makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Uvault05]

Hi raindrop,

The lack of care and effort that goes into script-writing can be truly frustrating sometimes. I'm entering med school next year, but I've been working in a doctor's office for the past year and I can tell you I feel your pain when it comes to reading those damned things! Regarding your question about whether there is some class designed to teach MD's how to write the patient's name, date, etc.--I can't really tell whether you're joking or not, because at first glance, it would seem that this kind of simple stuff shouldn't be included in a med school curriculum. But as it turns out, so many physicians can't seem to follow easy instructions that I'd have to argue that these details must get some kind of emphasis in school. The inability of physicians to write clearly and thoroughly represents one of the humorous stereotypes of the profession, but it's not so funny for those who actually need to decipher it!

My real hope is that handwritten scripts will become a thing of the past. I know many offices that have automated the entire process (other than the doc's signature, of course), and I would guess that most offices will follow-suit over the next 5 years. In the meantime, I would try to memorize the "wingding" font in Word, because I'm pretty sure that's what most doctors are using on their prescriptions these days.

 

[raindrop]

Hi again everyone

Thanks for the responses. I really wanted to get the point of view of the Dr on these. (I already know what pharmacists think of Rxs like these, and believe me, it isn't pretty!)

These were (some of) my concerns with these scripts:

1) First of all, the name of the Dr was not clear. Just a squiggle or a signature may seem sufficient if you're in a rush. But if there is a question or a concern (such as a contraindication, allergy, inappropriate dose, etc), how is the pharmacist supposed to know who wrote out the Rx? This is very common with discharge Rx's. Often the patient being discharged has no idea who wrote the Rx's.

2) Secondly, "QS" means "quantity sufficient" and is only clear when a days' supply is indicated. For instance, if you write "Amoxicillin 500mg tid x 10 days, Dispense QS" any pharmacist would know you wanted thirty pills. But if a days supply isn't indicated, QS means nothing really. So on these 4 Rx's, there was no way of knowing how much of the drug to dispense. May not seem like a big deal if you're in a hurry writing out the Rx but do you want the patient to go home with a month's worth of medicine or a 48-hr's worth?

3) The strengths on the nebulizer solutions were both incorrect. On the one that says "Proventil", the Dr wrote "0.087%" when it actually comes in "0.083%" I know that sounds like splitting hairs, but imagine if the difference were as significant as "Haldol 5mg" vs "Haldol .5mg" Or "Coumadin 1.0 mg" vs "Coumadin 10mg" For a moment, I thought maybe these Rx's were a trick and the State Board of Pharmacy was testing me to see if I would just "fix" the Rx's on my own! It should be noted that pharmacists aren't legally allowed to "fix" anything on a Rx.

4) Why were there 2 Rx's for albuterol? (Proventil is the brand name for albuterol) It seemed rather redundant to have 2 Rx's for the same thing. When I contacted the prescriber, she said, rather curtly, that on one of the Rx's, she didn't mean to write "albuterol"; she meant "Atrovent" I don't think I need to tell anyone how dangerous a mistake like that was. I mean, OK, it might not seem like a big deal to write "albuterol" instead of "Atrovent", but what if a doctor wrote "Diabeta" instead of "Zebeta"? Or "Prevacid" instead of "Preven"? Or "Syntest" instead of "Synthroid"? The possibilities are endless!

5) The Proventil nebulizer solution was written oddly also. The Dr wrote for the patient to take "0.5cc q6" If the vials are pre-mixed and are 3cc, why would you want a patient to use only 0.5cc? That would be severe underdosing! (You're supposed to have the patient use one vial, 3cc, at a time, every 4 or 6 hours. That's why the vials come pre-measured)

There were other things "wrong" with these Rxs but I don't want to seem whiny. I hope you guys don't mind a little advice on how NOT to write prescriptions!

Here's another one I received a while back. I blanked out the patient's name (for privacy reasons) and the Dr's printed name on top, but other than that, this is an actual Rx I received:

No quantity, messed up Rx date, no signature. Is this another test??

 

[cheer_up]

Hey raindrop

I totally agree with you since I work as a part-time pharmacy technician myself and I can feel your frustration. Honestly, I just think there are way too many important mistakes on those scripts. I think the doctor who wrote those scripts needs a big lesson on how to write proper scripts. Writing proper scripts is such an important skill because most of the times, the doctors end up prescribing the patients some sorts of medications and if they can't do that properly, it's very dangerous. The responsibility falls back on the pharmacists, and they have to call up the prescribers if they can't read the script (not in this case as the scripts are quite legible) or if the dosage is wrong or worst yet, wrong medication altogether. I don't think that's a genuine duty of a pharmacist. They might as well let the pharmacist write up the scripts in the first place . I'm glad you brought the topic up.

 

[gimpsd]

Prednisone comes in 2.5 mg tablets?

 

[zenman]

I'm a nurse practitioner student and we have classes plus have to do prescription exercises for a grade. After too many years of trying to read orders, you can be sure I'll send you a script you can read. We are now taught to write everything out such as:

RX: Hydrocholorizide twenty five milligrams (25)
Sig: Twenty five milligrams (25) by mouth every am (8 am) for one (1) month
Disp: # Thirty (30)

Date, name, DOB also included and weight also if indicated.

Am I your friend, LOL!

 

[deleted87716]

We are now taught to write everything out such as:

RX: Hydrocholorizide twenty five milligrams (25)
Sig: Twenty five milligrams (25) by mouth every am (8 am) for one (1) month
Disp: # Thirty (30)

Date, name, DOB also included and weight also if indicated.

I gotta tell ya, that'll last about five minutes in The Real World. And you'd better spell "hydrochlorothiazide" properly if you're gonna do that - why do you think we use "HCTZ" in the first place?

 

[raindrop]

Hi, LOL yes, you could be my friend, but if you really wrote a Rx like that, it would be likely that the pharmacist would think it's TOO GOOD (seriously!) and thus might be a phony. I know that sounds aggravating, but in reality, we figure that the prescribers should write the Rx's using the latin shorthand (e.g. writing "QD" instead of "once a day") Why? It's part of how we can distinguish if a real prescriber wrote it (and not the patient)

Many times, we see something like this "Vicodin #180 Take one pill six times every day." And it's neatly signed by "Dr John H. Smith MD" That sends up red flags right away LOL! Now, something written a little messily like "Vicodin #20 (twenty) i q4h prn sev pain" Signed by 'squiggle' is more believeable!

But I'm glad that they are teaching the proper skills! Good luck!

RX: Hydrocholorizide twenty five milligrams (25)
Sig: Twenty five milligrams (25) by mouth every am (8 am) for one (1) month
Disp: # Thirty (30)

Date, name, DOB also included and weight also if indicated.

Am I your friend, LOL!

 

[2DEG]

Are there doctors who are using electronic prescription or at least printed from a computer?

I would think it would be so much better for the patient, pharmacists, if the doctors could write Rx electronically and print it out. Or better yet, transmit the electronic Rx to the pharmacy. Privacy/Fraud issues are easy to handle. Banks are doing it.

 

[zenman]

I gotta tell ya, that'll last about five minutes in The Real World. And you'd better spell "hydrochlorothiazide" properly if you're gonna do that - why do you think we use "HCTZ" in the first place?

I suffer from a lack of sleep just like everyone else, LOL!

 

[zenman]

Hi, LOL yes, you could be my friend, but if you really wrote a Rx like that, it would be likely that the pharmacist would think it's TOO GOOD (seriously!) and thus might be a phony. I know that sounds aggravating, but in reality, we figure that the prescribers should write the Rx's using the latin shorthand (e.g. writing "QD" instead of "once a day") Why? It's part of how we can distinguish if a real prescriber wrote it (and not the patient)

Many times, we see something like this "Vicodin #180 Take one pill six times every day." And it's neatly signed by "Dr John H. Smith MD" That sends up red flags right away LOL! Now, something written a little messily like "Vicodin #20 (twenty) i q4h prn sev pain" Signed by 'squiggle' is more believeable!

But I'm glad that they are teaching the proper skills! Good luck!

This is what the Pharm Ds are teaching us. In fact they are teaching the entire class. One of our handouts is from a 2003 Pharmacist's Letter/Prescriber's Letter advocating dropping Latin so it's been in the works for awhile. JCAHO is also on this with a passion it seems. I'm sure it will take years for any change.

 

[DeLaughterDO]

To answer your original question - pre-medical students are not taught how to write prescriptions. They never taught us (as med students) until shortly before we started our clinical rotations. I was an RN before starting med school, so I already knew how to write them, so I had a leg up

I (personally) agree with raindrop in that I think the medical abbreviations should be used as another form of fraud prevention. I feel the erosion of the latin/greek abbreviations by Joint Commission and other groups is unwelcome (why did we use this in the first place if they're going to just take it away) and un-needed - see above example (anyone can write mo -fine four pounds take one pound every day fo pain if'n yous bees feelin' like it).

I agree that electronic prescriptions are probably the wave of the future - however, with that comes the same pitfalls as electronic records and transmittal of protected health information. There would need to be a means to validate the origin (from the appropriate physician or provider) and delivery of the prescription (to the appropriate pharmacy). These are all unanswered questions right now. Who is to stop someone from intercepting the Rx and changing that Vicodin 5/500 #20(twenty) i q4-6hrs prn pain to Vicodin 5/500 #200(two-hundred) i-ii q4-6hrs prn pain? Both could be legitimate scripts and without a real signature or paper prescription with the physicians name/address/etc and sig/dea #, who is to know the difference - especially if it is just "delivered" into the pharmacy's electronic inbox?

Ok, enough doom and gloom for today. Good day!

 

[fever5]

why is this posted in pre-med? how many pre-meds are taught how to write findings of a history/physical? how many pre-meds are taught how to order basic tests like C&S, CBCs, etc? 0

yes a lot of practicing docs have horrible handwritting and knowledge of drugs that they order. worse yet, a lot of docs waste money ordering wrong tests (e.g. chest CT when a PA and lateral CXR will suffice)

get this post in the clinical forums where it would do more use!

 

[cheer_up]

get this post in the clinical forums where it would do more use![/QUOTE]

Very true

 

[cheer_up]

"get this post in the clinical forums where it would do more use!"[/QUOTE]

Very true, as the practicing doctors and the med students are the once prescribing medications, and therefore writing up the scripts, not the pre-meds.

 

[ProRx]

get this post in the clinical forums where it would do more use!

Very true [/QUOTE]

I agree, post it in clinical forums , so pharmacists and doctors or med students can share what pharmacists have to call doctors daily to decipher precription, it wastes both doctors and pharmacist time, and frustrating to both party because we have to go over daily like a routine 30 min per day to decipher chicken scratch . It end up both doctors and pharmacist run behind their schedule , and put unnecessary stress on both , and the nurse and patients get drugs 1 hours after thier schedule too.
good thread, very good

 

[AJM]

We have a computerized prescription system in all of our clinics, and it's SO nice! Not only is it quick to use, but the computer automatically spits out the typical dosage for the med that I'm writing for, so minimal thinking is involved. (it does let you change the dosing by selecting different choices).

The best part about the computerized prescription system is that each prescription automatically prints out the patient's vital identifying info as well as my clinic's number and my name (which is long and takes forever to legibly handwrite out especially if I'm writing 8 prescriptions in a row). The prescription is 100% legible. All I have to do when I print out the scripts is sign them with my 'squiggle' (and my signiture is truly a squiggle )

The only calls I get from pharmacies these days is about getting preauthorization for medications, which is happening less often now that I'm getting more familiar with which insurance companies cover which PPIs and stuff like that.... My goal now is to make it 2 weeks without getting called by an outpatient pharmacist......

 

[AJM]

Oh, and one other thing. Most med students don't learn to write prescriptions until their clinical years in medical school, and even then it's very informal training. The way I learned is that some residents I was working with went over them with me, after that it was just practice and getting feedback from pharmacists.

Now that computerized systems are becoming more popular (at least in my area), prescription writing is becoming much more standardized. There is also a lot of inservice-type training, especially focused around trying to break physicians from their bad habits they've picked up over the years. For example - at my hospital they are really stressing that we know which abbreviations are 'unacceptable'. Abbreviations such as qd, or u, cannot be used when handwriting prescriptions, because they can be mistaken for other abbreviations. Instead, we're taught to write 'q day' or 'units'. But again, none of this kind of stuff is taught to med students, much less premeds.

 

[sdn1977]

We have a computerized prescription system in all of our clinics, and it's SO nice! Not only is it quick to use, but the computer automatically spits out the typical dosage for the med that I'm writing for, so minimal thinking is involved. (it does let you change the dosing by selecting different choices).

The best part about the computerized prescription system is that each prescription automatically prints out the patient's vital identifying info as well as my clinic's number and my name (which is long and takes forever to legibly handwrite out especially if I'm writing 8 prescriptions in a row). The prescription is 100% legible. All I have to do when I print out the scripts is sign them with my 'squiggle' (and my signiture is truly a squiggle )

The only calls I get from pharmacies these days is about getting preauthorization for medications, which is happening less often now that I'm getting more familiar with which insurance companies cover which PPIs and stuff like that.... My goal now is to make it 2 weeks without getting called by an outpatient pharmacist......

Hahaha - good luck with going 2 weeks!!! With Medicare Plan D, the formulary restrictions are awful! May is the final time for these folks to change plans...until....well, until Nov when open enrollment begins again!

I've got a really big clinic in my area which uses computerized prescriptions - electronically sent from the clinic to us. The biggest error is when someone (the prescriber or his/her representative) accidentally mis-types the rx - most often it is the strength or frequency which is accidentally entered incorrectly, but it can be the drug itself (ie Effexor 37.5mg rather than Effexor 37.5mg SR). Trying to correct these errors is more cumbersome & time consuming than with traditional, handwritten rxs because I ususally have to go thru many layers of office personnel, who see the same thing I see, but in the pts electronic chart. It takes persistence to really try to determine if this is indeed supposed to be a therapeutic change or if it was just an inadvertant mistype (especially when the pt has no knowledge the change has taken place).

Oh....I could go on and on with the errors generated by electronic prescribing. From my point of view, I'm really good at reading rxs - at least I can actually see if you had some confusion when you were writing it! Now...I'd love to be able to send electronic confirmation to the prescriber as to what was actually dispensed to the pt & when - that would give you an idea of how compliant your pt was (in addition to other stuff). But, this in itself is a charting nightmare unless we had uniform pt records.

 

[deleted87716]

The biggest error is when someone (the prescriber or his/her representative) accidentally mis-types the rx - most often it is the strength or frequency which is accidentally entered incorrectly

I was experimenting with a Palm OS-based e-prescribing program which uses drop-down lists for most input (dose, route of administration, etc.) If you're not careful, it's easy to select the option immediately above or below the one you're aiming for in the list. I inadvertently wrote a prescription for Toprol XL 100mg PV QD for one guy, and didn't catch it until he'd left with the script. Surprisingly, I didn't get a call from the pharmacist on that one.

 

[sdn1977]

I was experimenting with a Palm OS-based e-prescribing program which uses drop-down lists for most input (dose, route of administration, etc.) If you're not careful, it's easy to select the option immediately above or below the one you're aiming for in the list. I inadvertently wrote a prescription for Toprol XL 100mg PV QD for one guy, and didn't catch it until he'd left with the script. Surprisingly, I didn't get a call from the pharmacist on that one.

I'd be embarrassed if a pharmacist actually called you on that one - it would have been a call just to try to point out an error, not to correct an error - which IMO is not productive. That was an obvious one for us to overlook.

To give a bit of perspective...I have approx 2 rxs per week (out of 850) where I run into electronic prescribing questions. It takes, on average, faxing or phoning at least twice to get the prescriber to take another look at it. This is not because the prescriber won't look at it - it is usually because the office staff doesn't realize there is a problem because the chart indicates EXACTLY what was sent to me...they don't see where I have a problem so they won't send it to the prescribers desk until I become a pest ( ) This process takes 2-3 days to complete. Your patient gets mad at me because to them it seems as though I'm doubting your knowledge (when that is not the case at all!), I end up dispensing small amts of the old strength at a time so therapy continues (2 tablets take as much time as 60 tablets), I'm frustrated & your office staff hates us!

Altho I like handwritten rxs & have gotten used to most prescribers handwriting & style in my area...I know electronic prescribing will continue. What I prefer are those in which you actually have to enter completely what you want & which have a place for additional notations where you can write "new directions" or "replaces 20mg" or something to indicate this change is indeed deliberate. Then mostly, mostly, mostly....tell your patients so they really hear that you are chaning their medication, which I know is hard for the older folks. They just trust you so they take what you tell them to take. But....if they come & can indicate to me that yes, indeed, their doctor did want them to increase their BP medication...then that is good enough for me & saves a phone call to you!

 

[deleted87716]

I'd be embarrassed if a pharmacist actually called you on that one

I was curious whether they'd call to verify the unusual route of administration, or to point out that the patient lacked a vagina.

 

[sdn1977]

I was curious whether they'd call to verify the unusual route of administration, or to point out that the patient lacked a vagina.

hahaha! I'll admit I've called with some completely inane questions, but I like to think I'd have the good judgement to let this one pass. But.....I might have a good laugh at your expense over the dinner table at that one!

 

[Jennay41]

To answer your original question - pre-medical students are not taught how to write prescriptions. They never taught us (as med students) until shortly before we started our clinical rotations. I was an RN before starting med school, so I already knew how to write them, so I had a leg up

I (personally) agree with raindrop in that I think the medical abbreviations should be used as another form of fraud prevention. I feel the erosion of the latin/greek abbreviations by Joint Commission and other groups is unwelcome (why did we use this in the first place if they're going to just take it away) and un-needed - see above example (anyone can write mo -fine four pounds take one pound every day fo pain if'n yous bees feelin' like it).

I agree that electronic prescriptions are probably the wave of the future - however, with that comes the same pitfalls as electronic records and transmittal of protected health information. There would need to be a means to validate the origin (from the appropriate physician or provider) and delivery of the prescription (to the appropriate pharmacy). These are all unanswered questions right now. Who is to stop someone from intercepting the Rx and changing that Vicodin 5/500 #20(twenty) i q4-6hrs prn pain to Vicodin 5/500 #200(two-hundred) i-ii q4-6hrs prn pain? Both could be legitimate scripts and without a real signature or paper prescription with the physicians name/address/etc and sig/dea #, who is to know the difference - especially if it is just "delivered" into the pharmacy's electronic inbox?

Ok, enough doom and gloom for today. Good day!

The pharmacy I work at got inspected by the state recently and we can no longer fill faxed in prescriptions for C3-5's for that reason. Those have to be called in from the office or delivered in person. But we've also had problems with patients impersonating doctors' offices on the phone and actually stealing prescription pads.

 

[off2skl]

I gotta tell ya, that'll last about five minutes in The Real World. And you'd better spell "hydrochlorothiazide" properly if you're gonna do that - why do you think we use "HCTZ" in the first place?

Actually the Joint Commission is trying to eliminate the use of abbreviations such as this one too. Apparently HCTZ has been interpreted as hydrocortisone also.

Also, in order to reduce errors with look alike drug names, writing the indication on the script also is helpful.

I actually have never seen the abbreviation WA; that's a new one.

 

[deleted87716]

Actually the Joint Commission is trying to eliminate the use of abbreviations such as this one too. Apparently HCTZ has been interpreted as hydrocortisone also.

Anyone who would interpret "HCTZ" as anything but hydrochlorothiazide is an idiot, sorry.

 

[docB]

It's pretty obvious to everyone practicing that JACHO is eventually hoping to make it impossible to deliver any care at all which would greatly reduce the number of medication errors. In the mean time they have sought to abolish all abbreviations since things like "APAP" and "OD" are frequently misinterpreted as "concentrated KCl IVP 'til dead." Until abbreviations have been eliminated from medicine it is advisable that all prescribers draw the chemical structure of any meds they might try to prescribe and/or invest in the equipment needed to etch scripts into stone tablets.

 

[zenman]

Anyone who would interpret "HCTZ" as anything but hydrochlorothiazide is an idiot, sorry.

With the writing of some people it's very possible.

 

[deleted87716]

With the writing of some people it's very possible.

Unfortunately, the more people are forced to write, the less legible their handwriting is likely to get. Legibility is the salient issue, not the proper use of standard abbreviations.

 

[DeLaughterDO]

It's pretty obvious to everyone practicing that JACHO is eventually hoping to make it impossible to deliver any care at all which would greatly reduce the number of medication errors. In the mean time they have sought to abolish all abbreviations since things like "APAP" and "OD" are frequently misinterpreted as "concentrated KCl IVP 'til dead." Until abbreviations have been eliminated from medicine it is advisable that all prescribers draw the chemical structure of any meds they might try to prescribe and/or invest in the equipment needed to etch scripts into stone tablets.

I think I've actually seen someone make that mistake!

The abolishment of abbreviations, in my opinion, is only another means by which the establishment is trying to control our practices. Sure, we have horrible handwriting that can barely be deciphered by other medical professionals, but do they honestly think making us write MORE (by taking away the abbreviations) will make it any better? Give me a break.

 

[sdn1977]

Unfortunately, the more people are forced to write, the less legible their handwriting is likely to get. Legibility is the salient issue, not the proper use of standard abbreviations.

Agree with this! I can't see how HCTZ can be other than hydrochlorothiazide either! The point is "standard" abbreviations...those which are accepted in the medical community. Unfortunately, the internet vocabulary has brought abbreviations into online communications which tend to fall over into medical communications. IMO - its important to keep them separate. In 30 years of pharmacy practice, I haven't noticed a decrease in legibility at all - some are good handwriters & some aren't. I work with it!

 

[murphy54]

hello to you from a doctor in medical science

 

[zenman]

hello to you from a doctor in medical science

There's no such thing, LOL!