Download Rational Prescribing & Prescription Writing

Rational Prescribing &
Prescription Writing
Once a patient with a clinical problem has
been evaluated and a diagnosis has been
reached, the practitioner can often select
from a variety of therapeutic approaches.
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Medication, Surgery, Psychiatric treatment,
radiation, physical therapy, health education,
counseling, further consultation and no therapy
are some of the options are available., of these
options, drug therapy is by far the most
frequently chosen. In most cases ,this requires
the writing of a prescription.
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A written prescription is the prescriber’s order to
prepare or dispense a specific treatment usually
medication for a specific patient.
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Rational Prescribing :
Like any other process in healthcare, writing a
prescription should be based on a series of
rational steps.
1. Make a specific diagnosis
2. Consider the pathophysiologic implication of
diagnosis
3.Select a specific therapeutic object
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4. Select a drug of choice
5.Determine the appropriate dosing regimen
6.Devise a plan for monitoring the drug’s action
and determine an end point for therapy
7.Plan a program of patient education
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Elements of the prescription:
1.Name of the prescriber
2.Professional degree
3.Address
4.Office telephone #
5.Date of prescription
6.Name of the patient
7.Address of the patient
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8.Drug name
9.Strength of drugs
10.Quantity of drugs
11.Signature (directions of medicine to be used)
12.Refill (repeat prescription)----Times or until
13.Child proof container
14.Warning (eg. May cause sedation, don’t take
alcohol etc.
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15. prescriber’s signature
16. License no./ Registration no.
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Common prescribing errors :
a. Omission of needed information
b. Poor prescription writing
c. Inappropriate drug prescription
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COMPLIANCE/ NON COMPLIANCE
Four types of non compliance leading to medication error
1. The patient fails to obtain medication
2.The patient fails to take medication
3.The patient prematurely discontinues
medication
4. The patient ( or another person) takes medication
inappropriately .For example, the patient share a medication
with others for any of several reasons .
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