CHAPTER VIII. 

 PRESCRIPTION-WRITING 



When the physician has decided upon the drugs which he wishes to 

 administer to a patient, the form, pill, powder mixture, etc., in which he 

 wishes to administer them, and the preparations that are best suited to 

 the form chosen, he has still to write a prescription which will convey his 

 wishes clearly and concisely to the pharmacist. Even if the physician 

 does his own dispensing the writing of a careful prescription is not to be 

 omitted, as it is essential that he have for the purpose of consultation in 

 the future a statement in writing of the treatment adopted, also the writing 

 of a prescription will save many errors in dispensing. The question of the 

 ownership of the prescription is a doubtful one some claiming chat it is 

 simply an order by the physician to the pharmacist, who should keep it as 

 a record of the orders given him. On the other hand very many persons 

 hold that the prescription is the property of the patient to whom it is 

 given. The pharmacist can hardly refuse to give the original holder of 

 the prescription a copy thereof, unless he has distinct orders not to do so 

 from the physician. In view of this when the physician writes a pre- 

 scription which he does not want repeated he should not only mark it "ne 

 repetatur" but should also inform the patient that this prescription is 

 one in which he has no proprietory interest but is only the physician's in- 

 structions to the pharmacist. This precaution should always be taken 

 when prescribing morphine in any form. The pharmacist is expected, not 

 only to refuse a copy of any prescription to any person other than the one 

 to whom the physician gave it, but also not to make any further use 

 of it. 



The prescription was formerly written entirely in Latin, and even today 

 the great majority of prescriptions are written largely in that language. 

 This custom possesses some distinct advantages. The official Latin 

 names are concise and distinctive so that there is little danger of error. 

 Formerly when Latin was the universal language of science and medicine, 

 it ensured that the prescription could be universally read and understood, 

 this still to a certain extent holds good as most civilised governments have 

 adopted official Latin names in their pharmacopoeias, though unfortunately 

 the Latin names adopted differ slightly in different countries. 



It is a good rule to write the names of the drugs and the directions to 

 the pharmacist if they be simple and well understood in Latin while the 

 directions to the patient which are to be inscribed by the pharmacist upon 

 the label should be written in English as this ensures that no error will 

 arise in translation. The directions to the dispenser may of course be 



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