Prescription & Prescription Handling

 

Prescription & Prescription Handling

Hello, future pharmacists!

It's Ms. Sadhana Mahajan, and today we're focusing on the absolute foundation of your role: Prescription and Prescription Handling. This is where your precision directly ensures patient safety.

What is a Prescription? It's a legal order from a healthcare professional to you, the pharmacist, detailing the specific medicine for a patient. Understanding its parts – from patient details to dosage instructions and the prescriber's signature – is crucial.

It's Legal Business! Remember, prescriptions are legal documents. You must verify them, handle controlled substances strictly, and maintain accurate records. Forgery is a serious offense.

Your Role in Handling: Your job goes beyond just taking the paper. It involves:

  • Verification: Clarify anything unclear directly with the prescriber.

  • Patient Profile Review: Crucially, check for allergies, interactions, and appropriate dosing. This is a vital safety net.

  • "Five Rights": Always ensure the Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Route, Right Patient, Right Time during preparation.

Labelling for Clarity: Clear labels are your direct communication to the patient. This includes the main label with all essential details and ancillary labels for specific warnings (like "May cause drowsiness") or pictograms for visual cues.

The Safe Dispensing Process: This is a systematic flow: receive, verify, perform a Drug Utilization Review (DUR), prepare, label, conduct a final pharmacist check, counsel the patient, and document everything.

Good Dispensing Practices (GDP): Your Standard GDP sets the high benchmarks for quality, safety, and patient-centered care in pharmacy. Adhering to these practices is non-negotiable.

Preventing Errors: Errors can be serious. Common ones include wrong drug, dose, or patient. Your strategies to prevent them:

  • Always use the "Five Rights."

  • Clarify doubts.

  • Double-check everything, especially high-risk medications.

  • Counsel thoroughly – it's your final safety check!

This is fundamental knowledge that prioritizes patient safety above all else.

For a more detailed breakdown and visual aids, please refer to the accompanying PowerPoint presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PZxeOQiBWy94EWSEerByaOqaxvIMG7D5/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=105388242672438422359&rtpof=true&sd=true

Keep learning, keep practicing, and prepare to be an indispensable part of the healthcare team!

Warmly,

Ms. Sadhana Mahajan

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