The Medical Prescription: Essential In The Use Of Medicines

What makes a prescription valid? Why is it important to use medicines only on prescription? Read on to answer these and other questions.

A medical prescription is a document with which you can purchase drugs and other supplies to treat various illnesses. It can only be issued by a health professional based on his or her diagnosis and therapeutic expertise.

Prescribing plays far too important a role in medical practice to be done lightly. In the age of computer tools, it is astonishing to see confusing, illegible, and incomprehensible handwritten prescriptions. 

Poorly written prescriptions increase the risk of dispensing errors and poor adherence to prescribed treatments.

To write a prescription, certain basic elements are required. If the doctor deems it necessary, your prescription can include:

• Instructions for using the delivery devices contained in some medicines.
• Additional instructions for patients with special needs, such as the elderly and chronically ill.

Special prescriptions are also available

A special prescription is used to prescribe narcotic drugs. An example is a morphine, which is used to treat pain caused by cancer and other diseases.

The special prescription form contains the following elements:

• Folio number.
• Date of prescription.
• Patient data (name, address, diagnosis).
• Drug data (quantity, presentation, dosage, prescription period, and route of administration).
• Physician's data (name, address, ID, and signature).
• Barcode.

The barcode contains the physician's details and allows pharmacies to verify the contents of the prescription before filling it.

The prescriber may exclude, for specific reasons relating to the patient, the possibility for the pharmacist to dispense a generic drug by substitution, by the mention "non-substitutable" written in a handwritten manner on the prescription before the commercial name of the drug or product. prescribed.

The legal texts which regulate the prescription in odontology allow certain therapeutic freedom but also implies a great medico-legal responsibility. This is why health professionals should carry out Prescribing Skills Assessment (PSA) and other professional assessments frequently to ensure their knowledge, skills, and efficacy.

Why is a prescription so important?

Many people use medicines without a doctor's prescription, which can lead them to engage in certain practices that affect their health. One of the most dangerous is self-medication with antibiotics.

This practice is often used to treat symptoms that, for the most part, are not caused by bacterial infections. As a result, over time it can lead to bacterial resistance, i.e. a decrease in the effectiveness of antibiotics.

Currently, the coronavirus pandemic has led to the indiscriminate use of drugs to treat COVID-19. In some cases, this situation also leads to self-medication.

Regardless of the conditions, using medicines without a prescription or not following their instructions can have negative consequences. Among the most common are symptom masking, adverse reactions, and unnecessary costs.

As you can see, the prescription is important to avoid bad practices in the use of medicines. It also contains all the information you need to comply with your treatment. Follow your doctor's instructions and consult him or her when in doubt about what he or she prescribes.