Prescribing in Practice Part 2c Prescription Writing (2) Read through this Powerpoint prior to undertaking any group activities Allow at least one and half hours.

Potential areas for error when writing a prescription Name of Prescribed Item – in full without abbreviations only using approved titles Formulation Strength (if any) Dosage Avoid unnecessary use of decimal points e.g. 5mgs not 5.0mg. If unavoidable a zero in front of the decimal point e.g. write 0.5ml not .5ml. Acceptable to use decimal point to express a range e.g. 0.5-1 g Frequency Quantity or duration of treatment Facilitator can ask about each of these areas and ask for examples they have seen in practice

Grams, milligrams and micrograms Quantities of 1 gram or more should be written in grams e.g. write 2 g Quantities less than 1 gram should be written in milligrams e.g. write 500mg not 0.5g Quantities less than 1 mg should be written in micrograms e.g. write 100 micrograms and not 0.1 mg Micrograms and Nanograms should not be abbreviated, the word Units should not be abbreviated Calculations should be double checked The Prescriber should re read the prescription once it is written CASE STUDY Prescription in a nursing home for 6 units of insulin written as 6IU and interpreted as 61 units, patient received a 10 fold over dose and was admitted to hospital Miles 2001 Case Study 2 Patient given Losec instead of Lasix resulted in a 59 year old suffering a cardiac arrest due to low serum potassium levels

Hospital Prescribing Name of the prescribed item Formulation Strength (if any) Dosage Frequency Where a defined length of treatment is required this should be stated. For out-patients and discharge patients the requirements are the same as for community nurses

Names of Medicines Written clearly using approved generic titles (where available) as specified throughout the NPF/BNF, and should not be abbreviated. The only exception to this rule is for the prescribing of some dressings and appliances, and of compound or modified release medicines which have no proprietary name.

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