Writing scripts in school?

[ShawnOne]

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Hi,

I was just wondering if students (3rd/4th year) write scripts for their patients in the clinic? Or does somebody else write them?

Also, does dental school have a class so students learn the chicken-scratch language used to read/write scripts?

 

[aphistis]

My understanding is that at IUSD the students write the scripts, and the faculty sign them.

 

[DcS]

Students do at UNC, and faculty signs as bill said.

 

[gryffindor]

I've wrote at least 20 prescriptions this week. (I was on Oral Surgery rotation.) The faculty signed them after I wrote the medication name, amount to be dispensed, and directions to take it. I wrote one of them incorrectly and the pharmacy had to call me to correct it before dispensing the prescription.

The chicken scratch code for scripts is taught briefly at our school. You will most likely pick it up during your rotations when the Oral Surgeons tell you what the code is, but you can never go wrong writing out the entire sentence without resorting to abbreviations - like write "Take 1 tablet by mouth every 6 hours as needed for pain" instead of "1q6h prn" even though both are the same thing.

 

[JTLUK001]

About the chicken scratch. We were taught in dental school in our oral medicine class. Don't feel obligated to use it. The latin abreviations for the directions are a nice short hand but really do not make you a better or more professional prescriber. My feeling is that what's on the prescription should be understandable and legible to the patient as well. I can read and interpret most chicken scratch and fill them, but a lot of the times I wish doctors had just used plain english because their "dots" did not match or they did not use the correct abbreviations.
James Luk (RPH and DMD to be!)

 

[trypmo]

[....]My feeling is that what's on the prescription should be understandable and legible to the patient as well. I can read and interpret most chicken scratch and fill them, but a lot of the times I wish doctors had just used plain english because their "dots" did not match or they did not use the correct abbreviations.
James Luk (RPH and DMD to be!)

I think the chicken scratch issue brings up an interesting point.

On the one hand, the chicken scratches and abbrvtns. used for communication between doctors and pharmacists can be seen as "exclusionist" or even "snooty" because the patient is out of the loop, not being able to read the script.

On the other hand, if the patient can easily read a script, then that means s/he could almost as easily write the script, and we're often dealing with some heavy-hitting narcotics.

So to what extent do we decide to trust our patients, who for the most part are total strangers to us? To what extent should we?

I used to work as a pharmacy tech, and never once did I see a script written outside of the "code" language... maybe that says something.


Sorry -- I'm in a weird philosophical mood. 😀

 

[jrd29]

We were taught in our pharm class to always use the abbreviations. This was mostly in order to prevent tampering of the prescription by the pt.

 

[JTLUK001]

Actually the "code" language is overrated. If a drug addict or drug seeker or forger really wanted a drug, it would be just as easy for them to copy the prescription that was previously written to them in "code."
Most heavy-hitting narcotics, depending on what state, country, province, have to be written on special prescription pads. Triplicate, duplicate, or non-photocopyable etc. Most prescription doctoring is usually due to changing quantities or verbal forgeries. Sign your prescriptions. Print in english the quantities in addition to numerically. Only use your DEA number when necessary. Remember the DEA is only for the scheduled stuff. As dentists we will prescribe what is within our realm of practice and what is reasonable for the condition being treated. Whether or not we trust our patient is irrelevant if we follow the precautions, review med history, check with their family physician, etc. Trust no one is a good rule. The pharmacist, if doing his job, is a good allie. He can alert you to errors, duplication, alteration, interactions, drug seeking behaviour etc.