THE ENGLISH PRESCRIPTION
In Great Britain today all prescriptions are written in English. The only Latin which is used is a few traditional abbreviations in the physician’s directions to the pharmacist and on the label. In the old days, drugs had only one official name and drug companies did not have many trade names. At present, each drug has at least three names. They are the chemical name, the so-called generic name, and trade name. The chemical name is often difficult to use and remember because of its length and complexity. The trade or brand name is the private property of the drug company and is copy right. Most drugs have several trade names because each company producing the drug gives it a different name. It is common practice to capitalize the first letter of a trade name. The generic or official name is shorter than the chemical name. It is public property and any drug manufacturer may use it. There is only one generic name for each drug. D о s a g e. It goes without saying that a prescription cannot be written without a very good knowledge of the dose effects of drugs. Each drug has its own dose specification dependent on pharmacological properties and metabolism of the drug. In Great Britain a prescription should have the following information: 1. Name and address of the physician and his telephone number. The title M.D. (Medical Doctor) should follow the physician's name to indicate that he or she is a physician. 2. Usually at the top — patient's name, address, age and the date. 3. Symbol R. It comes from Latin and means a command for a patient "you - take". 4. The body of the prescription contains the name of the drug and the dose. 5. Under the body of the prescription should be written the directions to the pharmacist. It is called subscription. In modern prescriptions it consists only of the form of the medicine (powder, tablet, capsules, etc.) and the number of units. 6. The directions to the patient as to how he should take the medicine. It is called the label or "signature".
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