Can You Read These Rxs?

Hilda Galvan, certified pharmacy technician, and pharmacist Sreedhar Vajuinepalli of Health Care Pharmacy in Passaic, New Jersey, were presented with this difficult-to-read prescription. A call to the prescribing physician’s office solved the mystery.

Can you guess what is written?

Rx 2

George Fried, PharmD, and pharmacy technician Becky Hoover, of Basha’s United Drug in Gilbert, Arizona, received this prescription and found perfectly legible instructions, but an indecipherable drug name. After faxing the script back to the physician who wrote it, they received a surprising answer.

Do you know what it says?

Rx 3

Catherine Dolcimascolo, PharmD, received this puzzling prescription at Osco Pharmacy in Arlington Heights, Illinois. A conversation with the patient helped her to clarify the prescription.

Do you know what it says?

Rx 4

Registered pharmacist Jerry Boyers and the staff at Rider Pharmacy in Fairmont, West Virginia, were left scratching their heads when they received this prescription. After several attempts to decode the handwriting, they received a fax from the prescribing doctor’s office staff that answered their question.

Can you figure it out?

ANSWERS

Rx 1: Levaquin 500 mg—take 1 tablet daily for 7 days; 2) Solu-Cortef 100 mg A-O-vial—use as directed; 3) Rondec DM Syrup—take 1 tsp every 6 hours; 4) Proventil—2 puffs every 8 hours; 5) Rocephin 2-g vial.

Rx 2: Casodex 50 mg, #30, 1 tablet by mouth, once per day

Rx 3: Prednisone 20 mg, 1 by mouth daily

Rx 4: Shower chair, diagnosis: osteoarthritis.

Read the answers

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Have eye-straining, baffling prescriptions? Send them to us at Pharmacy Times.

Along with a clean photocopy of the prescription itself, your submission must include: (1) the name of your institution and its location; (2) your name and title (PharmD, RPh, Pharm Tech); (3) the correct name of the drug(s), strength, and dosing requirements; and (4) your telephone number. Please mail your submissions to: Can You Read These Rxs?, Pharmacy Times, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536.