Can You Read These Rxs?

A patient’s friend dropped off this prescription at Walgreens Pharmacy in Parma, Ohio. Upon entering the information into the computer, pharmacist Peik Ching Low quickly discovered that the prescribing physician’s handwriting was not decipherable. The pharmacist asked the patient’s friend if she knew the medication being prescribed. The friend only knew the drug was for a steroid, so she left the pharmacy returning a short time later with the discharge sheets from the hospital. The paperwork provided enough information for the pharmacist to fill the prescription. Can you decipher this prescription without the hospital discharge papers?

Norman Goldstein, PharmD, and pharmacy technician Mary Irwin of Marina Outpatient Pharmacy in Marina Del Rey, California, had difficulty determining the medications being ordered. Although they had an idea about the medication in the first prescription, they were not as confident about the second prescription. Goldstein called the doctor’s office for clarification. Can you figure out both medicines being prescribed?

ANSWERS

ANSWER:Cortef 10 mg, #60, 1 tablet every morning and ½ tablet every evening.

ANSWER:Lorazepam 1 mg, #30, ½ tablet at bedtime; Inderal 40 mg, #60, 1 tablet daily.

Read the answers

Have eye-straining, baffling prescriptions? Send them to 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?, Attention: Eileen Koutnik-Fotopoulos, Pharmacy Times, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536.

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