Can You Read These Rxs?

This cryptic script stumped Isabel Chan, RPh, of CVS Pharmacy in Darien, Illinois. When Chan asked what the drug was for, the patient said it was “the same medication as last time.” To solve the mystery, Chan consulted the patient’s prescription history. Can you decipher the doctor’s handwriting?

A new, non—English-speaking patient arrived with this scrawled prescription at Wal-Mart Pharmacy 1138 in Madison, Wisconsin. When pharmacists Mitchel Her, PharmD, and Laya Esmaili-Rashid, RPh, asked the patient what the prescription was for, she pointed to her throat and jaws. Eventually, the pharmacists gave up and called the physician’s office. Do you know what the prescription is for?

ANSWERS

Rx 1: Fioricet tabs #100, 1 to 2 tabs every 4 to 6 hours

Rx 2: Medrol dosepak #1, use as prescribed

Read the answers

function showAnswer() {document.getElementById("answer").style.display = 'block';document.getElementById("link").style.display = 'none';}

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: Laura Enderle, Pharmacy Times, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536.