The former chairman of the Worldwide Generics Pharmaceutical Industry Association, John Klein currently chairs Cambridge Therapeutics, a Teaneck, New Jersey, firm he founded in 2011. An entrepreneur and executive with decades of industry experience, he also serves as a trustee of the state’s Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals. John Klein’s focus at Cambridge Therapeutics is to make physicians’ and patients’ lives easier through innovative prescription dosage packaging that minimizes frustration while promoting organization and safety.
For today’s patients, such convenience is key to adherence to a medical regimen. Yet many people are unfamiliar with the standard abbreviations and Latin-derived code words on their own prescriptions. Here is a brief summary of some of the most common of these:
-If a doctor writes AC (“ante cibum” in Latin), he or she is instructing a patient to take the medication before meals. PC means “post cibum,” or after meals.
-If the physician wants a medication taken at bedtime, the prescription may say HS, for “hora somni.”
-BID means “twice a day,” and comes from the Latin “bis in die.”
-PRN translates as “as needed,” and is from the Latin phrase “pro re nata.”
O.D. (“oculus dexter”), can mean “right eye,” just as O.S. (“oculus sinister”) means “left eye.” O.U. stands for “oculus uterque,” or “both eyes.”
Today’s prescriptions typically translate these obscure notations, and patients should always consult a qualified pharmacist or physician to clarify instructions.
No comments:
Post a Comment