Practical drug prescribing for inpatients
BMJ 2001; 322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0106184 (Published 01 June 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:0106184
- Oliver Jones, clinical lecturer in pharmacology1
- 1University of Oxford
For many newly qualified doctors, being handed a drug chart on their first day at work can be bewildering. Although basic and clinical pharmacology are covered at medical school, students are often unfamiliar with the actual mechanics of prescribing.
Before you start
Always check that the patient in the bed corresponds to the name on the drug chart that you are holding. Always ask patients if they have any drug allergies and what form the allergic reaction takes. You should not rely on the (often inaccurate) information either in the notes or written on the chart itself.
Practical prescribing
Apart from the name of the drug itself, you will have to consider the dose, the route of administration, and the frequency and maximum dosage or both permitted. Write quantities in grams if over a gram; if less than a gram but more than a milligram, write as milligrams; if less than a milligram write as micrograms. Acceptable abbreviations are g and mg, but ug, mcg, or mg are not. The last three may be mistaken for mg, and so the …
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