Basic legal requirements of a prescription
- Prescription should be written in ink / be indelible (including computer-generated prescriptions)
- Prescription should be signed and dated by the prescriber
- Clearly indicate name, address and qualification of prescriber
- Specify full name and address of patient, and if patient <12 years old, specify age or date of birth
- Writing should be legible.
Good practice points
- Prescribe using the generic drug name, even if the drug is not available in the generic form
- Do not use abbreviations
- State name of drug, dose, route and duration of treatment.
- Draw a diagonal line across the blank part of the form under the prescription to prevent fraudulent alterations or additions being made
- Alterations are best avoided but if any are made they should be clear, unambiguous and endorsed with the prescriber’s signature
- Avoid the unnecessary use of decimal points eg 3 grammes should be written as 3g and not 3.0g, quantities of less than 1 gram should be written in milligrams e.g. 500mg, not 0.5g
- When decimals are unavoidable, a zero should be written in front of the decimal point where there is no other figure e.g. 0.5ml, not .5ml. It is advisable to avoid trailing zeros e.g. 0.50ml
- Check allergy status of the patient
- Check dosing, contraindications and potential side effects (e.g. from the Summary of Product Characteristics or in a recognised formulary, such as the BNF) prior to issuing prescription
- Check what other medicines the patient is taking, including non-prescription items, which may interfere with the new medicine
- Caution in potential high-risk groups e.g. pregnancy/breastfeeding, elderly, children (refer to BNF for further details)
- Advise patients of possible, likely and probable side effects and encourage them to report back any problems
- Respond promptly (either reducing dose / discontinuing drug) to a patient’s concern / adverse drug reaction (ADR). In the event of a serious side effect, or any ADR to a newly authorised product, report it to the HPRA (www.hpra.ie) for downloadable ADR reporting form or can report on-line)
- Record prescription details in the patient’s notes
Patient Information
Visit HPSC Information Leaflets pages for the General Public, (MRSA, CRE, etc)
Reviewed Dec 2019
