RXinsider: handwriting

Pharmacy Technician Training Programs
_______________________________________________________________ By Gregory Cianfarani R.Ph.

One of the challenges many new healthcare professionals face is reading practitioner’s handwriting and deciphering the abbreviations they use. This exercise will help you become familiar with both. This program contains numerous examples of original handwriting and abbreviations taken from actual prescriptions from over 60 different practitioners.

- This exercise does not take into account possible product substitution. (The substitution of the name brand drug, which appears on many of the written prescriptions, to its generic equivalent.)

- The following examples provide only the:

1) drug name
2) quantity
3) directions

- Other important information needed for the actual filling of prescriptions (the name of the prescribing practitioner, signature of the prescribing practitioner, refill authorizations, date, name of the patient, etc.) has been omitted.

- Calculation of the minimum number of days the prescription should last (day supply), is also included in this program.

- Try to read the prescription on your own, then click the "next" button to view the "typed version".