Prescription abbreviations like qd, hs, or bid can sometimes be found on your medication labels.
Your pharmacy will translate your healthcare provider’s medication instructions on the medicine’s label.
Sometimes, a mistake can happen, and ashorthand abbreviationwill appear on your medication.
Illustration by Julie Bang for Verywell Health
So understanding these abbreviations can come in handy as well as indentifying common prescription abbreviation errors.
There are well over 150 prescription abbreviations.
The pharmacist will translate them for the medication label.
The abbreviations may be written in capital letters or small letters, and may or may not include periods.
The abbreviation relays to pharmacists that a prescription is authorized to be filled.
According to another theory, the Rx symbol is based on the Roman deity Jupiter.
Jupiter’s symbol looked similar to the Rx symbol.
The symbol may have been placed on a prescription to invoke Jupiter’s blessing.
What Is the Difference Between Rx and Px?
Px and Rx are often confused for one another.
However, Px does not mean prescription like Rx does.
Mistakes may occur due to unclear or messy handwriting or simply because of a typo.
Also, the presence of a period may cause some confusion.
In other cases, however, the period doesn’t make a difference.
Other letters might also be misread.
It is becoming more common for healthcare providers to write prescription instructions in plain language.
Readable prescriptions can help prevent medication errors.
That is why many medical professionals believe written instructions should be used instead of hard-to-read abbreviations.
If your healthcare provider uses electronic prescribing, you may never see the abbreviations.
If you receive a written prescription, see to it you understand the directions.
If the directions are unclear or confusing, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist to explain.
Don’t take chances: Ask a medical professional what the shorthand means before you take the prescription home.
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Minnesota Health Related Licensing Boards.Partial list of prescription abbreviations.
Ohashi K.Memorandum on the origin of Rx, the signal be employed to the heading in the prescription.
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PMID: 11613537
Voice of America.Take this medicine: the story of the sign ‘Rx’.
University of Minnesota Duluth.Prescription abbreviations.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices.ISMPs list of error-prone abbreviations, symbols,and dose designations.
2014;11(Spring):1g.
