A prescription is a legal order from an authorized prescriber directing a pharmacist to dispense medication to a specific patient. However, not anybody involved in healthcare is able to legally prescribe medications.
Authorized prescribers typically include:
Physicians
Nurse Practitioners
Physician Assistants
Dentists
Certain other licensed healthcare providers
Prescriptions may be received via:
Electronic prescribing (eRx)
Written hard copy
Fax
Verbal order (pharmacist only)
In today’s landscape, most prescriptions are generated electronically and submitted as such to the pharmacy as legal eRx prescriptions (including controlled medications). There are discussions in place about transferring electronically between pharmacies, but that portion has not universally been approved and implemented therefore is not a common practice yet, but could be coming with ever-improving technology.
Today’s market is also finding an increase in fraudulent prescriptions, so it is imperative to not simply trust electronic data to always match in pharmacy systems as a default. Make certain to watch for unknowns, irregularities, or anything that doesn’t seem correct or complete to ensure you are working in the best interest to safety and security of the systems in place. For any concerns, always reference directly to your pharmacist-of-duty or pharmacist-in-charge.
A complete prescription must include:
Patient name
Medication name
Strength
Dosage form
Quantity
Directions for use
Prescriber name
Prescriber identifier (e.g., DEA if applicable)
Date issued
Missing information must be clarified before dispensing.
For most scenarios, a prescription is not the same as a medical order, and therefore must be verified as a prescription for most cases. Review with your pharmacist the specific operations where one or the other is required in the business structure where you will be working – and learn well the differences (as medical orders are not included in this training).
Additionally, it is imperative to hold specific identifying markers in place to properly identify patients or additionally confusing aspects of the prescription (similar prescriber name, similar patient name, look-alike/sound-alike medications, etc.). Make sure you are taking proper time to ensure accurate data at every step, as an error early in the workflow can make for a difficult time correcting later if the pharmacy is busy and all employees are more interested in rushing through the process rather than ensuring accurate and safe information and final product prior to reaching the pharmacist.