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This is a list of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions, including hospital orders (the patient-directed part of which is referred to as sig codes).This list does not include abbreviations for pharmaceuticals or drug name suffixes such as CD, CR, ER, XT (See Time release technology § List of abbreviations for those).
The main discussion of these abbreviations in the context of drug prescriptions and other medical prescriptions is at List of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions. Some of these abbreviations are best not used, as marked and explained here.
Abbreviations are used very frequently in medicine. They boost efficiency as long as they are used intelligently. The advantages of brevity should be weighed against the possibilities of obfuscation (making the communication harder for others to understand) and ambiguity (having more than one possible interpretation).
How Supplied - includes the dosage form(s), strength(s), units in which the dosage form(s) are ordinarily available, identifying features of the dosage form(s) such as the National Drug Code (NDC), and special handling and storage conditions (e.g., "Store between 68 and 78°F ")
Dosage typically includes information on the number of doses, intervals between administrations, and the overall treatment period. [3] For example, a dosage might be described as "200 mg twice daily for two weeks," where 200 mg represents the individual dose, twice daily indicates the frequency, and two weeks specifies the duration of treatment.
[57] It also obviously contains the signature of the prescribing medical practitioner though the word signature has two distinct meanings here and the abbreviations are sometimes used to avoid confusion. Thus sample prescriptions in modern textbooks are often presented as: Rx: medication Disp.: dispensing instructions Sig.: patient instructions
Abbreviation Meaning q: each, every (from Latin quaque) q15: every 15 minutes q6h q6° once every 6 hours q2wk: once every 2 weeks qAc Before every meal (from Latin quaque ante cibum) q.a.d. every other day (from Latin quaque altera die) QALY: quality-adjusted life year: q.AM: every day before noon (from Latin quaque die ante meridiem) q.d.
List of medical abbreviations: Overview; List of medical abbreviations: Latin abbreviations; List of abbreviations for medical organisations and personnel; List of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions; List of optometric abbreviations