Decoding the Doctor's Prescription: The Secret Pharmacists Know

• Pharmacists understand doctors' illegible prescriptions due to extensive experience and daily exposure to various doctors' handwriting patterns and common medications.
• They recognize scientific abbreviations and formulas behind common medicine names, allowing them to identify equivalent alternatives if a specific brand is unavailable.
• Medical shop staff often know which medicines are prescribed for common ailments like fever, headache, or cold, helping them decipher prescriptions quickly.
• They use contextual clues, linking known medicines on a prescription to identify unknown ones, especially when medicines are prescribed for related symptoms.
• If unclear, pharmacists ask patients about their symptoms or the purpose of the medicines, which helps them interpret the prescription.
• Reasons for illegible handwriting include doctors' natural writing style, busyness, repetitive writing, or even a 'secret code' for commission with specific medical shops.
• The National Medical Commission issued directives in December 2025, mandating clear prescription writing, teaching it in medical colleges, and using capital letters for medicine names to uphold patients' right to health.

Why It Matters: Pharmacists decipher illegible prescriptions through experience, scientific knowledge, contextual clues, and patient interaction.