A patient was given a prescription for glipizide twice a day "as directed (ut dict)"….
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When the patient came into the pharmacy for a refill, he commented that he really disliked getting up at 2AM to take his medication. The pharmacist then called to verify that the patient was to take his glipizide twice a day at 2AM and 1PM, as the patient stated. After calling the doctor's office to confirm the unusual directions, the pharmacist discovered that the doctor told the patient to take it twice a day, morning and evening. Somehow the patient misunderstood what the doctor had said. The patient was very glad to be able to sleep through the night.
Lesson Learned:
Prescriptions should never be written with the directions, "Take As Directed."
When writing a prescription, the directions should be spelled out and reviewed with the patient before leaving the office to prevent possible misunderstandings. To prevent these types of errors, every prescription should be written with the exact directions and the person dispensing the prescription at the pharmacy should always ask the patient, "How did your doctor tell you to take your medicine?"
Anonymous
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