Hi, it's Cathy with Level Up RN. In this video, I am going to go over the key components of a prescription, explain the difference between a prescription and a prescription order, and then go over the key components of a prescription order. I will also share some examples of prescription orders and show you how to pick out the key components of each of those orders. You can find all the information that I'll be covering in this video in our Level Up RN dosage calculation workbook. If you are in nursing school, then you know how important it is to master dosage calculations. And our workbook will help you do just that. In a nutshell, our workbook contains all different types of dosage calculation problems that you are likely to encounter in nursing school. And we demonstrate how to solve each problem using multiple methods so you can pick the way that makes the most sense to you.
Let's take a look at the key components of a prescription. So a prescription like this would be something you would get from your provider. You would take it to the pharmacy, get it filled, and then take that medication at home in most scenarios. So with this prescription, we have the patient's name here at the top. We have the date and possibly the time of the prescription. And then we have the medication name, which is metformin. We have the strength of the medication. So this is the concentration of the medication in its supplied form. So in this case, we have tablets that have 500 milligrams of metformin in them. Then we have the dose. So this is the amount of the medication the patient should take each time. So in this case, they need to take one tablet each time they take this medication. We have the route of administration here, which in this case is PO, which means the patient needs to take it orally. We have the frequency of administration. So in this case, we have BID, which means the patient needs to take this medication twice a day. We have the amount here. So that's where we have this little pound sign, pound 60. That's how much of the medication will be supplied to the patient. So in this case, 60 tablets will be supplied to the patient. And then we have any refills over here. So in this case, we have two refills available to the patient. And then at the bottom here, we have the provider signature. So these are some of the key components of a prescription.
Let's talk about prescription orders. So a prescription is something the patient would have filled at the pharmacy and would take at home in most cases. A prescription order is something that is written by the provider for the nurse to administer or another qualified healthcare professional. And it is typically administered in the healthcare setting. So components of an order include the drug name, strength, dose, route, and frequency. In addition, when we are talking about PRN medications or medications that are administered for certain circumstances, we need to know the indication or the reason for administration of those PRN medications. So let's take a look at a couple of examples. In our first example, we have an order for acetaminophen 325 milligrams, three tabs PO Q8H. So the drug name is acetaminophen, right? The strength is 325 milligrams. The dose that needs to be administered is three tabs. And the route is PO, so that is orally. And then the frequency is Q8H, so every eight hours. So this is the frequency.
What about this second example? We have hydromorphone, two milligrams, two tabs PO PRN, severe pain. So this is a PRN medication. So hydromorphone is our drug name. Our strength is 2 milligrams. Our dose is two tabs. Our route, again, is PO, so it's an oral medication. And then because it's a PRN medication, we need an indication. So our indication is severe pain. That is the reason why we would administer this medication. So you always have to have that indication for PRN medications.
