Dosage Forms, drug calculations and prescription

Abstract

The pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of a drug play an important role in how the drug is formulated, and which dosage form is suitable for use. It is also necessary to have different dosage forms to meet the different requirements of the patient. Drug formularies are a list of medicines available in an institution or country. When drugs are prescribed from a drug formulary, the drugs are very likely to be available. A clearly written prescription allows the pharmacist to dispense the drug without error. Error from this is further reduced by electronic prescribing which incorporates an inbuilt decision support strategy. Drug doses are expressed in different units and may be confusing to providers. An understanding of what these units signify is essential to enable accurate and reliable calculation of drug doses. It is also important to have a good understanding of this to know how to dilute the drugs and to be able to administer the correct dosage from these dilutions.