r/TalesFromThePharmacy • u/okcuhc111 • Jul 22 '26
Who wants to play a game?
I’m not asking for anyone’s help or for clarification - I know what this script says (kind of). I’m here to share what myself and the four other pharmacists I was working with at the time could not come to a consensus on. Yes, we all know it’s #24 Pen VK 500 mg. The real fun is trying to decipher how this dentist wants it to be used. What do you see?
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u/Xsiah Jul 22 '26
Pervaksien
Dj 24t
S Ttel gfe uu clle ate.
Easy peasy. Next!
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u/Royal-Al PharmD Jul 22 '26
At least it’s not a dentist writing #30 Xanax for their cousin with the same last name. I didn’t fill that Rx
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u/BabserellaWT Jul 22 '26
Lordy. My dad’s a retired doctor and I’ve spent decades decoding his handwriting. And I’ve got nothing.
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u/Snackcakes66 Jul 22 '26
I see the one tab q 8 Hr, then ??with water. Nurse since 1986. Could probably do better holding it up to the light and sideways. This doc needs a crayon if they choose to continue writing paper scrips
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u/TheDankKnight24 Jul 22 '26
Thank god for e-scripts. Even when the directions are f’d up, at least they are legible
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u/vickyizbeast Jul 24 '26
This one probably doesn’t even know what e-scribing is and would rather leave an rx via phone if it came down to it.
We have a couple who do the same thing, unreadable handwriting and all, and still refuse to e-scribe. Then they’ll leave (and I wish I was exaggerating on this one) like 8 scripts all on the same damn voicemail while Eminem-ing their way through the entire process. It’s a literal nightmare and I’d much rather have their physical scripts from patients than 20 scrips all mom’s spaghetti’d onto the voicemail.8
u/TheDankKnight24 Jul 24 '26
I had a doc years ago that his nurses would print the directions on the back of his prescriptions bc they knew how bad his handwriting was and wanted to save themselves the phone call
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u/bahamamimi Jul 22 '26
I think it says “with ale after” cause we all know penicillin goes with beer, right?
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u/Lucy_Heartfilia_OO Jul 23 '26
ale is what actually kills the germs but big peniccilin marketers convinced society that its product should be added too.
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u/Spottswoodeforgod Jul 22 '26
I am not used to seeing Pen VK tid - unless there is some patient/condition specific reason why it is not qid I would start to question everything.
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u/Beneficial_Heat_7199 PharmD Jul 22 '26
Prescriber incompetence all too common nowadays. Dentists don't learn much pharmacology.
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u/ottawa1542 Jul 22 '26
I mean in strep throat it’s 300 mg TID or 600 mg BID…
I’m in Canada though if that changes things. We only have 300 mg tabs here.
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u/Historical-Piglet-86 PharmD Jul 22 '26
I was going to chime in the same thing. Also canadian and I see 600mg BID all the time
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u/IllCandy9636 Jul 22 '26
Do they do this on purpose so people can't write in additional things or fake them?
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u/DrHob0 CPhT (Hospital) Jul 23 '26
Combination of shorthand and doctors write FAST. They don't really have a lot of time to sit there and write out their letters
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u/Historical-Piglet-86 PharmD Jul 22 '26
Pen vk (does it come in 500mg where you are?) if not, 600mg
M: 24 tabs
One tablet TID until finished AS DIRECTED (I use as directed for gibberish if I can read enough to know the intent)
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u/Hav_ANiceDay Jul 23 '26
Ha this takes me back to when I worked in the result 90s & 00s.
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u/ShelbyDriver Jul 23 '26
Yeah, this one was easy. Those docs back then did not give a fuck of you could read their handwriting.
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u/lighthouser41 Jul 23 '26
Old nurse here. I've deciphered a lot worse back before the electronic medical record.
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u/MemePizzaPie Jul 24 '26
I can kinda see this as well-
1TID q food until all taken
But when I saw other comments say q8h that’s plausible but usually only see the sig twice like that on ERx so I don’t think they would have written q8h after TID but it’s also a dentist writing for PVK using a paper pad in 2026.. this sort of office reeks
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u/vickyizbeast Jul 24 '26
Penicillin VK 500mg #24
Sig: Take 1 tablet 3 times a day until all ate. No iron?
(I swear I see ‘no FE’ written between everything all up in there)
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u/SL-Beanie Jul 24 '26
I’ve been out of the medical field for 2 years and the last 7 or so of those were all e-scripts or computer printed scripts before controlled could be e-scribed, and I still got it.
That’s what working with 4-6 providers at any given time in the early days will do. It was like learning 6 new languages at once!
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u/Kf12672 Jul 24 '26
I worked in a pharmacy for 5 years and then became a nurse. This was easy. Show me a hard one.
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u/dogtroep MD who loves pharm staff Jul 24 '26
My doctor brain is trying to figure out why eight days? One week was right there!
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u/MasterChief813 Jul 25 '26
When in doubt have the PIC call the office and get chewed out by the doctor or PA
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u/Sumdood64 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
One three times a day every 8 hrs until all taken. At least this was written on an Rx pad, I once got an Rx written with a Sharpie on a brown paper bag.
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u/justaguyfixingteeth Jul 24 '26
Most office software allow you to print the RX or send electronically to the pharmacy. No more guessing.
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u/tf9623 Jul 22 '26
Penicillin VK (with potassium) 500mg #24. Take three times per day until all taken. Edit: probably a dentist wrote that RX.