The recipe for an ointment in Latin: features and rules for prescribing

When the patient comes to the reception and voices his complaints to the medical worker, after examining and collecting the anamnesis, the doctor writes out, for example, a prescription for an ointment in Latin, since not every form can be bought. Some can only be done.

Extract of dosage forms. General Provisions

The recipe is a written prescription of the doctor to the pharmacist about which ingredients the drug should be made from. The recipe for an ointment in Latin can include:

• Ointment bases, which are of animal, vegetable, mineral and synthetic origin.
• The main acting principle. If it is one, then this is a simple ointment, if two or more are complex.

The prescription of all medicines is done in Latin. An indication of how to use is written in Russian in Russia, since it is intended for a patient who does not speak Latin.

What's in the recipe

Forms for the discharge of prescriptions are standardized and necessarily include the following:

• Stamp honey. Institution.
• Indication, adult or children's prescription. The right is emphasized.
• Date of discharge.
• Name of the patient. How old is he full of years.
• Full name of the doctor. It can be a stamp.
• Medicinal prescription.
• Tell the pharmacist to give the medicine to the patient.
• Instruction to the patient how to use it (once a day, two to three times, etc.).
• The signature of the doctor, his personal round seal.
• A round seal of a medical institution, where in the center stands - "for prescriptions."
• The validity of the recipe.

These are the short rules for prescribing prescriptions.

Main section of the recipe

Traditionally, the prescription is written in Latin. It is studied in all medical schools. A modern doctor often prescribes a prescription in a shortened form. Latin for physicians presupposes a prescription in the genitive case. But the ointment, instead of the complete Unguentlim, is written abbreviated Ung. Mandatory with a capital letter, like the name of the base, for example Lanolini. Ol. Instead of Oleum (oil), more precisely Olei, and in the genitive case the word "peach", Persicori.

The name of each component is written from a new line. This does not end the prescription for an ointment in Latin for a patient with atopic dermatitis. The composition is still water. It is also written in abbreviated form and on the next line: Aq. Instead of Aquae distillatae (more precisely, it looks like Aq., Destill). The next line indicates the required volume. This is what the above described ointment recipe in Latin looks like:

Ung. Lanolini.

Ol. Persicori.

Aq. Destill.

30.0.

Next line for the patient in Russian. Ointment: Lubricate the skin 2 r. in a day. That's the whole recipe for an ointment in Latin.

Why doctors use extinct language

Doctors are a closed professional community. They use the Latin language for a number of reasons.

• First, it is a tribute to the ancient tradition. The heyday of medicine and treatises on it fell on the period of Roman antiquity. To take advantage of their knowledge, every respecting auskeeper had Latin, read and wrote on it. The entire medieval education system necessarily included the knowledge of Latin, and it was used, of course, so that only scientists could understand what the composition of the medicine was, and no one could self-medicate.
• The second is the fragmentation of medieval Europe, where they spoke different languages. Latin came up as a universal, which was understood by physicians, lawyers, philosophers. So the language barrier was overcome in universities, which stood between the students themselves and their teachers. It was not too difficult to master, as most of the Romance languages were based on Latin. In the XIX century, this role was performed by the French, and in the XX century by English, as universal languages of interethnic communication. But Latin is already deeply rooted in science and continued to live and serve medicine. In addition, it should not be forgotten that Latin in Western Europe was supported by the Catholic Church. The modern doctor, having opened a special magazine in a foreign language, will understand in general terms what is at stake, since the main names are given in Latin or very strongly latinized.
• Professional suitability. The study of Latin reveals lazy and negligent students in high schools in the first year and allows us to weed out ballast, which will be harmful to patients. During rounds in the hospitals, when the patient is severe, doctors can exchange views directly in the ward in Latin, without affecting the feelings of the patient and his relatives. Only after they come to a certain agreement among themselves, they delicately, and not directly in the forehead, inform the patient and his relatives about how things are and what the forecast is.