Year: 2023
Muhammed Ali and Parkinson’s
Muhammad Ali: A Champion’s Fight Against Parkinson’s – The legendary boxer battled Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder affecting movement and coordination.
Symptoms included tremors, bradykinesia (slowness of movement), rigidity, and postural instability.
Ali’s diagnosis in the mid-1980s raised awareness about the condition, inspiring research and support for those affected by this challenging neurological disorder.
Few Interesting Mnemonics
How to write a Prescription?
What is a prescription?
A prescription is an order written by a healthcare professional, which in this case would be you, informing the pharmacist of what medication you want your patient to take for the health condition in question
The Prescriber
The ‘prescriber’ is physician or any other healthcare professional licensed or otherwise permitted to issue prescriptions for drugs for human use
Parts of a prescription
Prescriber’s identifying information
Practitioner’s full name
Office address
Contact information – office telephone number
Patient identifying information
Patient’s full name
Age
Date of Birth
Patient’s Home address
Recipe (Rx)
Name of medication
Dosage
Dose form
e.g. 800-milligram tablets of Ibuprofen written as, Ibuprofen 800 mg tablets or tabs.
Signatura (Sig)
The ‘signature’ are the instructions on how the medication should be taken
How much of the drug to take
How to take it
How often to take it
e.g. if the clinician is prescribing one tablet of 800 mg of Ibuprofen every 8 hours, they would have to write “take one tablet by mouth every 8 hours” or if they use the sig codes they would write “1 tab po q8”.
Dispensing Instructions (Disp)
Dispensing instructions informs the pharmacist of how much medication you would like your patient to receive
Quantity of medication
Form it should be released it
Important: quantities should be written very clearly to avoid over or under dispensing medication
e.g. With our Ibuprofen example, if the clinician would like to provide a 30-day supply, it’s important to write the number of tablets, which would be 90 tablets if the pill were to be taken 3 times a day, or every 8 hours.
Refill Instructions
The exact number of refills the patient is allowed for the medication in questioned needs to be specified very clearly
If you are not prescribing any refills, write ‘zero refills’
Date
The date of the prescription is important to make sure the patient doesn’t try to refill their medication before the prescribed date
Clinician’s signature
Signature
NPI number
Drug Enforcement Agency Number – for controlled substances only
Common abbreviations used in prescriptions
| Abbreviations | Latin Term | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| AC | ante cibum | “before meals” |
| BID | bis in die | “twice a day” |
| stat | stat | “immediately” |
| s. o. s | “as needed” | |
| PO | per os | “by mouth” |
| mane | mane | “at morning” |
| nocte | nocte | “at night” |
| PC | post cibum | “after meals” |
| PRN | pro re nata | “as needed” |
| Q3h | quaque 3 hora | “every three hours” |
| QD | quaque die | “every day” |
| QID | quater in die | “four times a day” |
| Sig | signa | “write” |
| TID | ter in die | “three times a day” |
| “twice a day” | ||
| QHS | “every bedtime” | |
| Q4h | “every 4 hours” | |
| Q4-6h | “every 4 to 6 hours” | |
| QWK | “every week” |
What is the ERPM Examination?
After doing an intensive MBBS or equivalent from a foreign medical school, you probably couldn’t wait to fly over to Sri Lanka, and start treating whomsoever, is ailing-physically or mentally.
Right?
Well, you’re going to have to stay buckled down a little longer, because there’s an important examination called ERPM that you’ll have to write.
Sweating. Difficult breathing. Racing heart.
You’re probably feeling all this and more. Guess what I tell potential ERPM candidates?
RELAX.
Along with proper preparation and a winning mindset, anything can be achieved.
Examination for Registration to Practice Medicine in Sri Lanka (ERPM)
The ERPM Exam is a compulsory Examination for Registration to Practice Medicine in Sri Lanka (ERPM). The reason behind the ERPM is to assess;
-
- Whether a candidate can approach medical practice with the appropriate intellectual skills of enquiry, clinical reasoning, critical thinking and decision making.
- Has the base understanding of primary and clinical sciences, and a grasp of the underlying principles of the scientific method and the capability to produce a distinctive prognosis, and justify an appropriate treatment plan for patients sick with common clinical ailments.
Requirements to Obtain Examination Approval
Firstly, visit the SLMC (Sri Lankan Medical Council) in person, to find out if your university is recognized in Sri Lanka, it is better to carry out this procedure in person as the list bearing the names of recognized Institutes is continuously edited.
To get your degree approved, you may need the following:
- Completed application form (obtained from the SLMC)
- Bank Payment slip
- Degree Certificate and copy (Translation and copy if applicable)
- Mark/Grade sheet and copy
- 2 Stamp size pictures
- O/L and A/L certificates with copies
- Passport and suitable copies
There are four parts: Parts A, B, C and D
- ERPM Part A: Theory component containing True/False type questions, Multiple Choice Questions and Single Best Answer Questions centered on the subjects of Medicine with Psychiatry, Paediatrics with Psychiatry, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
- ERPM Part B: An interactive test in clinical/practical problems in the subjects Medicine, Paediatrics, Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
- ERPM Part C: An Oral examination on Emergency Medicine in the topics of Medicine, Paediatrics, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
- ERPM Part D: The theory component containing True/False type multiple choice questions in the theoretical and practical aspects of Community Medicine and Forensic Medicine.
- The detailed curriculum for each of these subjects and sample questions are available on the website of the SLMC at www.slmc.gov.lk and www.srilankamedicalcouncil.org
- The examination will be conducted in English. Interaction with examiners will be in English. Interaction with patients however may be in Sinhala or Tamil or English. Interpreters or translators will not be provided. However if any candidate has difficulties in communicating with the patients due to language barriers the examiners may make suitable arrangements to facilitate history taking etc.
- The ERPM (Part A and Part D) will be conducted in paper format as at present or in the future after due notice in electronic or other format.
