This section is from the book "Practical Materia Medica And Prescription Writing", by Oscar W. Bethea. Also available from Amazon: Practical Materia Medica and Prescription Writing.
Prescribing is the final expression of a physician's effort in the treatment of disease. Without the ability to intelligently prescribe, pathology, diagnosis, therapeutics, and all else in practice is almost useless. Imagine a capitalist with a fortune in the bank, but unable to write a check; a singer with an exhaustless knowledge of music, but who cannot control the vocal cords, or a sharpshooter who cannot pull the trigger of his rifle, and a picture is obtained of the practitioner who cannot prescribe.
Suppose an expert accountant locates in a city and sends this note to Mr. Smith:
John Smit,
Crescent City, Pelican State. dear Sir:
Give this slave 5 slugs. J. W.
Would not the recipient reason that courtesy demanded for him the title of Mr., that the writer should go to the trouble to spell his name correctly, that Crescent City and Pelican State were not the proper names for his town and State, that capitals should be properly used, that the writer should know that slaves are things of the past, that slugs is not the proper name for dollars, and that an order should be better signed? Mr. Smith would hardly employ that accountant should he later need the services of one. Yet prescriptions, open to all these and many more criticisms, are daily sent to our drug-stores and sent by our otherwise able physicians.
The prescription is often the only written evidence of the physician's ability. It should not only be excellent, but it should represent the acme of perfection.
Many of the ideas expressed here are at variance with those of other writers. The only apology offered is the author's conception of the demands of present conditions, based on many years of practical experience behind the prescription case and in the laboratory.
 
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