The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7260 p147
2 August 2003

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  Community pharmacy
  Cholesterol
  Prescribing
  CPD
  The Journal

Letters to the Editor

Prescribing

The structure of discharge letters could be better

From Mr M. D. A. Tomlin, MRPharmS

Chris Green says that tablet and capsules should be colour coded and shaped to ensure patients notice the difference (PJ, 5 July, p14).

In my experience Epanutin is the most commonly dispensed brand of phenytoin. The 100mg capsules are number 3 capsules, white/orange, overprinted with "Epanutin 100". The 300mg capsules are a number 1 capsules, green/white, overprinted with "Epanutin 300".

This should surely be sufficient to alert the patient to the fact that these are different.

How much more different can they be?

In the circumstance outlined in Mr Green's letter, the hospital might have sent a discharge letter to the patient's general practitioner stating "phenytoin capsules 300mg nocte". This would then have gone to the GP who might have prescribed 300mg capsules from the drug list on the practice computer.

The problem is the structure of the discharge letter. Change it to "Epanutin 100mg, 3 nocte" and there is no room for error.

M. D. A. Tomlin
Sheffield

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