A Glossary of Common Prescription Abbreviations

Does it ever seem to you that every physician must have taken a course in medical school called "How to Write in Chicken-Scratch"? Physicians are notorious for having incomprehensibly poor penmanship. While you may not worry about having to read their notes in your medical chart, you may be more worried about a pharmacist being able to read their prescriptions for you. Once you get your prescription, you may not understand all of the abbreviations and notations on the label. If you don't, you might find the following glossary helpful.

a.c.: before meals, from the Latin "ante cibum"
ad lib: use as much as one desires, from the Latin "ad libitum"
b.i.d.: twice a day, from the Latin "bis in die"
caps: capsules
da or daw: "dispense as written.
g or gm or GM: gram
gtt.: drops, from the Latin "guttae"
h: hour
mg: milligram
ml: milliliter
pc: after meals, from the Latin "post cibum"
p.o.: by mouth, or orally, from the Latin "per os"
p.r.n.: when necessary, or as circumstances require, from the Latin "pro re nata"
q.d.: once a day, from the Latin "quaque die"
q.i.d.: four times a day, from the Latin "quater in die"
q.h.: used where a medicine has to be taken every so-many hours, from the Latin "quaque," meaning
"every," and "h" indicating the number of hours