I went to the doctor this morning and received three written documents from her. One is a prescription to have filled at the drug store. One is for the hospital for my yearly mammogram. And the last is for the lab for my blood work.

Now I referred to all three of these pieces of paper as scripts to a friend of mine in the Midwest. He had never heard this term before.

In checking in Bartleby.com, I could not find it used this way either. Is this some local idiom? Or is it a word you understand? Kalleh, I recall you saying you are in the medical field. Have you heard script used this way, or is there another term for what I received from my doctor?

My wife (a Health Visitor) always refers to prescriptions as "scripts" (or maybe "Scrips" - I must check).

I had always assumed that it was medical jargon and was simply an abbreviation.

Richard English

quote:

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Originally posted by Richard English:
My wife (a Health Visitor) always refers to prescriptions as "scripts" (or maybe "Scrips" - I must check).

I had always assumed that it was medical jargon and was simply an abbreviation.

Richard English

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Collins English Dictionary

quote:

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scrip n. 1. a written certificate, list, etc.
2. a small scrap, esp. of paper with writing on it

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I suppose the use of it in medical circles has developed from this definition and that the use of script rather than scrip has come about because the words sound so similar and the former word is so much more common than the latter.

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Morgan, I have always considered it to be an abbreviation of "prescription. I could be wrong, however. No one I have ever worked with has ever called them "scripts", nor have I ever seen it in the literature.

The TV show "E.R." uses that term as do others.

If you see it on TV, it must be correct!

Well, if that is the case, since I do watch ER, I absolutely may have missed it then when my colleagues have used the term.

Well, in thinking about this today, I wondered if the use of scripts came from the idea that these three different items I received, all directed other people to do something else.

The perscription was for the pharmacist to fill.

The order for a mammogram is for the hospital to perfom this exam.

And the last was for the lab to draw my blood and test it.

In the idea of a script for a movie or play, the writer (doctor in this case), writes the script for others to do the job or speak the lines that need to be done to complete the task.

Is this out of line?

I'm still 99% convinced that - as used in the original query - it's just a corruption of scrip.

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