peter jackson (asker) Nov 30, 2013:

Thanks again to all of you for your help.

Muriel Vasconcellos Nov 30, 2013:

More It seems to be a distinction that we don't make in English: "pautar" is about **deciding on the dosage and schedule of a given drug** for a particular patient, whereas "recetar" is about **telling the pharmacist to dispense the drug**. Charles has already said the same thing already, I'm just putting it in different words.

Charles Davis Nov 30, 2013:

Another example This is a statement from the Vicepresidente del Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Médicos de España:

La prescripción forma parte indivisible del acto médico, porque para pautar un tratamiento a cualquier paciente, financiado o no por el SNS, de adquisición libre o con receta y sobre todo para resolver un problema de salud, es necesario conocer la indicación especifica del mismo y hacerlo sobre un diagnóstico lo más preciso posible [...]
A ningún otro profesional sanitario (salvo a los Odontólogos), otorga la LOPS aquella capacidad de diagnóstico y tratamiento terapéutico, función a la que corresponde la actividad de recetar o prescribir"
https://www.cgcom.es/sites/default/files/alegaciones_prescri...

Charles Davis Nov 30, 2013:

Peter Looking at examples of "tratamiento pautado", it clearly means prescribed treatment: for example, "Sigue siempre el tratamiento pautado por tu reumatólogo".

I think that in practice "recetar" and "pautar" are synonyms. In so far as they can be distinguished, "recetar" would be used to refer to actually writing out the prescription, and could sometimes refer specifically to identifying the drug to be taken, whereas "pautar" refers to laying down the treatment to be given and always includes indicating the frequency, dose, etc.

Here is a document on "la prescripción de medicamentos en el hospital":
"El médico debe obligarse a recetar con letra legible para evitar errores de interpretación. [...] Deberá expresarse siempre la dosis, frecuencia y vía de administración de cada medicamento [...] Si el medicamento se debe administrar bajo determinadas condiciones, especificarlas y pautar el medicamento con todos los datos"
http://www.humv.es/webfarma/Informacion_Medicamentos/Formula...

Muriel Vasconcellos Nov 29, 2013:

Agree According to my reading, it's a way of emphasizing the distinction between what the person's doctor actually prescribed and the recommended dosage.

peter jackson (asker) Nov 29, 2013:

thanks to both of you for your help. I'd also visited the DRAE but was a bit worried that seeing as all the other references to prescription etc in the article use "recetar" that there misht be some important difference.

Joseph Tein Nov 29, 2013:

with Liz I wouldn't hesitate to say "prescribed" in this context. I can't find any confirmation online or in ProZ for this specific meaning, though. Here's one of the DRAE definitions, which comes close: "Dar reglas o determinar el modo de ejecutar una acción."

liz askew Nov 29, 2013:

I believe so.