French designers have created an "iconic language" to help doctors properly prescribe medications based on road sign designs.

The researchers translated the boring text on common ailments and treatments from drug monographs into a series of cartoons that, when combined with simple operators, allow your doctor, literate or not, to correctly dole out the meds.

The work, published in the open-access journal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, is available to all, including the dictionary and reference manual (pdf).

Amazingly, the researchers reported that within seven hours of training on the system, a test group of doctors answered hypothetical questions about drug treatments correctly more often using the icons than the text. And they answered almost twice as quickly when they used the images.

Some icons describe a state of being (elderly, female), others a disease (malaria), and still more treatments (anti-fungal drug). Simple arrows placed between the icons allow you to put together simple sentences like this:

Read: if an elderly patient presents with impotence, then prescribe erectile dysfunction drugs.

But, this is the Internet, and you don't need or want seven hours of training. What you need is a Reddit widget that allows you to play with, rename, and create stories out of these icons yourself. After the jump, there's a selection of twenty-five pictographs we clipped from the researchers' dictionary with the real definitions attached. Remix and post as you see fit.

You can download each icon above individually and create your own iconographic drug treatment recommendations. Make sure to include its translation into text, too. (You'll have to upload any pictures to your Flickr account or some other host, then link it here.)

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