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Regarding medical abbreviations, the United States-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires its members to follow a "do-not-use" list:[1]
Contents |
Do-not-use list (official in the United States) |
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|---|---|---|
| Do not use | Potential problem | Use instead |
| U (unit) | Mistaken for “0” (zero), the number “4” (four) or “cc” | unit |
| IU (International Unit) | Mistaken for IV (intravenous) or the number 10 (ten) | International Unit |
| Q.D., QD, q.d., qd (daily) Q.O.D., QOD, q.o.d, qod (every other day) |
Mistaken for each other. Period after the Q mistaken for "I" and the "O" mistaken for "I" (q.i.d. is four times a day dosing) |
daily every other day |
| Trailing zero (X.0 mg) Lack of leading zero (.X mg) |
Decimal point is missed | X mg 0.X mg |
| MS | Can mean morphine sulfate or magnesium sulfate | morphine sulfate |
| MSO4 and MgSO4 | Confused for one another | morphine sulphate and magnesium sulfate |
For possible future inclusion in the official list |
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| Do not use | Potential problem | Use instead |
| > (greater than) < (less than) |
Misinterpreted as the number "7" (seven) or the letter "L". Confused for one another |
"greater than" "less than" |
| Abbreviations for drug names | Misinterpreted due to similar abbreviations for multiple drugs | Write drug names in full |
| Apothecary units | Unfamiliar to many practitioners. Confused with metric units | metric units |
| @ | Mistaken for the number "2" (two) | at |
| cc | Mistaken for U (units) when poorly written | mL or milliliters |
| µg | Mistaken for mg (milligrams) resulting in one thousandfold overdose | mcg or micrograms |
References
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