Question

medical error stem from variety causes. one of which miscommunication between prescriber and pharmacist in the form of misunderstood of illegible abbreviations. From the do not use list from joint commission and using the medical terminology,how this abbreviations can or can’t be dangerous to use

Answer 1

The biggest problem which lead to medical errors is failure to communicate which can made worse by the use of medical abbreviations with multiple meanings. For example in case of decimal point of dose of medication, 5.0 is often mistaken for 50, as the dot is not seen the dose will multiply to ten times.

In 2004, the Joint Commission devoloped DO NOT USE LIST of medical abbreviations , which focuses the effectiveness of communication between health care professionals. They recommended the health care institutions to make standard list of acronyms , abbreviations and symbols that cannot be used. Further the commission has banned the use of abbreviations in informed consent, discharge documents etc.

Joint Commission has recommended uniform and standard list of symbols, codes and abbreviations ,which can enhance the communication between health professionals.

While using the abbreviations the professionals should ensure that it is in the approved list and not in DO NOT USE list. For example, DOA can mean date of admission or dead on arrival. In case of imaging test like CT scan or MRI, the abbreviations are often used, it is important for the professionals to spell out other not well known tests, for example, instead of BE, the patient should be told BE means a barium enema.