Funding: None.
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Prevalence of error-prone abbreviations used in medication prescribing for hospitalised patients: multi-hospital evaluation
Article first published online: 20 MAR 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2011.02697.x
© 2012 The Authors. Internal Medicine Journal © 2012 Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Additional Information
How to Cite
Dooley, M. J., Wiseman, M. and Gu, G. (2012), Prevalence of error-prone abbreviations used in medication prescribing for hospitalised patients: multi-hospital evaluation. Internal Medicine Journal, 42: e19–e22. doi: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2011.02697.x
Conflict of interest: None.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 20 MAR 2012
- Article first published online: 20 MAR 2012
- Received 5 August 2010; accepted 20 December 2010.
- Abstract
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Keywords:
- abbreviation;
- medication;
- prescribing
Abstract
The use of error-prone abbreviations in prescribing is a potential cause of misinterpretation that may lead to medication error. This study determined frequency and type of error-prone abbreviations in inpatient medication prescribing across three Australian hospitals. Three hundred and sixty-nine (76.9%) patients had one or more error-prone abbreviations used in prescribing, with 8.4% of orders containing at least one error-prone abbreviation and 29.6% of these considered to be high risk for causing significant harm.