Summary
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) list of drug names with recommended tall man (mixed case) letters was initiated in 2001 with the agency’s Name Differentiation Project.
Tall man lettering (TML) is a technique that uses uppercase lettering to help differentiate look-alike drug names. Starting on the left side of a drug name, TML highlights the differences between similar drug names by capitalizing dissimilar letters (e.g., vinBLAStine versus vinCRIStine and CISplatin versus CARBOplatin). TML can be used along with colour or bolding to draw attention to the dissimilarities between look-alike drug names, and alert healthcare providers that the drug name can be confused with another drug name.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) 'Look-alike drug names with recommended tall man (mixed case) letters' contains drug name pairs or larger groupings with recommended, bolded uppercase letters to help draw attention to the dissimilarities in look-alike drug names. The list includes mostly generic-generic drug names, although a few brand-brand or brand-generic names are included.
See also our Medication error traps gallery
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