The impact of abbreviations on patient safety (5 September 2007)

Summary

This study in the Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety examines the impact of using unclear or misleading abbreviations on medication prescribing errors. This study analysed Medmarx data from 2004 to 2006 to determine the prevalence and impact of errors related to abbreviations. Despite dissemination of the Joint Commission's “do not use” abbreviation list, errors involving these abbreviations occurred more than 18,000 times during the study period, although few patients were harmed as a result.