Effective 7/1/04, ALL prescribers at DMC hospitals will be asked to re-write any medication order that contains an unsafe abbr

Effective 7/1/04, ALL prescribers at DMC hospitals will be asked to re-write any medication order that contains an unsafe abbreviation/dose designation.

To promote medical/medication safety, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) has mandated that the following abbreviations/dose designations no longer be used.

“Do Not Use” Abbreviation / Dose Designation	Intended Meaning	Misinterpretation	Recommendation
U or IU	Units or international units	mistaken as a zero or a four when poorly written, resulting in overdose (4U seen as "40" or 4U seen as "44")	use "units"
mg	micrograms	mistaken for "mg" when handwritten, resulting in overdose	use "mcg" or “micrograms”
Lack of leading zero (.5 mg)	0.5 mg	decimal overlooked and mistaken for 5 mg (10-fold over dose)	always use leading zeros when the dose is less than a whole unit (0.5 mg)
Use of trailing zero (5.0 mg)	5 mg	decimal overlooked and mistaken for 50 mg (10-fold over dose)	never use trailing zeros for doses expressed in whole numbers
TIW	three times a week	misinterpreted as "three times a day" or "twice a week"	use “three times a week”
° symbol	Hours	misinterpreted as zero (q3° misinterpreted as every 30 minutes)	use “hour, hr or hrs”
Q.D., Q.O.D.	every day, every other day	mistaken for one another; period after the Q mistaken for an “i”	use “daily” and “every other day”
MS, MSO₄, MgSO₄	Morphine sulfate, magnesium sulfate	Mistaken for one another	Write out “morphine sulfate” or “magnesium sulfate”

Thank you for your cooperation and use of safe abbreviations when writing in the patient medical record.

Questions/concerns regarding the JCAHO mandate may be directed to the DMC Drug Information Center at 313/745-4556.