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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper reviews the problems associated with abbreviations and encourages written policies prohibiting their use. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPmedAbreviat.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Unfortunately, this practice is now associated with medical errors. Indeed, between 2004 and 2006 some five percent of all reported medical errors are believed to have been caused
by abbreviations (Barbella 13). The risk to patients is simply not worth the convenience of using abbreviations. Health care personnel should be advised of these risks and the
practice of using abbreviations should be stamped out in the health care arena. The elimination of abbreviations will reduce errors because it reduces the likelihood that what the provider is
trying to convey will be misunderstood. Most errors linked to abbreviations, some eighty-one percent in fact, occur when physicians are prescribing medication (Barbella 13). Some seven-thousand people die
every year as a result of medication errors relating to abbreviations (Barbella 13)! Drug names are similar enough on their own without introducing the added problems of having to
decipher an abbreviation. Though it is convenient to use abbreviations like "qd" to indicate that a drug should be taken twice a day, it is simply too easy for
someone to read that as "qid" and give the drug four times a day (Barbella 13)! An additional problem is the common practice of writing out dosages using a
"trailing zero" (Landers 1). When the doctor rights 10.0 mg it is simply too easy to miss the decimal point (Landers 1). The result might be giving the
patient 100 mg (Landers 1). By taking just a little extra time to fully right out the name of the drug being prescribed, the dosage, and how often it
should be taken the physician can insure that his intent is properly interpreted and that his patient will receive the correct drug in the correct amount and timing. Likewise,
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