copyright © 2015 cengage learning® chapter 5 abbreviations and systems of measurement

Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning®

Chapter 5Abbreviations and Systems of

Measurement


Abbreviations• First responsibility when preparing

medication for administration– Interpretation of the medication order

• Knowledge of medical abbreviations and symbols – Essential for accurate interpretation of the

physician’s order• Orders may vary in the use of capital versus

lowercase letters

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Abbreviations (cont’d.)• Institute for Safe Medication Practice

(ISMP) – Monitors for and categorizes medication errors– Identifies practices that have contributed to

medication errors– Has published a list of problematic

abbreviations (ISMP List of Error-Prone Abbreviations, Symbols, and Dose Designations)

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Abbreviations (cont’d.)• The Joint Commission

– Approved a minimum list of “dangerous” abbreviations that have been prohibited effective January 1, 2004

– Items required to be on an organization’s DO NOT USE list are highlighted with a double asterisk (**) in the ISMP List

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Abbreviations (cont’d.)• Medication orders contain six parts

– Date– Patient’s name– Medication name– Dosage or amount of medication– Route or manner of administration (e.g., oral,

subcutaneous, etc.)– Time to be administered, or frequency

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Abbreviations (cont’d.)• Medication orders must always be written

and signed by a physician– In an emergency the physician may give a

verbal order (VO)• Health care practitioner must read back the order

before administration, and write down medication, amount, and time of administration as soon as it is given

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Abbreviations (cont’d.)• Telephone orders

– Always determine the policy of the agency before taking a telephone order (TO)

– Some agencies require a registered nurse– Always obtain the name of the person and write

it down, as well as the time– Repeat all of the details regarding the

medication, dosage, frequency, etc.– Physician must sign all verbal and telephone

orders within 24 hours in most cases7


Abbreviations (cont’d.)• Medication orders

– Can be written on the patient’s record in the physician’s office, clinic, or institution, or on a prescription blank

– The health care practitioner is responsible for checking for completeness• Date, patient name, medication name, dosage,

route, and frequency • Question any discrepancy, omission, or unusual

order

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Abbreviations (cont’d.)• The prescription blank contains two

additional items– Physician’s Drug Enforcement Administration

registration number if the medication is a controlled substance

– The number of times that a prescription can be refilled• If there are to be no refills, write the word “NO,”

“NONE,” or “0/” after Refill

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Systems of Measurement• Apothecary system

– Original system • Obsolete

• Metric system – Preferred system of measurement

• Used at the present time

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Systems of Measurement (cont’d.)• Household system

– Least accurate• More familiar to the layperson and used in

prescribing medications for the patient at home

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Metric System• International standard for weights and

measures– Based on three basic units: liter (L) for volume,

meter (m) for length, and gram (g) for weight• Prefix representing a "power of ten" can be placed

before each of these units to change its value• Example: "milli" means "one thousandth" and

therefore a milligram (mg) would be one thousandth of a gram (i.e., 1000 milligrams would equal 1 gram)

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Household System• Conversion from metric system to

household system may be necessary– Especially in the home care setting

• Memorize the most commonly used basic equivalents– See Table 5-3 – Equipment commonly used for measuring

includes the medicine cup and various syringes calibrated in milliliters

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Common Medical Conversion• Almost all countries use the metric system

as their official measurement system– United States still uses the English system of

measurement • Ounces, pounds, feet, miles, yards etc.

• Often a conversion of units is needed – Example: patient weighs 150 pounds but drug

is ordered on a per kilogram dose • Conversion factor: 1 pound = 2.2 kilograms,

therefore 150/2.2 = 68.18 kilograms

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copyright © 2015 cengage learning® chapter 5 abbreviations and systems of measurement

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