Which abbreviations are considered Do Not Use in medication administration?

Which abbreviations are considered Do Not Use in medication administration?

• A. mg, mL, min
• B. U, IU, QD, QOD, HS, trailing zeros, and other Do Not Use abbreviations
• C. ASAP, STAT
• D. g, kg, L, mL

Answer: (B)

Avoid misreading and dosing errors by using unambiguous communication in medication orders. The prohibited abbreviations are singled out because they are frequently misinterpreted, leading to dangerous mistakes. For example, U for unit can be mistaken for 0 or 4; IU for international unit can be confused with IV; QD for daily and QOD for every other day are easy to misread or miswrite, causing the wrong frequency; HS can be read as “hour of sleep” or “half-strength,” both of which change the intended dose or timing; trailing zeros after a decimal point can be misread as a different dose if the decimal is not clearly seen (for instance, 1.0 mg read as 10 mg). Those risks are why this set is listed as Do Not Use, and why the rule is to spell out doses or use clearly unambiguous terms. The other options contain standard measurement abbreviations (mg, mL, min; g, kg, L, mL) or urgent-communication terms (ASAP, STAT) that are not part of the official Do Not Use list, so they aren’t the correct set of prohibited abbreviations.

Avoid misreading and dosing errors by using unambiguous communication in medication orders. The prohibited abbreviations are singled out because they are frequently misinterpreted, leading to dangerous mistakes. For example, U for unit can be mistaken for 0 or 4; IU for international unit can be confused with IV; QD for daily and QOD for every other day are easy to misread or miswrite, causing the wrong frequency; HS can be read as “hour of sleep” or “half-strength,” both of which change the intended dose or timing; trailing zeros after a decimal point can be misread as a different dose if the decimal is not clearly seen (for instance, 1.0 mg read as 10 mg). Those risks are why this set is listed as Do Not Use, and why the rule is to spell out doses or use clearly unambiguous terms.

The other options contain standard measurement abbreviations (mg, mL, min; g, kg, L, mL) or urgent-communication terms (ASAP, STAT) that are not part of the official Do Not Use list, so they aren’t the correct set of prohibited abbreviations.