A new pet peeve of mine

Midwest4me · Oct 24, 2004

Maybe I am just INCREDIBLY anal retentive.... I absolutely can't stand it when people misspell drug names. I just want to jump out of my skin every time I see that!! I just can't believe how common it is. Don't people look things up anymore? I can't imagine that things like Risperdal would be spelled wrong SOOOO frequently, if people were really looking things up before giving a drug they are not familiar with.
Thoughts???

Yes, it may be anal retentive but I also have a problem with misspelling of drug names. However, I was blessed with having a knack for good grammar. I also "see red" when people use "its" and "it's", "there" and "their" (among many others)inappropriately. No, people don't look words up anymore. It's almost as if poor or bad grammar is acceptable. What a pity.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2004

LOL, at work I always look them up if I get a brain freeze or just can't remember. I just made one in a post, but explained I forgot the spelling and brain dead..LOL! I think I made an error the other day on a fax and spelled Lasix as Laxis, so I sent a clarification fax and sure enough, I did (to the laughter of the Doc, who happens to be my friend and my own physican! OH boy did I get razzed! LOL).

It does make a difference, and I find most spelling errors on the side of docs! I send them back via the fax and have them 'clarify'. It is like others have said, it is a patient on the line, so better safe than sorry!

Actually, its a funny story. I had a Doc's order that came back with a resident and I didn't see it till after the lunch hour. I looked at the orders and everything was very normal, no new orders, except..."patient is NPO". WHAT?!?!? OH boy, he just ate! I called the Doc and told him the news. He said "I didn't say he was NPO!". I was happy, but read the instructions again and said, "yes sir, you have it written here as NPO, and I kinda thought it was interesting". He didn't believe me at all, so I faxed it to him right away!

I got a fax back saying "clarification, Patient is DNR". Okay HOW can you mistake NPO with DNR! I had to laugh really hard, but knowing this Doc...he wasn't laughing! A nurse got him on that one, must have hurt!