Published
the doctor gave me an order of Phenobarbital capsule gr XX .
what is gr XX? the bottle contains 200 mg per capsule.
I'd have the pharmacist or supervisor have a word of prayer with the doc and let him/her know this is an unacceptable order.
Ah, but the rub is that it's not actually an unacceptable order at all, unless the facility itself designates the apothecary system as unacceptable. JCAHO has their minimum list of unacceptable abbreviations, but "grains" aren't on it. Many hospitals (including mine) simply go by the JCAHO standard, and the ISMP has zero pull. This is an excellent case demonstrating why hospitals should actually develop sensible policies on medication administration, rather than going by the bare-bones JCAHO standard.
Apothecary system. Ridiculous. Man, I'm still shaking my head over this. Might as well start writing IV fluids in gallons and antibiotics in ounces.
P_RN, ADN, RN
6,011 Posts
http://www.ismp.org/Tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf
Here ya go. Institute for safe medication practice has a full color page on the no-no's.