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Article: Best practices for abbreviation use.(Patient Safety First)
- Article from:
- AORN Journal
- Article date:
- March 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has established a safety goal for 2004 related to the use of dangerous abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols. Abbreviations contribute to medical errors when clinicians misinterpret a letter or symbol and, because of this misinterpretation, administer a wrong medication or dose or give medication at the wrong time or with the wrong frequency. The Joint Commission recommends that facilities limit their use of certain abbreviations and has required facilities to stop using five specific sets of abbreviations as of Jan 1, 2004. They also require that facilities expand their "do-not-use" lists to include ...