Look-alike, sound-alike oncology medications.
Confusing medication names and packaging may cause or contribute to potentially harmful medication errors. The names of several chemotherapy and supportive agents can look or sound like the names of other chemotherapy agents or unrelated medications and can be inadvertently interchanged, or mixed up. Poor handwriting, abbreviations of medication names, unclear verbal medication orders, memory lapses, and the large volume of medications currently in use are risk factors for look-alike, sound-alike medication errors. Risk reduction strategies include being aware of medications that look or sound like other medications, installing pop-up alerts in computer systems, prescribing medications by their generic and trade names, placing eye-catching labels and warning stickers on storage bins, storing medications in nonadjacent areas, and advising patients to be alert for potential mix-ups with look-alike, sound-alike medications.
Schulmeister
Lisa
L
LisaSchulmeister@hotmail.com
D000004:Abbreviations as Topic; D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D004348:Drug Labeling; D004349:Drug Packaging; D016568:Drugs, Generic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000600:supply & distribution; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D008037:Linguistics; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009859:Oncology Nursing; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D016568:Drugs, Generic