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Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Contact Congress Over Drug Shortage Issues

A Kentucky congressman is urging surgical facilities to contact their members of Congress and request that they sign his letter demanding changes to...

N.J. Posts ASC Inspection Reports Online

State and federal inspection reports of New Jersey's ASCs are now available online, giving patients an opportunity to make more informed choices abo...

Are Opioids Necessary?

While it's not always practical, or even possible, to eliminate opioids from your post-op pain management regiment, reducing their use in favor of n...

Archive > June, 2007 Vol. VIII, No. 6

Ideas That Work

Standardizing drug shorthand

When the Joint Commission highlighted safe medication practices in its 2003 patient safety goals, it included a list of dangerous abbreviations to avoid. During my random reviews of medical records, I realized our nurses were using incorrect notations - even after they were notified of the Joint Commission's safety goal. To help correct the problem, I created a two-sided laminated guide that fits into a hanging transparent badge holder. This minimum list of dangerous abbreviations, acronyms and symbols serves as a handy quick-reference guide. Use Microsoft Word to create a two-columned table that notes the problem abbreviation and the corresponding correct abbreviation. I used Word's table feature and matched the layout to the size of business card laminating pouches: 311/16 inches by 23/16 inches. Here's how it's done:

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Categories: Accrediting/Quality, Anesthesia, Ideas That Work, Ophthalmology
Keywords:
Fine Your Late Surgeons $100; Easing Up On the Pedals; F? to C?...Avoid All Degrees Of Confusion; Jeanne Linda, RHIT, CPMSM, CPHQ; Gregory Cunniff; Vanessa Tobias, RN; Lynda Simon, RN; Clinic Nursing St John's Clinic: Head; Clinic, Director; Clinic: Head; Commission; Confusion I; Degrees Confusion I; Director; Director Pennsylvania Eye; Eye; F-to-C; Fahrenheit; Fill; Head; John's Clinic, Director; John's Clinic: Head; Joint Commission; Label; Late Surgeons; Microsoft Word; Nursing St John's Clinic: Head; Pedals Cataract; RN Clinical Director Pennsylvania Eye; RN St John's Clinic, Director; Sea... show all keywords
Fine Your Late Surgeons $100; Easing Up On the Pedals; F? to C?...Avoid All Degrees Of Confusion; Jeanne Linda, RHIT, CPMSM, CPHQ; Gregory Cunniff; Vanessa Tobias, RN; Lynda Simon, RN; Clinic Nursing St John's Clinic: Head; Clinic, Director; Clinic: Head; Commission; Confusion I; Degrees Confusion I; Director; Director Pennsylvania Eye; Eye; F-to-C; Fahrenheit; Fill; Head; John's Clinic, Director; John's Clinic: Head; Joint Commission; Label; Late Surgeons; Microsoft Word; Nursing St John's Clinic: Head; Pedals Cataract; RN Clinical Director Pennsylvania Eye; RN St John's Clinic, Director; Seal; Simon, RN St John's Clinic, Director; Surgeons; Tobias, RN Clinical Director Pennsylvania Eye; Word; abbreviation; abbreviations; acronyms; adjust; anesthesia; annoyance; answer; approximate; autoclave; back; background; backing; badge; black; body; bonnet; bottoms; boxes; brought; business; calculating; calling; canceled; card; case; cash; center; centers; charts; check; circulator; color; column; columns; consoles; controls; conversion; convert; copy; correct; cost; costly; crawl; create; dangerous; day-to-day; decide; decrease; delay; delaying; department; device; distribution; divide; docs; doctors; dollars; double-sided; downright; due; easier; easy; employees; equipment; errors; everyone's; expect; expensive; faint; familiar; feature; fine; fits; frustrating; generally; guide; handy; hanging; hard; head; headers; highlighted; holder; hospitals; hundreds; identical; incentives; inches; included; incorrect; laminated; laminating; late; layout; learn; left; list; lunches; make; manufacturers; matched; medical; medication; meds; mention; microscopes; minimum; minutes; monitor; monitors; move; multiply; non-slip; notations; notes; notified; nurses; opened; ophthalmic; opportunity; page; paid; partnership; patient; pay; pedal; pedal-driven; pedals; phaco; physician; physicians; pool; potential; practices; preferred; preparing; print; problem; procedures; purse; quick-reference; random; readings; realized; recordings; reference; rely; reposition; resources; reviews; rooms; roughly; rows; safe; safety; schedule; serves; sheet; showing; size; slip; smidgen; staff; starts; store; subtract; supply; surgeon; surgeons; surgery; surgical; switch; switched; symbols; table; tables; tardy; temperature; tightening; transparent; trick; two-columned; two-sided; ultimately; worked; yellow

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