Prescription Writing Do's and Don'ts
The Joint Commission has established a national Patient Safety Goal that specifies that certain abbreviations must appear on an accredited organization's do-not-use list. The following are these abbreviations and dose designations that have caused errors and have been reported to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices as being frequently misinterpreted:
| Abbreviation | Intended Meaning | Misinterpretation | Correction |
| IU | International unit | Mistaken as IV (intravenous) or 10 (ten) | Use "units" |
| q.d. or QD | Every day | Mistaken as q.i.d. (four times daily), especially if the "q" or the tail of the "q" is understood as an "I" | Use "daily" |
| q.o.d. or QOD | Every other day | Mistaken as q.d. or q.i.d. if the "o" is poorly written | Use "every other day" |
| U or u | Unit | Mistaken as the number 0 or 4, causing a 10-fold overdose or greater (e.g. 4U seen as "40" or 4u seems as"44); mistaken as "cc" so dose given in volume instead of units (e.g. , 4U seen as 4cc) | Use "unit" |
| Dose Designations | Intended Meaning | Misinterpretation | Correction |
| Trailing zero after decimal point (e.g. 1.0 mg) | 1 mg. | Mistaken as 10 mg if the decimal point is not seen | Do not use trailing zeros for doses expressed in whole numbers |
| "Naked" decimal point (e.g. .5 mg) | 0.5 mg | Mistaken as 5 mg if the decimal point is not seen | Use zero before a decimal point when the dose is less than a whole unit |
| Drug Name Abbreviation | Intended Meaning | Misinterpretation | Correction |
| MgS04 | Magnesium sulfate | Mistaken as morphine sulfate | Use complete drug name |
| MS, MS04 | Morphine sulfate | Mistaken as magnesium sulfate | Use complete drug name |
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