Standardize
Standardize
Standardization reduces the opportunities for error. If you do something the same way every time, you are less likely to do it wrong any time. For example, fewer dosing errors will occur with a drug that is only available in two strengths than with drugs that doctors can order in several strengths. Similarly, there is no medical justification for multiple sliding scales for insulin. Standardizing doses reduces errors and promotes the on-time administration of drugs.
Changes that standardize:
• Standardize prescription conventions.
• Use no abbreviations.
• Use "units," not "u."
• Use leading zero (0.5, not .5), but avoid trailing zero (5, not 5.0)
• Use generic names.
• Use metric system only.
• Do not use "Q" or "q."
• Use protocols for complex medication administration (heparin, insulin, chemotherapy).
• Limit the number of standard doses of medication.
• Standardize times of drug administration.
• Store medications in the same place in every medication room.
• Standardize packaging and labeling for all medications (make "like" drugs look alike and differentiate drugs that are different).
• Use standard equipment, for example, one kind of pump or syringe.
Examples:
• Almost every organization established some type of protocol for medication administration.
• Many organizations set standards for prescribing practices, including appropriate abbreviations and notations.
• Several organizations standardized antibiotic administration times to prevent omissions.
Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Boston.
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