Death by spell checker

[JM_]

I subscribe to a medial device newsletter, and they put out a list of medical errors to watch for each year. This one caught my eye - make sure you check your labels folks. 

 

2. Fatal Medication Errors Can Result When Drug Entry Fields Populate after Only a Few Letters

The likelihood of such errors could be significantly reduced if systems are designed or configured to require entry of, at minimum, the first five letters of a drug name before populating search fields. An ECRI analysis of drug names found that 92% of FDA-approved drugs have the same first three letters as at least one other drug, compared with only 58% when looking at the first five letters. Thus, increasing the number of characters entered from three to five greatly reduces the possible number of matches.

 

https://hitconsultant.net/2021/02/16/ecri-institute-top-10-health-technology-hazards-to-watch-in-2021/#.YUtl3S0ZOT8

[Rob_Zepp]

Thanks...just checking now....."I - v - e - r - m - e - c - t - i - n".....yup, I got the right stuff........

[Phil_314]

Makes sense, and aren't most of them named based on their chemical compounds?
Can imagine why there wouldn't be too many combinations available, and why there's potential for similar looking names.

[JM_]

20 minutes ago, Phil_314 said:

Makes sense, and aren't most of them named based on their chemical compounds?
Can imagine why there wouldn't be too many combinations available, and why there's potential for similar looking names.

for sure, just need to watch out for yourself and family. This is the first time I've seen this one on the top 10 list so thats why it stood out to me. 

[Crabcakes]

I only take illicit drugs.....

 

jk

[Gurn]

 

[stawns]

14 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

I only take illicit drugs.....

 

jk