I was reading an article in the most recent issue of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare and I ran accross the paragraph below. I had to chuckle to myself. Would this be the definition of irony?
Feel free to comment on what you think is wrong with this paragraph. Don’t look too hard because it should be immediately obvious to all healthcare providers. I’ll update the post tomorrow.
Ironic indeed. For a start we do not use cc in healthcare, we use ml. Then there is the matter of the difference between water and saline, does the writer know that they are not the same? Interesting the writer makes no mention of packaging, which is often also a contributory factor. You could add in the fact that most hospitals do not allow concentrated potassium chloride out of the pharmacy, and some treat it like a controlled drug, with nurses having to sign for it before using it. Perhaps the author was distracted whilst writing ;-)
Pauline beat me to it. I was all over the cc vs. mL but I would have been embarrassed to miss the sterile water vs. saline… so I’m glad to have been beaten.
I can always count on you Pauline to hit the nail on the head. Bravo! I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Perhaps the editors should use a pharmacist to proofread the document prior to publication next time. Thanks for playing.
Exactly! The cc vs. mL issue was what initially caught my attention. CC is on the ISMP’s error prone abbreviations list which states “… should NEVER be used
when communicating medical information.”
Thanks for taking the time to stop by Charles. Always good to hear from you.
Come on we’ve worked with people who thought the same thing
True enough.
All IV KCl is the same strength. What I’m wondering though, is why would someone, other than a pharmacist or a tech in the IV room, have 10ml of KCl drawn up into a syringe?
Yep, you ask a good question Guzzo. It goes without saying that the person writing the paragraph needs a lesson in guidelines, rules, regulations and common sense. Thanks for stopping by.