What is a trailing zero in medicine?

trailing zero A zero that follows a decimal point, e.g., “lisinopril 5.0 grams orally twice a day.” Trailing zeros appear on the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAHO) “Do not use” list.

What is a standard medication order?

A medication order is written directions provided by a prescribing practitioner for a specific medication to be administered to an individual. The prescribing practitioner may also give a medication order verbally to a licensed person such as a pharmacist or a nurse.

Which numbers should not be used by a healthcare provider when writing a prescription hint avoid trailing zeros and use leading zeros only on numbers less than one?

Ten- and one-hundred-fold errors in drug strength and dosage have occurred with decimals due to the use of a trailing zero or the absence of a leading zero. To avoid this, include leading zeroes when using decimal expressions less than one (e.g., 0.05) and avoid using trailing zeroes after decimals (e.g., .

What does SID on a prescription mean?

once daily
After reviewing reports of problems with animal drugs, CVM found that the abbreviation “SID” (once daily) in prescriptions was misinterpreted as “BID” (twice daily) and “QID” (four times daily), resulting in drug overdoses for the patients.

What is considered a trailing zeros?

A trailing zero is a zero digit in the representation of a number which has no non-zero digits that are less significant than the zero digit. Put more simply, it is a zero digit with no non-zero digits to the right of it.

What makes a medication order valid?

A medication order is valid only if the medical practitioner enters all the required items (see Sections 5.1, 5.2 and 5.4). All information, including drug names, should be printed. Only abbreviations as specified in the NRMC are to be used when a medicine is not administered as per the order.

What is a trailing decimal point?

A trailing zero is any zero that appears to the right of both the decimal point and every digit other than zero. For example: 34.8 34.80 34.8000. All three of these numbers are the same.

What does mL mean on a prescription?

There are a variety of abbreviations to indicate the contents: TAB (tablet), CAP (capsule), DOS (dose, for things such as inhalers), GM (grams for topicals like creams & ointments), ML (millilitres for liquids). Amount of Medication.

What does CID stand for pharmacy?

Cytomegalic inclusion disease, see there. McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine.

What is an example of trailing zero?

A trailing zero is any zero that appears to the right of both the decimal point and every digit other than zero. In this example, 34.8000 means 30 + 4 + 8/10 + 0 + 0 + 0. You can attach or remove as many trailing zeros as you want to without changing the value of a number.

When to use leading zeros and trailing zeros when expressing doses?

1 Always include a leading zero for dosage strengths or concentrations less than 1 2 Never follow a whole number with a decimal point and a zero (trailing zero) 3 Educate the staff about the dangers involved with expressing doses using naked decimal points and trailing zeros

Should trailing zeros appear on drug labels?

The pharmacy management agreed that the trailing zeros appearing on labels might pose a risk, and they made the change immediately. • Always include a leading zero before a decimal point for dosage strengths less than 1.

What are the dangers of using trailing zeros?

These “trailing zeros” (eg, “3.0”) are a frequent cause of 10-fold overdoses and never should be used. For example, when prescriptions have been written for “Coumadin 1.0 mg,” patients have received 10 mg in error. Dangerous use of decimals also can be problematic if they appear in electronic order-entry systems or on computergenerated labels.

How do you write the name of a discontinued drug?

When discontinuing a medication, the prescriber should write the name of the drug being discontinued and not an order number. Use a leading zero if a number is less than one (0.1), and don’t use a trailing zero after a decimal (5.0).