Patient Safety & Quality AssuranceQuestion 55 of 100
A handwritten order reads "Humulin R 8U subcutaneously before meals." Which correction should be made before the order is processed?
a.Abbreviate "subcutaneously" to "SQ"
b.Rewrite the dose as "8.0 units"
c.Have "U" spelled out as "units," because U can be misread as a zero or a four
d.Replace "before meals" with "QD"
Explanation
The symbol U is one of the most dangerous abbreviations in practice: 8U can be read as 80 or 84, turning an 8 unit insulin dose into a potentially fatal one. The word units must be written out in full. SQ is itself an error-prone abbreviation, 8.0 units introduces a hazardous trailing zero, and QD is on every do-not-use list because it is confused with QOD and QID.
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