Patient Safety & Quality AssuranceQuestion 62 of 100
A prescription reads "insulin glargine 14 units subcutaneously at bedtime," but the label that printed reads "inject 14 mL subcutaneously at bedtime." What should the technician do?
a.Stop the fill and alert the pharmacist, because the unit of measure was changed from units to mL and would produce a massive overdose
b.Dispense it, since 14 mL of U-100 insulin equals 14 units
c.Correct the label to read 14 mL and add an auxiliary label about measuring carefully
d.Dispense it with an insulin syringe so the patient can convert the dose
Explanation
Insulin is dosed in units, and 14 mL of U-100 insulin would contain 1,400 units — roughly a hundred times the intended dose — so the fill must stop and the pharmacist must correct the entry. The claim that 14 mL equals 14 units is false, keeping the mL wording preserves the error, and no auxiliary label or syringe choice can make a wrong unit of measure safe.
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