Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters
100k is the number I have heard.
We are always trying to implement new procedures. Problems include bad handwriting, medications that sound or are spelled similarly, and many other things.
For example, I had a friend who told me once he ordered 4mg Magnesium Sulfate to be given IV. The nurse called him back said "We don't have 4mg of morphine, I've checked". And he almost shat a brick.
In case you don't know, 4mg of morphine IV would probably kill a horse.
Even if it looked like he wrote for morphine, the nurse should have known not administer that much.
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For some reason, I thought you were a doctor.
No...4 mg of morphine would not kill a horse. It's probably the most common dose of pain medicine I write as the morphine vials come in either 4 mg or 10 mg.
And I would like to see someone measure out 4 mg of magnesium. There's probably more than that on your fingertip right now.
I'm thinking your friend 4 g of morphine--which would kill a horse--as 4 g is a normal dose of magnesium.
BUT, there's no one in the world that would give 4 g of morphine. I doubt you
could even find that much in the pharmacy.
This morphine vs magnesium is one of the justifications for the ridiculous JCAHO requirements of writing out morphine and magnesium, but the truth is, I seriously doubt this mistake has ever been made in the history of medicine. Another set of requirements by someone who's never treated a patient.