UVVhim2012
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School
St. Johns River State College *
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Course
2012
Subject
Medicine
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
1
Uploaded by ProfessorRabbit3417
HIM2012
Prompt
: Explore the Joint Commission website (www.jointcommission.org) with the
specific goal of identifying information pertaining to permissible and prohibited
abbreviations. Explain which abbreviations are permissible and which are prohibited
according to the Joint Commission. You should also be able to explain why the
abbreviations on the “do not use” list have been barred.
ANSWER:
Since the dawn of technology, abbreviations have been used to convey emotion and relay
information while saving time. It is utilized more and more with the use of texting and social
media. But before technology, abbreviations have been used since the development of
mainstream medicine. What started as limited to writing prescriptions has now morphed into the
consumption of every aspect of healthcare that even medical and nursing school graduates are
used to using it straight out of school. The problem with this is that health care workers have
been making up their own abbreviations and there are no standards to say what is correct or not,
which can be a threat to patients. (Tariq & Sharma, 2023).
With this ever-growing trend, policies have been put into place to close that gap. The Joint
Commission doesn't have a list of approved abbreviations, but they have authorized
organizations to come up with a list of their own using a reasonable approach and provided that
they can show how they came up with it. Even though the Joint Commission doesn't publish
approved abbreviations, it is very specific on the abbreviations that cannot be used. (2022) The
"Do Not Use" list is part of the information management standards and was developed in
response to the 2002 National Patient Safety Goal that required accredited organizations to come
up with a list of abbreviations that could not be used. Each abbreviation on this list conveys a
potential problem that could prove disastrous to a patient is misinterpreted. For example, MS
could either mean morphine sulfate (opiate pain reliever) or magnesium sulfate (mineral
supplement). A decimal point can be missed when using trailing zeros and therefore not be used
in medication documentation. However, the only exception to this rule is when it is required to
show precision, like for a lab result or imaging study. (2023)
References:
(2022, December 6).
Managing Health Information: Use of Abbreviations,
Acronyms, Symbols and Dose Designations - Understanding the
Requirements
. The Joint
Commission.
https://www.jointcommission.org/standards/standard-
faqs/hospital-and-hospital-clinics/information-management-im/000001457/
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