3 ms·
This seems to be something the medical industry hits every month with medications and materials. The human is prone to an incorrect interpretation of the specif
by cordite 10y ago
This seems to be something the medical industry hits every month with medications and materials. The human is prone to an incorrect interpretation of the specifics and may take action or not take action improperly because of that.
How to identify similarly spelled medications as different? Is the dosage or dilution magnitudes apart without visibly distinct and obvious clues?
More information about how the medical world handles these kinds of issues is at the Institution of Safe Medical Practices [1].
[1]: http://www.ismp.org/Newsletters/default.asp http://www.ismp.org/Newsletters/default.asp
- jrowley 10y agoI heard recently of a patient that took some prescribed medication before her surgery, but instead of taking 5 mg as prescribed she ended up taking 5 grams, which induced a near fatal stroke. You could argue that better design could have prevented this from happening. Edit: The mistake was between mg and ml, so the person drank 5ml of a 5X concentration drug. Either way a terrible, preventable result.
- dmoy 10y agomg ml vs mg g is roughly comparable for many liquid, so still roughly the same.
- AstralStorm 10y agoMissing the point. The doses by mass are specified in terms of (main) active substance, not the whole solution.
- WalterBright 10y agoThere was a famous airline accident where gallons of fuel was confused with liters. The fix (obvious in hindsight) was to standardize on gallons.
- sitharus 10y agoYou're thinking of the Gimli Glider, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider Boeing had just transitioned their FQIS from lbs to kgs (aircraft fuel is always weighed, volume changes with temperature). The flight crew hadn't had enough familiarisation and miscalculated. All aircraft now calculate fuel usage in SI units.
- WalterBright 10y agoThanks for the correction.
- sokoloff 10y ago> aircraft fuel is always weighed Jet fuel is typically planned by weight. Avgas is typically planned by volume. In general aviation, both are typically priced and sold by volume. > All aircraft now calculate fuel usage in SI units. All 3 of my aircraft track/calculate fuel usage in imperial units. Likewise, everyone I know in US general aviation also still uses imperial units (lbs, lbs/hr, gallons, gal/hr).
- kwhitefoot 10y agoI wish people would stop saying imperial when they mean US Customary! An imperial gallon is about 4.5 litre while a US Customary gallon is about 3.8 litre.
- sokoloff 10y agoFair point. Thanks for the correction!
- sitharus 10y agoFair points, I was speaking to commercial aviation.