Usually it is caught because it is written in the wrong dose for that drug, or the wrong units. Of course if it is illegible, you call the doc and clarify. When s/he gets enough calls at 3am, s/he learns to write better.

The old joke about the reporter at the New York Times who’s been sent an illegible note on an important story by an informant.  He asks his editor what he should do and is told, “Have a copy boy take it downstairs to the pharmacy.  If those guys can read doctors’ writing they can decipher that.”  He does so, and a half hour later, the copy boy returns and hands the reporter a bottle of pills.

Occam

harry canyon - 14 June 2010 01:51 PM

that the US government funds CAM research via the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Huh… Seems like a waste of money to me*. Haven’t most credible studies shown that the benefits of CAM are at best a placebo effect? Why keep studying it?

(My guess is because it’s big business. )

Take care,

Derek

*  They have a budget of US$128,844,000 for 2010. (Obtained here: http://nccam.nih.gov/grants/strategy/2010.htm#data )

They are politicians not scientists. If you have enough money I suspect one can lobby for just about anything to be put into a funding bill.

citizenschallenge.pm - 29 September 2010 04:10 AM

asanta - 09 August 2010 10:01 PM

Oops typo!  Sorry!! 

This is OT (but a great example), but how do doctors get away with scribbling illegible prescriptions, when one or two letters can mean a huge difference.

I believe converting to computer based medical and medicinal records would go a long way to avoid such mistakes, in addition to greater efficiency in providing statistical data.

asanta - 29 September 2010 09:26 AM

Usually it is caught because it is written in the wrong dose for that drug, or the wrong units. Of course if it is illegible, you call the doc and clarify. When s/he gets enough calls at 3am, s/he learns to write better.

I read about a school for physicians that re-teaches clarity in handwritten scripts. It actually employs first grade lettering forms and methods

Mriana - 09 August 2010 10:40 AM

Oh my!  Don’t people comprehend what bleach can do to them?  How stupid and/or gullible can people be?

Remember the cheap French wines that contained anti-freeze to make them sweeter? But I would not blame the lack of knowledge on the consumer, but rather on the manufacturer.