5 votes

Confusion over medicine names threatens lives

1 comment

  1. vakieh
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    No, this is avoiding one slice of a difficult problem while still attacking it from the wrong direction - the issue has been solved in logistics and warehousing for decades. You think the solution...

    But this is avoiding the problem

    No, this is avoiding one slice of a difficult problem while still attacking it from the wrong direction - the issue has been solved in logistics and warehousing for decades. You think the solution to mistaking a piece of 25mm conduit with a 32mm conduit is to name one conduit and the other longpipe?

    You eliminate the names altogether, and go with an alternative identifier that allows you to describe things without issue. One option is computer-read id sequences (there's some cool advances in wearable tech that would aid in this space, like a badge reader worn next to the pager) - which slows down the request process in exchange for ensuring accuracy and maintaining a digital record. Another is a combination of things that aren't just letter strings for ids - rather than Amlodipine being identified by the word Amlodipine on one bottle and Nimodipine on another, Amlo could be in a cylindrical ampoule and Nimo in a square. Or one could have particular stripe patterns with the other having a different pattern.

    Changing the name of future drugs a) does zip about all the current drugs, and b) rapidly runs into the simple issue of limited space. There's only so many phonetic sounds available, and once you hit a certain length people will abbreviate, which makes the issue 10x worse.

    3 votes