Error Number 146. Using the abbreviation "q.n." instead of "h.s." or the word "nightly"

When a doctor wrote the order below:

he used the abbreviation "q. n." to mean "every night." Unfortunately, the administering nurse thought the order said "q.h" (every hour). After the patient developed severe diarrhea from hourly doses of milk of magnesia, the nurse realized the error.

The abbreviation "q.n." was not on the hospital's approved list. So the doctor should have used the standard "h. s." (at bedtime) or written the word "nightly" on his order.

But he didn't. Help to avoid these errors by getting serious about unauthorized, unfamiliar abbreviations when you realize that one has been used. Some of these abbreviations are dangerous and have been purposely left off your hospital's JCAHO approved list. Your patient's safety comes before anything else.