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A nurse's medication card read:
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A student nurse interpreted this dosage to be 3T or 3 tablespoonfuls. Instead of 5 ml, a pediatric patient received 45 ml of the medication. Aside from extreme drowsiness, the child had no other ill effects. He was observed for 24 hours. The student nurse had questioned her instructor and a team leader; yet she was told to go ahead and give the dose.
Obvious advice is to insist upon proper terms and symbols. There is no longer any use for the apothecary system and its abbreviations. The metric system has taken over in medicine.
Although these apothecary abbreviations are not to be used, unfortunately, they are still found sometimes in doctors' orders and are transcribed onto medication records. We should campaign against their use-obviously for good reason.
Some people were taught that capital "T" meant tablespoonful and small "t" meant teaspoonful. These abbreviations are also used in cooking. The doctor's apothecary abbreviation for the number one looked like a capital T. The sign for dram looked like a 3.