I prefer 'ug' or 'μg' to 'mcg'; however, I can tell you from first hand experience that some people's hand written 'μg' looks a lot like 'mg'. I work in a laboratory and see ''μg' and 'μL' hand written in such a way that that it looks just like 'mg' or 'mL' if you aren't familiar with the person's hand writing. On the other hand, just about everyone in the laboratory thinks of 'M' & 'm' as being the same so that I see silly things like a request to draw a 10 ML clot tube from a patient...of course we're never going to get 10 000 000 L from the patient!
Perhaps the safest thing is simply to write out in full 'micro' where there may be any confusion. Rick, MT (AAB), MLT (ASCP) On Feb 20, 2008 8:13 AM, James Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My feeling is that mcg is easier to confuse with mg than is. The FDA > mandates using mcg for microgram, however. > > What I do not know about this case is whether the pharmacist was reading > a handwritten Rx or one that was electronically generated. And I do not > know whether mcg or μg was used there. > > Jim > > James Frysinger wrote: > > Hospital Pharmacy Error Blamed for Preemie's Death > > > > Tuesday , February 19, 2008 > > > > An error by a hospital pharmacy led to the death of a premature baby who > > at one time was thriving, ABC News reported. > > > > Alyssa Shinn was born 14 weeks early to Kathleen and Richard Shinn. She > > was frail and tiny but grew stronger in the neonatal intensive care unit > > at Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas, according to the report, which was > > published on Monday. > > > > "She was doing excellent," Richard Shinn told ABC. "She had just come > > off the ventilator. She was gaining weight. She was starting to take > > milk. They just gave her a few drops of milk a day, in a little dropper. > > And everything was good to go." > > > > But after the Shinns went home to get some rest on Nov. 8, 2006, > > something went wrong. Upon returning to the hospital the next morning at > > 9 a.m., the Shinns found their daughter was lethargic and not moving. > > Kathleen Shinn said she could sense her daughter was on the brink of > > death, according to the report. > > > > It was later discovered that the lead pharmacist on duty at the hospital > > the night before made a fatal mistake prescribing to Alyssa 330 > > milligrams of zinc, a nutritional supplement to help the baby's > > metabolism, ABC reported. > > > > The dosage was 1,000 times the 330 micrograms of zinc that the baby was > > supposed to receive. > > > > Source: > > http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331164,00.html > > > > -- > James R. Frysinger > 632 Stony Point Mountain Road > Doyle, TN 38559-3030 > > (H) 931.657.3107 > (C) 931.212.0267 > >
