ABBREVIATIONS-3

DOSE DESIGNATIONS AND OTHER INFORMATION	INTENDED MEANING	MISINTERPRETATION	CORRECTION
Trailing zeros after decimal point (e.g., 1.0 mg)**	1mg	Mistaken as 1Omg if the decimal point is not seen	Do not use trailing zeros for doses expressed in whole numbers
“naked" decimal point (e.g., .5mg)**	0.5 mg	Mistaken as 5mg if the d8cimal point is not seen	Use zero before a decimal point when the dose is less than a whole unit
Abbreviations such as mg, ml. with a period following the abbreviation	mg ml	The period is unnecessary and could be mistaken as the number 1 if written poorly	Use mg, mL, etc. without a terminal period
6/24	Every six hours	Mistaken as ‘six times a day'	‘every 6 hrs.’, ‘6 hourly', ’firth
1/7	For one day	Mistaken as 'for one week’	For one day only
1/2	half	Mistaken as 'one or two’	Half
i, ii, iii, iv (Roman numerals)	1,2,3,4 etc.		Hindu-Arabic numbers,1,2,3,4, etc. or words
10₆ etc.	One million	Not universally understood	Use one million or 1,0O0, OOO
Drug name and dose run together (especially problematic for drug names that end in "I” such as Inderal40 mg; Tegretol300 mg)	Inderal 40 mg TegretoI 300mg	Mistaken as Inderal 140 mg Mistaken as Tegretol 1300 mg	Place adequate space between the drug name, dose, and unit of measure
Numerical dose and unit of measure run together (e.g., 10mg, 100mL)	10 mg 1O0mL	The “m' is sometimes mistaken as a zero or two zeros, risking a 10- to 100-fold overdose	Place adequate space between the dose and unit of measurement
Large doses without properly placed commas (e.g., 100000 units)	100,000 units 1,OO0,OOO units	100000 has been mistaken as 10,000 or 1,000,000; 1000000 has been mistaken as 100,000	Use commas for dosing units at or above 1,000, or use words such as 100 “thousand" Or 1 "million" to improve readability