Use of abbreviations in daily progress notes
- Special Care Baby Unit, Royal Hospital, PO Box 1331, Postal Code 111, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman; shabihman@hotmail.com
Errors in medication and documentation are reported.1,2 These errors, no matter how minor, could have grave consequences for the patient, especially in the paediatric population. One can imagine the potential threat to small neonates. Recently, Carroll et al3 described problems in residents’ progress notes in a neonatal intensive care unit. Being the busiest centre in the country, managing the great majority of seriously sick neonates, we are at a very high risk of these errors. In view of this and as a screening audit, we looked at a few progress notes written on our inpatient neonates. One example of a progress note, written by a junior doctor, stated “Prem 32 WOG, F&G, Problems: RDS, IVH II, S/P SVT, Stable on RA, TPR normal, PU, BO. Chest, CVS & abdomen: …
