• CDC
  • Heart Failure
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Adult Immunization
  • Hepatic Disease
  • Rare Disorders
  • Pediatric Immunization
  • Implementing The Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Weight Management
  • Monkeypox
  • Guidelines
  • Men's Health
  • Psychiatry
  • Allergy
  • Nutrition
  • Women's Health
  • Cardiology
  • Substance Use
  • Pediatrics
  • Kidney Disease
  • Genetics
  • Complimentary & Alternative Medicine
  • Dermatology
  • Endocrinology
  • Oral Medicine
  • Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases
  • Pain
  • Gastrointestinal Disorders
  • Geriatrics
  • Infection
  • Musculoskeletal Disorders
  • Obesity
  • Rheumatology
  • Technology
  • Cancer
  • Nephrology
  • Anemia
  • Neurology
  • Pulmonology

What’s That Dose Again?

Article

Patients' descriptions of their medications can cause confusion-with potentially dangerous results.

Patients' descriptions of their medications can cause confusion-with potentially dangerous results. For example, a patient may say she is "on 160 mg" of an antihypertensive when, in fact, she takes two 80-mg tablets per day. The health care professional may call in that medication as 160 mg, and the patient is then likely to take 2 of these 160-mg pills per day. Thus, she will be receiving 320 mg/d, not 160 mg/d.

The bottom line: always speak about medications in milligrams per pill and number of pills per day.

-- 
Richard A. Honaker, MD

More Pointers . . .

Related Videos
"Vaccination is More of a Marathon than a Sprint"
Vaccines are for Kids, Booster Fatigue, and Other Obstacles to Adult Immunization
Related Content
© 2024 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.