In "Provera or Prozac? Pro-blem Handwriting" (Medication Errors, November 2009),* poor handwriting by the prescriber (shown above) was noted as a contributing factor when Prozac was mistakenly administered instead of Provera. I'm surprised you didn't point out that if the provider had ordered the drug by its generic rather than trade name, this problem might have been avoided despite poor handwriting.
Preventing avoidable medication errors is a team effort. Using systems such as electronic entry to avoid the initial error would probably be most beneficial.
-GENEVIEVE O'SHEA, BN, RN, CCRN
Pittsburgh, Pa.
* Individual subscribers can also access this article free online at http://www.nursing2010.com. [Context Link]