This information may someday help to prevent harm to you or someone you care about....

I am not a medical professional, but I thought it would be useful for people to know about a reported case on medication errors caused by misinterpreted abbreviations ("The Impact of Abbreviations on Patient Safety," link below).

The study examined over 640,000 medication errors, of which almost 30,000 were attributable to abbreviations, including cc (cubic centimeters) and µg (micrograms).

In the fields of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy--
cc can be mistaken for U (units) when poorly written
µg can be mistaken for mg (milligrams) when poorly written
Therefore, in health care, the written abbreviations cc and µg are strongly discouraged, and are being considered for inclusion in an official "Do Not Use" list. In some health care facilities, these abbreviations are already forbidden. To reduce errors, the recommended usage is:
Instead of cc, write ml or mL (milliliters)
Instead of µg or ug, write mcg (micrograms)
An actual case from the study--
CASE 2
A hydromorphone epidural was prescribed for a patient and written as “2 µg/mL.” The pharmacist incorrectly entered the order as “500 mg in 250 mL” and prepared and labeled the medication as “2 mg/mL.” The error was perpetuated when the nurse incorrectly interpreted the labeled medication and administered a 1,000-fold dose variance. The patient developed marked respiratory depression requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation...
Since µg is the official abbreviation for the microgram in the SI system of units, it is good to be aware that the recommended usage in health care is quite the opposite.

As mentioned, I am not a medical professional, so it would be useful to hear observations from anyone who has experience or knowledge about this issue.

References:
The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
"The Impact of Abbreviations on Patient Safety" (September 2007)
http://psnet.ahrq.gov/public/Brunetti_JCJQPS_2007.pdf

Joint Commission Official "Do Not Use" List
(including list of additional abbreviations for possible future inclusion)
http://www.jointcommission.org/NR/rd...6_dnu_list.pdf