What it means
A safety method for drug names that look almost the same. The letters that differ are capitalized, as in hydrOXYzine and hydrALAZINE, or predniSONE and prednisoLONE, on labels, pharmacy shelves and electronic records. The FDA and ISMP publish lists of names to write this way.
For the nurse
Read the whole drug name at each check, and pay attention to the capital letters: they mark the part that tells two drugs apart.
At a glance
| Also written | tall-man lettering, tall man letters |
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Related terms
look-alike sound-alike
Describes drug names that look or sound similar to other drug names and so are easily confused.
independent double check
A safety step in which a second qualified person checks a medication on their own, without being told the expected result, before it is given.