Abbreviations Initiative

We’ve launched a Medication Safety Abbreviations website: abbreviations.hqca.ca

This will allow users to easily identify information and resources relevant to their area of practice, and lead them through a process to design and implement an abbreviations initiative in their care setting. The website walks users through two case examples and has components that can be printed.

In 2007, the HQCA began work on an initiative to spread key messages about the risks to patient safety posed by using abbreviations in communication about medications, a common cause of medication errors and patient adverse events.