Glossary

The terms, abbreviations, and forms you have to know — in plain English. Filter by domain or search.

367 terms

-azoleMedications: Antifungals that block ergosterol synthesis in the fungal cell membrane; e.g., fluconazole, ketoconazole.
-caineMedications: Local anesthetics that numb tissue by blocking nerve signals; e.g., lidocaine, benzocaine.
-cillinMedications: Penicillin-class antibiotics that kill bacteria by disrupting cell-wall synthesis; e.g., amoxicillin.
-cyclineMedications: Tetracycline-class antibiotics; broad-spectrum, avoid with dairy/antacids; e.g., doxycycline.
-dipineMedications: Suffix for calcium channel blockers (e.g., amlodipine)
-floxacinMedications: Suffix for fluoroquinolone antibiotics (e.g., ciprofloxacin)
-gliptinMedications: DPP-4 inhibitors that lower blood sugar; e.g., sitagliptin.
-glitazoneMedications: Diabetes drugs improving insulin sensitivity; e.g., pioglitazone.
-mabMedications: Monoclonal antibody biologics targeting specific proteins; e.g., adalimumab.
-mycin / -micinMedications: Antibiotic suffix seen in aminoglycosides and macrolides; e.g., azithromycin, gentamicin.
-nibMedications: Kinase-inhibitor cancer drugs that block tumor-growth signals; e.g., imatinib.
-ololMedications: Suffix for beta blockers (e.g., metoprolol)
-pam / -lamMedications: Benzodiazepines for anxiety/seizures; enhance GABA; e.g., diazepam, lorazepam, alprazolam.
-parinMedications: Anticoagulant heparins that prevent clots; e.g., enoxaparin, dalteparin.
-prazoleMedications: Suffix for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)
-prilMedications: Suffix for ACE inhibitors (e.g., lisinopril)
-sartanMedications: Suffix for ARBs (e.g., losartan)
-statinMedications: Suffix for cholesterol-lowering statins
-terolMedications: Beta-2 agonist bronchodilators that open airways; e.g., albuterol, salmeterol.
-tidineMedications: H2 blockers that reduce stomach acid; e.g., famotidine, cimetidine (ranitidine was withdrawn in 2020).
-triptanMedications: Migraine drugs that constrict cranial blood vessels; e.g., sumatriptan.
-virMedications: Antiviral drugs that inhibit viral replication; e.g., acyclovir, oseltamivir.
-zosinMedications: Alpha-1 blockers that relax blood vessels and the prostate; e.g., prazosin, doxazosin, terazosin.
1 gr = 65 mgOrder Entry & Processing: Apothecary grain to milligram conversion.
1 kg = 2.2 lbOrder Entry & Processing: Kilogram to pound conversion for weight-based dosing.
1 lb = 454 gOrder Entry & Processing: Pound to gram conversion for weight.
1 oz = 30 mLOrder Entry & Processing: Approximate fluid ounce to milliliter conversion.
1 tbsp = 15 mLOrder Entry & Processing: Standard household-to-metric conversion for a tablespoon.
1 tsp = 5 mLOrder Entry & Processing: Standard household-to-metric conversion for a teaspoon.
340BOrder Entry & Processing: A federal program letting qualifying safety-net facilities buy outpatient drugs at deeply discounted prices.
5% w/vOrder Entry & Processing: 5 grams per 100 mL
72-hour emergency supplyFederal Requirements: State-law allowance (length varies by state) letting a pharmacist dispense a short emergency supply when the prescriber cannot be reached.
A1cMedications: Hemoglobin A1c — a blood test reflecting average glucose over roughly the past three months, so it shows long-term diabetes control rather than a single moment.
aaOrder Entry & Processing: Of each; equal amounts of listed ingredients.
ACOrder Entry & Processing: Before meals
ac & hsOrder Entry & Processing: Before meals and at bedtime (four times daily).
ADOrder Entry & Processing: Right ear (auris dextra).
Additive effectMedications: When two drugs with the same effect stack, so the risk adds up even though neither dose is wrong on its own. It is why a duplication matters.
AdjudicationOrder Entry & Processing: Real-time claim submission to insurer determining coverage and copay.
AdjuvantMedications: An ingredient added to a vaccine to strengthen the immune response. Two-component vaccines mix the antigen with its adjuvant at reconstitution and must then be used within a set time.
Administration errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A mistake made when the drug is actually given to the patient.
Adverse drug eventPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Any injury resulting from the use of a medication, whether preventable or not.
Adverse drug reactionPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: An unintended, harmful response to a drug given at normal doses.
Alert fatiguePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: What happens when a system fires so many warnings that people stop reading them. The fix is fewer, better alerts — not telling staff to try harder.
AlligationOrder Entry & Processing: Mixing two strengths to reach a target strength
AmbienMedications: Brand name for zolpidem, a sedative-hypnotic for sleep
AmoxilMedications: Brand name for amoxicillin, a penicillin antibiotic
Anabolic Steroid Control ActFederal Requirements: Placed anabolic steroids into Schedule III of the CSA.
ANCMedications: Absolute neutrophil count — the number of a specific infection-fighting white cell. Clozapine requires ANC monitoring because it can cause severe neutropenia.
AnteroomPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Transition area for hand hygiene and garbing before the buffer area.
AnticholinergicMedications: Blocks acetylcholine. The predictable set follows: dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, urinary retention and confusion — which is why these drugs are risky in older adults and in men with an enlarged prostate.
AntihistamineMedications: Blocks histamine to treat allergy symptoms. First-generation agents like diphenhydramine cross into the brain and sedate; second-generation agents like loratadine largely do not.
ARBMedications: Angiotensin receptor blocker; lowers blood pressure; generics end in -sartan.
ARCOSFederal Requirements: The DEA system that tracks controlled substances moving between manufacturers and distributors. It is a supply-chain tool, not a patient-level database like a PDMP.
ASOrder Entry & Processing: Left ear (auris sinistra).
AUOrder Entry & Processing: Both ears (auris utraque).
Authorized collectorFederal Requirements: A pharmacy or other registrant that has modified its DEA registration so it may accept unused controlled substances back from patients. It is an opt-in status, not automatic.
Auxiliary labelOrder Entry & Processing: Supplemental warning sticker (e.g., "Take with food") added to a prescription.
AWPOrder Entry & Processing: Average Wholesale Price, a drug pricing benchmark
Barcode medication administrationPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Scanning drug and patient barcodes to verify the right dose at bedside.
Basal insulinMedications: A long-acting insulin such as glargine that gives steady background coverage through the day, as opposed to a mealtime insulin taken with food.
Benzalkonium chlorideMedications: A preservative in many eye drops. It absorbs into contact lenses, so lenses come out before the drop and go back in about 15 minutes later.
Beta blockerMedications: Slows heart rate and lowers blood pressure by blocking adrenaline; ends in -olol.
Beyond-use datePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: The date after which a product should no longer be used. For a DISPENSED container it can be no later than the manufacturer expiration, and no more than one year from dispensing. Repackaged unit-dose follows a stricter rule: the earliest of six months, 25% of the time remaining, or the manufacturer expiration.
BIDOrder Entry & Processing: Twice daily
Biennial inventoryFederal Requirements: A controlled-substance count taken every 2 years
BINOrder Entry & Processing: Bank Identification Number routing the insurance claim.
BioavailabilityMedications: The share of a dose that actually reaches the bloodstream in active form. Swallowing a sublingual product wastes most of it — partly poor absorption, partly first-pass metabolism.
Biological safety cabinetPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Vertical-airflow hood protecting worker and product when compounding hazardous drugs.
Black box warningPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: FDA's strongest label warning, officially called a boxed warning, about serious or life-threatening drug risks.
Boxed warningMedications: The most serious warning the FDA can require on a drug label, printed inside a black border. It flags a risk that can be fatal or permanently disabling.
BradykininMedications: A substance ACE normally breaks down. ACE inhibitors let it build up, which causes the dry cough. ARBs do not block that enzyme, so switching to one usually clears the cough.
BuccalMedications: Medication placed between cheek and gum to dissolve.
Buffer areaPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Cleanroom zone housing the hood where sterile compounding takes place.
C1V1 = C2V2Order Entry & Processing: The dilution equation: concentration times volume before equals concentration times volume after. Because the amount of active drug does not change when you add diluent, a stronger, smaller volume becomes a weaker, larger one — solve for whichever of the four values is missing. Example: to make 100 mL of 5% from a 25% stock, V1 = (5 x 100) / 25 = 20 mL of stock, then add diluent to 100 mL.
Calcium channel blockerMedications: Relaxes blood vessels and slows heart; many end in -dipine.
capOrder Entry & Processing: Capsule dosage form.
CapitationOrder Entry & Processing: A payment model where the plan pays a fixed amount per patient per period, regardless of how much that patient uses.
CardioselectiveMedications: A beta blocker that acts mainly on beta-1 receptors in the heart, such as metoprolol or atenolol. Selectivity is RELATIVE, not absolute — it fades at higher doses, so caution in asthma still applies.
CardizemMedications: Brand name for diltiazem, a calcium channel blocker
Chemo gownPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Disposable, closed-front gown of tested low-permeability material worn when handling hazardous drugs.
Chemotherapy glovesPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Thicker, tested gloves worn, often double, when handling hazardous drugs.
Chemotherapy spill kitPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Supplies used to safely contain and clean up a hazardous drug spill.
Child-resistantPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Packaging designed so most young children cannot open it quickly. It is child-RESISTANT, not childproof, and it is a different thing from tamper-evident.
Class I recallFederal Requirements: Reasonable probability of serious harm or death
Class III recallFederal Requirements: Not likely to cause adverse health effects
Closed system transfer devicePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Device preventing hazardous drug vapor or liquid from escaping during transfer.
CoinsuranceOrder Entry & Processing: Percentage of drug cost the patient pays.
Collection receptacleFederal Requirements: The locked container an authorized collector uses to take back unused medicines. Contents may never be counted, sorted, inventoried, or individually handled.
Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (CMEA)Federal Requirements: 2005 law restricting sale of pseudoephedrine and other meth precursors.
Compounding aseptic isolatorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Enclosed glovebox providing a sterile environment for compounding sterile preparations.
ConsigneePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Anyone who received a recalled product from the firm — including your pharmacy. Firms must account for every consignee, which is why you answer a recall notice even holding none of the lot.
Contact timePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: How long a disinfectant must stay visibly wet on a surface to work. Wiping it dry early means the surface was not disinfected.
ContraindicationMedications: A condition making a drug unsafe to use for a patient.
Control solutionOrder Entry & Processing: A liquid of known glucose value used to check that a meter and its strips are reading correctly. Not a cleaner and not a treatment.
Controlled Rx transferFederal Requirements: CIII-CV prescriptions transfer one time only (or shared refills on same real-time database).
Controlled Substances Act (CSA)Federal Requirements: 1970 law creating the drug schedules and regulating controlled-substance manufacture and distribution.
CopayOrder Entry & Processing: Fixed amount the patient pays per prescription.
Corresponding responsibilityFederal Requirements: Pharmacist shares legal duty to ensure a controlled Rx is legitimate.
CoumadinMedications: Brand name for warfarin, an anticoagulant
CozaarMedications: Brand name for losartan, an ARB
Credit returnOrder Entry & Processing: Sending damaged, incorrect, or short-dated stock back to the supplier or wholesaler for account credit.
CSOSFederal Requirements: Controlled Substance Ordering System: DEA-approved electronic ordering of any schedule, with no paper Form 222
CSOS digital certificateFederal Requirements: The credential for ordering controlled substances electronically. It is issued to ONE named person, cannot be shared or backed up, and a power of attorney does not let you use someone else's.
CYP2D6Medications: A liver enzyme that varies between people. Ultra-rapid metabolizers convert codeine to morphine unusually fast, which is why codeine is contraindicated in children after tonsillectomy.
Data entryOrder Entry & Processing: Workflow step entering prescription details into the pharmacy system.
DAWOrder Entry & Processing: Dispense As Written: a substitution code
DAW 0Order Entry & Processing: No product selection indicated; generic substitution allowed.
DAW 1Order Entry & Processing: Prescriber requires brand; substitution not allowed.
DAW 2Order Entry & Processing: Patient requested brand-name product.
Days supplyOrder Entry & Processing: Total quantity divided by amount used per day
DEAFederal Requirements: Enforces the Controlled Substances Act and registers handlers of controlled drugs.
DEA Form 106Federal Requirements: Reports theft or significant loss of controlled substances
DEA Form 222Federal Requirements: Orders Schedule I and II controlled substances
DEA Form 223Federal Requirements: The certificate of registration DEA issues, including after a modification such as a name or address change.
DEA Form 224Federal Requirements: Application to register a pharmacy with the DEA
DEA Form 225Federal Requirements: Registration application for manufacturers, distributors, importers, and exporters of controlled substances.
DEA Form 41Federal Requirements: Records the destruction of controlled substances
DEA numberFederal Requirements: Registrant identifier verified by a checksum of its digits; format is two letters plus seven digits.
DeductibleOrder Entry & Processing: Amount patient pays before insurance begins covering costs.
DeltasoneMedications: Brand name for prednisone, a corticosteroid
Deteriorated drug errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: NCC MERP type 70.13 — dispensing a product that has expired or degraded. Distinct from an omission, a monitoring error, or a wrong dose.
Digital data loggerPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: The thermometer used to monitor vaccine storage. Its probe sits in a buffered solution such as glycol so it reflects the temperature of the vaccine, not the air, which swings every time the door opens.
Dimensional analysisOrder Entry & Processing: Calculation using unit conversion factors to cancel units.
dispOrder Entry & Processing: Dispense; the quantity to be given.
DispenserFederal Requirements: DSCSA term for the pharmacy — the trading partner that gets the drug to the patient.
Dispensing errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A mistake made in the pharmacy while filling or labeling a prescription.
Do Not Use listPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Joint Commission list of abbreviations banned to prevent misreading.
Dose counterOrder Entry & Processing: The counter on a metered-dose inhaler. It is the only reliable end-point: the canister keeps spraying past 000 even though the dose is no longer assured, so floating or shaking it proves nothing.
Drug Facts labelMedications: The standardized OTC label panel: Active ingredients, Purpose, Uses, Warnings, Directions. Reading it is how you spot a duplicate active ingredient across two products.
Drug library (DERS)Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: The dose limits programmed into a smart infusion pump. Running the pump in basic mode bypasses them, which is why library bypass is tracked as a safety event.
Drug-disease contraindicationPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A DUR category: the drug is unsafe given a condition the patient already has, such as a non-selective beta blocker in asthma.
Dry powder inhaler (DPI)Medications: An inhaler with no propellant — your own fast, deep breath lifts the powder. It never takes a spacer, and you must never breathe out into it, because moisture clumps the powder.
DSCSAFederal Requirements: Drug Supply Chain Security Act; builds electronic track-and-trace across the drug supply chain.
Ductus arteriosusMedications: A fetal blood vessel that must stay open until birth. NSAIDs can close it early, which is why they are avoided from about 30 weeks.
DUROrder Entry & Processing: Drug utilization review; automated safety check during adjudication.
DUR alertOrder Entry & Processing: System warning of interactions, duplications, or dosing concerns.
Durham-Humphrey AmendmentFederal Requirements: 1951 law distinguishing prescription (legend) drugs from OTC drugs.
eGFRMedications: Estimated glomerular filtration rate — a calculated measure of how well the kidneys filter. Drug labels use it to set dose limits; metformin is contraindicated below 30.
ElixirMedications: Clear, sweetened, alcohol-containing oral liquid dosage form.
Emergency Schedule IIFederal Requirements: Oral order allowed; written Rx must follow within 7 days
Enteric-coatedMedications: Coating that delays release until the intestine; do not crush.
Error-prone abbreviationsPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Shorthand like U, QD, or MSO4 that ISMP says to spell out.
ETASUFederal Requirements: Elements To Assure Safe Use — the strictest REMS requirements, the ones that actually gate dispensing: certified prescribers, certified pharmacies, enrolled patients, or restricted settings. A Medication Guide is NOT an ETASU.
Expiration dateOrder Entry & Processing: Manufacturer's date guaranteeing potency of the original product.
Exposure incidentPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A needlestick, cut or splash involving potentially infectious material. OSHA requires the employer to provide confidential medical evaluation and follow-up at no cost to the employee.
Failure mode and effects analysisPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Proactive review predicting how a process could fail before errors happen.
FDAFederal Requirements: Regulates drug approval, safety, labeling, and manufacturing quality.
FDA Adverse Event Reporting SystemPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: FDA database (FAERS) collecting adverse event and medication error reports.
FDCA (1938)Federal Requirements: Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requiring premarket safety proof after sulfanilamide deaths.
Federal transfer warningFederal Requirements: Label statement: transfer of this drug to anyone other than the patient is illegal.
Filter needleOrder Entry & Processing: A needle with a built-in filter, used to draw medication out of a glass ampule so glass fragments stay behind. Swap it for a regular needle before injecting.
First airPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Clean air flowing directly from a HEPA filter to a critical site.
First-pass metabolismMedications: The liver breaking a drug down after oral absorption, before it reaches the bloodstream. Sublingual, buccal, rectal and injected routes bypass it, which is why the same drug can need a very different dose by mouth.
Five rightsPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Right patient, drug, dose, route, and time
FormularyOrder Entry & Processing: Insurer's list of covered/preferred medications.
GarbingPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Putting on protective attire in order before entering a compounding cleanroom.
Geometric dilutionOrder Entry & Processing: Mixing potent drug with base in gradually increasing amounts.
GlucophageMedications: Brand name for metformin (type 2 diabetes)
gttOrder Entry & Processing: Drop(s)
Half-lifeMedications: Time for blood drug concentration to drop by half; guides dosing frequency.
HemolysisPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Red blood cells rupturing. It is what happens when a hypotonic fluid such as plain sterile water is infused.
HEPA filterPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Removes at least 99.97% of 0.3-micron particles
Hepatitis B vaccination (OSHA)Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: The employer must OFFER hepatitis B vaccination at no cost within 10 working days of assignment to at-risk duties. An employee who declines signs a declination and may still request it later, free.
High-alert medicationPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Can cause severe harm if given in error (e.g., insulin)
HIPAAFederal Requirements: Protects patient health information (PHI)
Hospital internal codeFederal Requirements: A suffix the hospital appends to its own DEA number for a resident or staff prescriber who has no personal registration, written after a hyphen. The hospital keeps a list you can verify against.
HPA axis suppressionMedications: The body slowing its own steroid production because a potent steroid is being absorbed. It is why high-potency topical steroids carry limits on amount, duration, and covering the area.
HSOrder Entry & Processing: At bedtime
HyperkalemiaMedications: High blood potassium. ACE inhibitors, ARBs and potassium-sparing diuretics like spironolactone all push it up, which is why potassium is watched when they are combined.
HypokalemiaMedications: Low blood potassium. It sensitizes the heart to digoxin, so toxicity can occur even when the digoxin level looks acceptable.
HypotonicPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Thinner than blood. Sterile Water for Injection is hypotonic, so infusing it without a solute pulls water into red cells until they burst — which is why it is a diluent, never an infusion.
IDOrder Entry & Processing: Intradermal; into the skin.
IMOrder Entry & Processing: Intramuscular (into the muscle)
Incident reportPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: An internal record of a safety event, written in objective factual terms without blame. It goes to the pharmacy quality process, not into the patient chart.
Incidental disclosureFederal Requirements: Protected health information overheard as a by-product of a permitted conversation. It is not a HIPAA breach as long as reasonable safeguards were in place.
Independent double checkPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A second person verifies a high-alert dose
Initial inventoryFederal Requirements: Complete controlled-substance count taken when a pharmacy first begins dispensing.
INRMedications: International Normalized Ratio — a standardized measure of how long blood takes to clot. It is how warfarin therapy is monitored; a typical atrial-fibrillation target is 2 to 3.
InscriptionOrder Entry & Processing: Part of the Rx naming the drug, strength, and quantity.
IntolerancePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: An unpleasant but non-immune reaction, such as nausea. Recording it as an allergy can wrongly block a whole drug class the patient could safely take.
Intradermal (ID)Order Entry & Processing: Into the skin itself, almost flat to the surface, raising a small wheal. It is the tuberculin skin-test route — shallower than subcutaneous.
Inventory turnoverOrder Entry & Processing: How many times a year a pharmacy sells through its stock: annual cost of goods sold divided by average inventory value. Higher means less cash sitting on the shelf.
ISMPPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Institute for Safe Medication Practices
ISO Class 5Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: Cleanliness standard for the critical area where sterile compounding occurs.
IVMedications: Intravenous; medication given directly into a vein.
Kefauver-Harris AmendmentFederal Requirements: 1962 law that ADDED proof of effectiveness to the existing safety requirement, after the thalidomide tragedy. Safety alone was already required by the 1938 FDCA — effectiveness is what this amendment introduced.
Labeler codeOrder Entry & Processing: The first NDC segment, assigned by the FDA to the manufacturer, REPACKAGER or relabeler. A repackager holds its own code, so a repackaged bottle carries its NDC rather than the original manufacturer's.
Laminar airflow hoodPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Provides ISO Class 5 air for sterile compounding
LancetOrder Entry & Processing: A small blade or point used to prick the skin for a blood glucose sample. It is held by a lancing device that sets the depth.
LASAPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Look-alike/sound-alike drug names
LasixMedications: Brand name for furosemide, a loop diuretic
Leading zeroPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Write 0.5 mg, never .5 mg, to prevent 10-fold errors
Legend drugFederal Requirements: Prescription-only drug bearing "Rx only" on its label.
LevigationOrder Entry & Processing: Grinding a powder with a small amount of liquid to reduce particle size before mixing.
Light-resistant containerPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A container that blocks enough light to protect a photosensitive drug. Repackaging into a clear vial destroys that protection — though an opaque outer covering or secondary packaging can restore it.
LipitorMedications: Brand name for atorvastatin, a statin
LipodystrophyMedications: Lumpy or pitted changes in fat under the skin from injecting the same spot repeatedly. Rotating injection sites prevents it, and it also makes absorption unpredictable.
Loop diureticMedications: A strong diuretic such as furosemide that acts on the loop of Henle. It dumps potassium, which is why potassium is monitored and why it is sometimes paired with a potassium-sparing agent.
Market withdrawalFederal Requirements: A firm removing a product for a minor issue that would not trigger legal action by the FDA. It is not a recall.
MedGuidePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: FDA-required patient handout warning of serious risks for certain drugs.
Medication errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Any preventable event that may cause inappropriate medication use or patient harm.
Medication reconciliationPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Comparing a patient's medication list across care transitions to prevent errors.
MedWatchPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: FDA program for reporting adverse drug events
mEqMedications: Milliequivalent — a measure of the amount of an electrolyte, used for potassium, sodium and calcium salts. Potassium chloride 750 mg equals 10 mEq.
MERPPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: ISMP's Medication Errors Reporting Program collecting reports to prevent future errors.
Minimum necessaryFederal Requirements: Use or share only the PHI a task requires
Monitoring errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: An NCC MERP error type: the patient was not watched the way the drug requires, such as a level or lab that should have been drawn and was not.
Multi-dose vialPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A vial meant for more than one withdrawal. Use a NEW needle and a NEW syringe for every entry, and disinfect the septum first — a used syringe contaminates the vial for everyone after.
Narrow therapeutic indexMedications: A drug where the effective dose and the toxic dose sit close together, so small changes in blood level matter. Warfarin, lithium, digoxin and phenytoin are the classic examples.
NDCOrder Entry & Processing: 10-digit code on the label (padded to 11 digits for billing): labeler, product, package
NDC barcode scanPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Scanning the stock bottle during fill to confirm the correct product.
NDC numberFederal Requirements: 10- or 11-digit code identifying labeler, product, and package size.
Near missPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: An error that is caught before it reaches the patient. If it reached the patient but caused no harm, that is a no-harm error (NCC MERP Category C), not a near miss.
NebulizerOrder Entry & Processing: A device that turns liquid medication into a mist breathed in over several minutes. Needs no coordination, so it suits small children and patients in distress.
Needle gaugeOrder Entry & Processing: How thick a needle is — and it runs backwards: the HIGHER the gauge number, the thinner the needle. A 30 G needle is finer than an 18 G.
Negative pressure roomPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Room where air flows inward to contain hazardous drug contamination.
NeurontinMedications: Brand name for gabapentin (nerve pain and seizures)
NeutropeniaMedications: An abnormally low neutrophil count, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection. Severe neutropenia is the reason clozapine requires ongoing ANC monitoring.
NexiumMedications: Brand name for esomeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor
NIOSH hazardous drug listPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: List published by NIOSH, a CDC agency, naming drugs that need special handling; USP <800> is the standard that requires following it.
Non-retrievableFederal Requirements: The DEA destruction standard: the controlled substance must be permanently altered so it can never be used by anyone again. It does not require a DEA agent to witness the destruction.
NorvascMedications: Brand name for amlodipine, a calcium channel blocker
NSAIDMedications: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for pain/inflammation; e.g., ibuprofen, naproxen.
OBRA '90Federal Requirements: Requires pharmacists to offer counseling and perform drug utilization review for Medicaid patients.
Occlusive dressingMedications: Covering a topical medicine with a bandage or wrap. It drives far more drug into the skin, which is why potent steroids say not to do it unless a prescriber directs it.
ODOrder Entry & Processing: Right eye (oculus dexter).
OligohydramniosMedications: Too little amniotic fluid around the fetus. NSAIDs can cause it from about 20 weeks of pregnancy, which is why use is limited from then on.
Omission errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Failure to give a scheduled or ordered dose of medication.
One-time CII transferFederal Requirements: An electronic CII prescription may be transferred once between pharmacies for initial dispensing.
Ophthalmic vs oticMedications: Ophthalmic means for the eye and must be sterile; otic means for the ear. An ophthalmic product may be used in the ear when directed, but an ear drop must NEVER go in the eye.
Oral syringeOrder Entry & Processing: A syringe for liquid doses taken by mouth. It will not accept a needle, which is exactly what makes it safe — an oral dose can never be injected by mistake.
Orally disintegrating tablet (ODT)Medications: A tablet that dissolves on the tongue without water. Handle it with dry hands and peel the foil back rather than pushing the tablet through it.
OSOrder Entry & Processing: Left eye (oculus sinister).
OTC monographFederal Requirements: An FDA rulebook setting the ingredients, doses and labeling an over-the-counter category may use. A product that conforms needs no new drug application.
OUOrder Entry & Processing: Both eyes (oculus uterque).
P-listFederal Requirements: The EPA’s list of acutely hazardous wastes under RCRA. Warfarin above 0.3% is P001 — the same drug is a clinical medicine on the shelf and a listed hazardous waste once discarded.
P075Federal Requirements: The EPA hazardous-waste code for nicotine and its salts. The listing excludes FDA-approved OTC patches, gums and lozenges; prescription nicotine products remain listed.
Package codeOrder Entry & Processing: Last NDC segment identifying the package size and type.
Partial fill (CII)Federal Requirements: If the pharmacy cannot supply the full amount, the rest must be filled within 72 hours; a partial fill requested by patient or prescriber may be completed within 30 days.
PCOrder Entry & Processing: After meals
PCAPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Patient-controlled analgesia: an infusion pump the patient triggers for pain relief. The safeguard is that only the patient presses the button; someone else pressing it (PCA by proxy) defeats it.
PCNOrder Entry & Processing: Processor Control Number directing claim to correct plan.
PDMPFederal Requirements: Prescription Drug Monitoring Program — a STATE-run database of dispensed controlled substances. There is no national DEA PDMP.
Peak and troughMedications: Two timed blood levels: the peak is drawn after a dose has distributed, the trough immediately BEFORE the next dose. Used for aminoglycosides and vancomycin.
Peak flow meterOrder Entry & Processing: A handheld device that measures how fast a patient can blow air out. It monitors asthma control; it does not deliver any medication.
Pen needleOrder Entry & Processing: The disposable needle screwed onto an insulin pen for each injection. Pens are dispensed without needles, so these are supplied alongside.
Perpetual inventoryFederal Requirements: Running count of Schedule II stock updated with each receipt and dispense.
Personal protective equipmentPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Gowns, gloves, and masks worn to protect against exposure and contamination.
Piggyback (secondary set)Order Entry & Processing: A small-volume IV bag hung above the primary bag so it infuses first, commonly used for intermittent antibiotic doses.
PlavixMedications: Brand name for clopidogrel, an antiplatelet
POOrder Entry & Processing: By mouth
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: Treatment started after a needlestick or splash to prevent infection. OSHA requires the employer to provide evaluation, source testing, PEP when medically indicated, and counseling at no cost.
Potassium-containing salt substituteMedications: A table-salt replacement made from potassium chloride. Harmless for most people, but a real hazard with ACE inhibitors, ARBs or spironolactone, which already raise potassium.
Potassium-sparing diureticMedications: A diuretic such as spironolactone that removes fluid without dumping potassium — it blocks aldosterone. Paired with a loop diuretic it offsets potassium loss; combined with an ACE inhibitor it can push potassium too high.
Power of Attorney (DEA 222)Federal Requirements: Written authorization letting an agent sign DEA Form 222 orders for the registrant.
PPIMedications: Proton pump inhibitor that strongly reduces stomach acid; ends in -prazole.
PPPAFederal Requirements: Poison Prevention Packaging Act: child-resistant containers
PRMedications: Per rectum; rectal route of administration.
PR (per rectum)Order Entry & Processing: By rectum. Chosen when a patient cannot keep anything down, and it partly bypasses first-pass metabolism.
Prescribing errorPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: A mistake in drug selection, dose, route, or directions made at ordering.
PrilosecMedications: Brand name for omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor
Prior authorizationOrder Entry & Processing: Insurer approval required before a drug is covered.
PRNOrder Entry & Processing: As needed
ProAirMedications: Brand name for albuterol, a rescue bronchodilator
Product codeOrder Entry & Processing: Middle NDC segment identifying drug, strength, and form.
ProphylaxisMedications: Using a medication to prevent disease rather than treat it.
PSE logbookFederal Requirements: Record of PSE sales kept two years with buyer name, address, and ID.
Pseudoephedrine 30-day limitFederal Requirements: 9 grams per customer per 30 days (7.5 g if mail-order).
Pseudoephedrine daily limitFederal Requirements: 3.6 grams per customer per day of PSE base may be sold.
Pure Food and Drug ActFederal Requirements: 1906 law prohibiting misbranded and adulterated drugs; first major federal drug law.
PVOrder Entry & Processing: Per vagina; vaginal route of administration.
q4hOrder Entry & Processing: Every 4 hours around the clock.
q6hOrder Entry & Processing: Every 6 hours
q8hOrder Entry & Processing: Every 8 hours around the clock.
qAMOrder Entry & Processing: Every morning.
QDOrder Entry & Processing: Once daily (every day); on ISMP error-prone list, spell out "daily".
qHSOrder Entry & Processing: Every night at bedtime.
QIDOrder Entry & Processing: Four times daily
QODOrder Entry & Processing: Every other day; error-prone abbreviation, spell out "every other day".
qPMOrder Entry & Processing: Every evening.
qsOrder Entry & Processing: Quantity sufficient; add enough to reach a total.
Quality assurancePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Ongoing system of checks confirming pharmacy processes meet safety standards.
QuarantinePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Physically separating suspect or recalled stock and marking it clearly so it cannot be selected. Not the same as discarding it — the notice decides its fate.
Ratio-proportionOrder Entry & Processing: Calculation method solving one unknown from equal ratios.
RCRAFederal Requirements: The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act — the federal law, administered by the EPA, that governs hazardous waste including discarded pharmaceuticals.
Read-backPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Repeating a verbal order back to the prescriber, spelling look-alike drug names and confirming the dose, before it is accepted.
Readily retrievableFederal Requirements: Records that can be separated out from all other records in a reasonable time, or marked so they are visually identifiable — the red C convention. It is a formal DEA standard, not a figure of speech.
RecallPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Removal of a defective or unsafe drug product from the market.
Recall depthFederal Requirements: How far down the distribution chain a recall reaches — wholesaler, retail, or consumer level. A consumer-level recall means the pharmacy notifies the patients who received the affected lot.
ReconstitutionMedications: Adding a diluent to a powder to make a liquid, often refrigerated after mixing.
Red flag (dispensing)Federal Requirements: Warning sign of possible diversion or forgery requiring pharmacist review before dispensing.
Refill too soonOrder Entry & Processing: Rejection when a refill is requested before allowed date.
REMSFederal Requirements: An FDA safety program managing a drug's serious risks
Return to stockOrder Entry & Processing: Putting a prescription that was never picked up back into inventory and reversing the claim. Only possible because the product never left your control.
Reverse distributorOrder Entry & Processing: A licensed company that takes expired or unsaleable stock from a pharmacy and processes it for manufacturer credit and destruction.
Reye syndromeMedications: Rare but severe brain and liver injury linked to salicylates given during a viral illness in children and teenagers. It is the reason aspirin is avoided in that age group.
Root cause analysisPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Structured investigation to find the underlying cause of a serious error.
Safety Data SheetPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Document detailing a chemical's hazards, handling, and emergency measures.
SalicylateMedications: The aspirin family. It matters beyond aspirin itself: bismuth subsalicylate is a hidden salicylate, which is why it is avoided in a child or teenager with a viral illness because of Reye syndrome.
Schedule IFederal Requirements: High abuse potential and no accepted medical use
Schedule IIFederal Requirements: High-abuse drugs with accepted medical use; no refills allowed (e.g., oxycodone, Adderall).
Schedule II refillsFederal Requirements: Not allowed; a new prescription is required
Schedule IIIFederal Requirements: Moderate abuse potential; may be refilled up to 5 times within 6 months.
Schedule III-IV refillsFederal Requirements: Up to 5 times within 6 months
Schedule IVFederal Requirements: Low abuse potential (e.g., alprazolam); refillable up to 5 times in 6 months.
Schedule VFederal Requirements: Lowest abuse potential; some may be sold OTC with restrictions where state law allows.
Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal ActFederal Requirements: The 2010 law that let patients hand unused controlled substances back to authorized collectors. Before it, there was no lawful way to return them to a pharmacy.
Sentinel eventPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: An unexpected event causing death or serious harm
Separate CII recordsFederal Requirements: Schedule II records must be kept separate from all other pharmacy records.
Sewer banFederal Requirements: The EPA prohibition on discharging hazardous waste pharmaceuticals into a sewer system that runs to a public treatment works. No flushing, no pouring down the drain.
Short-datingOrder Entry & Processing: Stock close enough to its expiration date that it should be pulled and credited now, while the wholesaler still accepts it.
SigOrder Entry & Processing: Directions for how the patient takes the drug
SLMedications: Sublingual; medication dissolved under the tongue for fast absorption.
SL nitroglycerinFederal Requirements: PPPA-exempt from child-resistant packaging
Spacer (valved holding chamber)Order Entry & Processing: A chamber attached to a metered-dose inhaler that holds the puff, so the patient does not have to press and inhale at the same instant. Also cuts the drug left in the mouth.
Specific gravityOrder Entry & Processing: Ratio of a substance's weight to equal volume of water.
SSRIMedications: Antidepressant that raises serotonin; e.g., sertraline, fluoxetine.
statOrder Entry & Processing: Immediately, right away
Sterile techniquePatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Practices that keep compounded sterile products free of contamination.
SublingualMedications: Under the tongue. The tablet or film dissolves there and absorbs straight into the bloodstream, bypassing the stomach and first-pass metabolism — which is why swallowing it wastes most of the dose.
SUBQOrder Entry & Processing: Subcutaneous (under the skin)
SubQ / SCMedications: Subcutaneous; injection into fatty tissue under the skin.
SubscriptionOrder Entry & Processing: Prescriber's directions to the pharmacist for preparing/dispensing.
SulfonylureaMedications: A diabetes drug class ending in -ide (glipizide, glyburide) that makes the pancreas release insulin. Because it works whether or not you have eaten, it can cause hypoglycemia — unlike metformin.
SuperscriptionOrder Entry & Processing: The Rx symbol beginning the prescription order.
suppOrder Entry & Processing: Suppository dosage form.
SuppositoryMedications: Solid dosage form inserted rectally or vaginally that melts to release drug.
SuspensionMedications: Liquid dosage form with undissolved particles; shake well before use.
SynthroidMedications: Brand name for levothyroxine (thyroid hormone)
tabOrder Entry & Processing: Tablet dosage form.
Tall man letteringPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Mixed-case letters that tell look-alike drug names apart
Tamper-evidentPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Packaging that visibly shows if it has been opened. Federal rules require it on most OTC products. A broken seal means the product does not go on the shelf.
Temperature excursionMedications: When stored product goes outside its labeled temperature range. Label it DO NOT USE, keep it separate, and contact the manufacturer or program — do not discard it and do not dispense it.
The Joint CommissionPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Organization that accredits and sets safety standards for healthcare facilities.
Therapeutic duplicationMedications: Two drugs on one profile doing the same job — same class, the same drug under brand and generic, a combination product plus one of its own ingredients, or an OTC on top of a prescription. Flag it for the pharmacist.
Therapeutic substitutionPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Dispensing a chemically different drug in the same class as the one prescribed (not just a generic of it). State generic-substitution laws do NOT cover this — it needs prescriber authorization, or in a hospital a P&T-approved interchange protocol.
TIDOrder Entry & Processing: Three times daily
TopicalMedications: Applied to skin or mucous membranes for local effect.
Toprol-XLMedications: Brand name for metoprolol, a beta blocker
Trailing zeroPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Avoid 5.0 mg (reads as 50); write 5 mg
Transaction history (T3)Federal Requirements: DSCSA documentation of ownership: transaction information, history, and statement.
TranscriptionOrder Entry & Processing: Converting a prescriber's order into an accurate, fillable pharmacy record.
TransdermalMedications: Delivered through the skin via a patch for slow systemic absorption.
TriturationOrder Entry & Processing: Reducing particle size by grinding with a mortar and pestle.
TrocheMedications: A lozenge that dissolves slowly in the mouth to treat the mouth and throat locally rather than being swallowed.
TrOOPOrder Entry & Processing: True Out-Of-Pocket: the running total a Medicare Part D patient has actually paid, which is what moves them through the benefit phases.
Tuberculin syringeOrder Entry & Processing: A 1 mL syringe with fine graduations, used for very small volumes. It is marked in millilitres, not insulin units.
Two patient identifiersPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Using two unique identifiers, such as name and date of birth, before dispensing.
Two-year record retentionFederal Requirements: Federal law requires controlled-substance records be kept at least two years.
U-100 / U-500Medications: Insulin concentrations. U-100 is 100 units per mL and is the standard; U-500 is five times as concentrated and is a high-alert product precisely because a U-100 syringe would measure it wrongly.
U&COrder Entry & Processing: Usual and Customary — what your pharmacy charges a cash-paying customer for a prescription. Plans generally pay the lower of their rate or your U&C.
UDOrder Entry & Processing: Ut dictum, meaning "as directed."
ungOrder Entry & Processing: Ointment (unguentum).
USP <795>Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: Standards for nonsterile compounding
USP <797>Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: Standards for sterile compounding
USP <800>Patient Safety & Quality Assurance: Standards for handling hazardous drugs
USP coolPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: 8 to 15 degrees C — a storage range distinct from refrigeration (2-8) and controlled room temperature (20-25).
VAERSPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for reporting problems after vaccination.
Vented administration setOrder Entry & Processing: An IV set with a filtered air vent, used with rigid GLASS containers so air can replace the fluid draining out. Collapsible plastic bags do not need one.
VerificationOrder Entry & Processing: Pharmacist's final check of the filled prescription before dispensing.
Verify DEA checksumFederal Requirements: Add digits 1,3,5; add digits 2,4,6 times two; sum's last digit equals digit seven.
VICPPatient Safety & Quality Assurance: The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, run by HRSA. It is the separate no-fault program that pays compensation for vaccine injuries. VAERS only collects reports; it never determines causation and never pays anything.
WACOrder Entry & Processing: Wholesale Acquisition Cost — the manufacturer’s list price to the wholesaler, before discounts. Not what the pharmacy actually paid.
Will-callOrder Entry & Processing: Storage area holding filled prescriptions awaiting patient pickup.
XanaxMedications: Brand name for alprazolam, a Schedule IV benzodiazepine
ZoloftMedications: Brand name for sertraline, an SSRI antidepressant