All rights reserved. For example, in tall man lettering, "prednisone" and "prednisolone" should be written "predniSONE" and "predniSOLONE", respectively. For respondents who use tall man letters, most (51%) told us they employ this strategy for more than 30 drug name pairs; 41% use it for 11-30 pairs; and 8% use it for 10 or fewer drug name pairs. Enter the terms you wish to search for. We reviewed each suggestion carefully while considering all risk factors and the need to keep the list short enough to avoid diluting the effectiveness of tall man letters. Tall man lettering (TML) is a technique that uses uppercase lettering to help differentiate look-alike drug names. It should be noted that monoclonal antibodies (MABs) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors are not … This report also contains information about the rationale for the general revision of the National Tall Man Lettering List. For respondents who use tall man letters, 40% are using this error-reduction strategy for 1-16 drug name pairs; 28% are using it for 17-25 name pairs; 18% for 26-36 name pairs; and 14% for more than 36 drug name pairs. We are also asking information technology and drug information vendors to improve capabilities in this regard.We agree that additional research is needed regarding the impact of tall man letters in actual clinical settings and the factors that have the potential to influence their efficacy. While more than one-third of respondents (37%) could not say with certainty that tall man lettering had helped them avoid an error, only 10% felt that their use was not helpful. Of these, at least half or more of the respondents felt that 13 of these should be added to the ISMP list of drug names with tall man letters (Many respondents shared their thoughts regarding other drug name pairs that were not included in the survey. studied the effects of proximity of similar drug names, use of tall man letters, and time pressure on accurate visual searches during medication selection from a computer screen.In 2014, Or and Chan studied the effects of various text enhancement methods (tall man letters, bolding, larger lowercase letters, lowercase red lettering) on the task of determining if two drug names were the same or different.Earlier this year, DeHenau et al. These were converted to generic names in the study, which are much less similar (e.g., ZyWhile the research on tall man lettering may still be inconclusive, we find it sufficient to continue our recommendation to use this strategy as one means of reducing errors with drugs with look-alike names. Tall man lettering is one such technique. The Commission is responsible for the development and stewardship of the National Tall Man Lettering List (the List). Tall Man Lettering List 2017, so it is important that these issues and their outcomes are reported and publicly available. While some respondents were undecided about the effectiveness of tall man letters, very few felt tall man letters were wholly ineffective in reducing errors (In addition to distinguishing portions of drug names that are dissimilar, tall man letters were often reported by respondents as an effective alert system that quickly captured their attention and caused them to pause, read the drug name more carefully a second time, and make sure the drug was appropriate for the patient. Accentuating a unique portion of a drug name with uppercase letters along with other means, such as color, bolding, or contrast, can draw attention to the dissimilarities between look-alike drug names as well as alert healthcare providers that the drug name can be confused with another drug name.While numerous studies between 2000 and 2016 have demonstrated the ability of tall man letters alone or in conjunction with other text enhancements to improve the accuracy of drug name perception and reduce errors due to drug name similarity,Periodically, ISMP updates its list of drug name pairs with recommended Between two-thirds and three-quarters of respondents thought that tall man lettering has been effective in reducing the risk of errors due to look-alike drug names, with the exceptions of tall man lettering used in policies and protocols and smart infusion pump screens.