.5mg or 0.5mg. Where prescriptive rules count.

[metal56]

"Please don't sleep through this wake-up call.

ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute Care Edition. May 2, 2001.

This is an alert from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices informing readers of a fatal medication error that occurred because of a misinterpreted decimal point. The error involved administration of morphine to a 9-month-old infant who received 5 mg instead of 0.5 mg of the drug. The order did not include a zero before the decimal point, and the nurse filling the order overlooked the omission. The child suffered a cardiac arrest and died. The case illustrates the importance of clearly communicating information about medications."

A tragic story, but would you have written 0.5mg or just .5mg? If nonnative student asked you which was "correct" if written, what would you say?

http://psnet.ahrq.gov/resource.aspx?resourceID=1501

[jotham]

The story amply illustrates how important such a practice seems to be. I certainly have no problem following that if I were in such a field and really had to "scribble" such important data.
It seems in math classes, I was always taught to put the 0 in front of decimals — definitely by the time I reached algebra.