The Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care has approved the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) as a fundamental standard which must be used by all staff.
The dictionary will reduce the chance of medical errors by ensuring all staff who work in the NHS and healthcare use the same common language when referring to medicines. All doctors, nurses and pharmacists should move towards using the common medicines dictionary so that information exchanged electronically is accurate and safe. Using a single drug terminology will enable information about patients’ medicines to transfer more effectively between different healthcare settings, reducing the risk of medication mistakes caused by human error.
