Commonly Confused Drug Names

Many medications are often confused when written and/or spoken. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has published an extensive list of commonly confused drug names in the ISMP Medication Safety Alert!.
Medications included in this publication are name pairs that have been involved in medication errors reported to the ISMP through the USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program. Below is a condensed list of medications taken from the ISMP publication that are commonly used in long term care.

Drug Name	Confused Drug Name
Abelcet	amphotericin  B
Accupril	Aciphex
acetaZOLAMIDE	acetoHEXAMIDE
acetic acid for irrigation	glacial acetic acid
acetoHEXAMIDE	acetaZOLAMIDE
Aciphex	Accupril
Aciphex	Aricept
Activase	Cathflo Activase
Activase	TNKase
Actonel	Actos
Actos	Actonel
Adacel  (Tdap)	Daptacel (DTaP)
Adderall	Inderal
Adderall	Adderall XR
Adderall XR	Adderall
Advair	Advicor
Advicor	Advair
Advicor	Altocor
Afrin (oxymetazoline)	Afrin (saline)
Afrin (saline)	Afrin (oxymetazoline)
Aggrastat	argatroban
Aldara	Alora
Alkeran	Leukeran
Alkeran	Myleran
Allegra	Viagra
Alora	Aldara
ALPRAZolam	LORazepam
Altocor	Advicor
amantadine	amiodarone
Amaryl	Reminyl
Ambisome	amphotericin  B
Amicar	Omacor
Amikin	Kineret
aMILoride	amLODIPine
amiodarone	amantadine

Drug Name	Confused Drug Name
amLODIPine	aMILoride
amphotericin  B	Abelcet
amphotericin  B	Ambisome
Anacin	Anacin-3
Anacin-3	Anacin
antacid	Atacand
Antivert	Axert
Anzemet	Avandamet
Apresoline	Priscoline
argatroban	Aggrastat
argatroban	Orgaran
Aricept	Aciphex
Aricept	Azilect
ARIPiprazole	proton pump inhibitors
ARIPiprazole	RABEprazole
Asacol	Os-Cal
Atacand	antacid
Atrovent	Natru-Vent
Avandamet	Anzemet
Avandia	Prandin
Avandia	Coumadin
AVINza	INVanz
AVINza	Evista
Axert	Antivert
azaCITIDine	azaTHIOprine
azaTHIOprine	azaCITIDine
Azilect	Aricept
B & O (belladonna and opium)	Beano
BabyBIG	HBIG (hepatitis B immune globulin)
Bayhep-B	Bayrab
Bayhep-B	Bayrho-D
Bayrab	Bayhep-B
Bayrab	Bayrho-D
Bayrho-D	Bayhep-B
Bayrho-D	Bayrab

* Brand names always start with an uppercase letter. Some brand names incorporate tall man letters in initial characters and may not be readily recognized as brand names. Brand name products appear in black; generic/other products appear in red.