Mentioned in this episode
Pronounce Drug Names Like a Pro Online Course
United States Adopted Names Council
I’m publishing one podcast episode per day in the month of November 2020 as part of a challenge called NaPodPoMo. It stands for National Podcast Post Month. November is National Podcast Post Month, and the goal of the challenge is 30 podcast episodes in 30 days.
Most of my episodes this month have talked about my new online course: Pronounce Drug Names Like a Pro. In today’s episode, I talk about reconciling some differences about drug name pronunciations and share some thoughts and feelings I had while I developed my course.
“Reconcile” in this podcast episode means, “to accept something unpleasant.”
Making the right choices can be hard. I had to make some tough choices when I created my drug name pronunciation course, including getting my information from the right sources.
Examples of differences I had to reconcile while building my pronunciation course.
- Identical spelling does not mean identical pronunciation. Ex: hydroxyzine and hydroxychloroquine. Ex: oxytocin, oxycodone, and oxybutynin. You have to look at the written pronunciation from the USP Dictionary Online, not the spelling of the drug name. Drug names are not normal English words. They can’t be sounded out. Knowing where to separate the drug name into syllables and how to pronounce those syllables are explained in the USP Dictionary Online.
- I used pronunciations established by those who name brand and generic drugs in the US. Drug names need to be pronounced a certain way so we are all on the same page with safety in mind.
3. I propose official [brand and generic] drug name pronunciations become available for free for everyone to easily access.
4. I propose institutions of higher learning teach drug name pronunciations. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Professors have an opportunity to teach students how to pronounce drug names when they are young, so they will be able to do it for their entire careers.
5. I propose everyone vet their sources carefully. Don’t let mispronouncing drug names become a bad habit.
I will return to my regular schedule of releasing one episode each Friday, starting December 4.