LASA Drugs: Look-Alike, Sound-Alike Medications One name…

LASA Drugs: Look-Alike, Sound-Alike Medications One name mistaken for another can end a life. An anaesthesiologist's field guide to the drugs most often confused on the crash cart, the OT trolley, and the pharmacy shelf. Why It Matters Same shelf. Same trolley. One letter of difference. LASA errors happen at any step of the medication chain, prescribing, dispensing, storage, or administration, and are consistently flagged by WHO and ISMP as a top medication safety priority worldwide. 3,000+ known look-alike/sound-alike drug name pairs identified by the US Pharmacopeia's national error reporting database, and the list keeps growing every year. This is exactly why NABH makes a documented LASA list, tagging, and storage protocol a mandatory element of medication management standards. High-Alert Pairs, Crash Cart & OT Reach for the wrong ampoule here, and there is no second try. Adrenaline vs Noradrenaline Different receptor profile and dose range, confirm ampoule and concentration aloud before pushing. DOPamine vs DOBUTamine Tall Man lettering exists for exactly this pair, inotrope vs. vasopressor effect. Vecuronium vs Neostigmine A paralytic mistaken for a rev