I plan to publish one podcast episode per month on the topic of drug name pronunciations, starting February 2022. In today’s episode, I share where to find the pronunciations for generic and brand-name drugs and how to pronounce eszopiclone and Qulipta. In future episodes, I will give tips for breaking down generic drug name pronunciations and the many places to find brand-name drug pronunciations.
Hi this is kim newlove host of the pharmacist voice podcast this is episode 134 and you can find the show notes with links to anything mentioned today on my website thepharmacistvoice.com today’s episode kicks off a monthly feature that i plan to publish with a focus on drug name pronunciations future pronunciation episodes will be brief however this first one is
Longer let’s start with a story it’s fall semester 1997. i’m in my apartment sitting on my couch with my then boyfriend now husband nathan we’re both studying i’m 19 years old just starting my second year of pharmacy school and coloring a page in my anatomy coloring book for my functional anatomy and pathophysiology class nathan on the other hand is 22 years
Old and studying something for his mechanical engineering degree he needs a break looks over to see what i’m up to and reads a word from the page that i’m on sterno cledio mastodon he says instead of sternocleidomastoid i ask him to try it again but he really can’t he laughed it off and told me that his way sounded like the name of a cool new dinosaur which made
Me laugh mission accomplished he was trying to distract me eventually he’d let me teach him how to say it but you get the picture i was busy and stressed and he helped me take a break and have a laugh after all laughter is the best medicine isn’t it but once he got me laughing he wanted to do it again so he took the book off my lap looked through it and found
Something else to pronounce badly to make me laugh again gastroc nemesis he said instead of gastrocnemius same thing he made something up to make me laugh of course he liked his pronunciation better because it sounded like a transformer then he talked about whether the gastroc nemesis would be an autobot or a decepticon and if it would be a monster truck or a
Sports car i said something like um a gastroc nemesis sounds more like a decepticon to me what do you think i went down the rabbit hole with him had a good laugh and i thoroughly enjoyed my study break to this day he still pronounces stuff wrong just to make me laugh i love that guy can you relate have you ever read a journal article or seen a social media post
About drug mispronunciations for example there is an amusing uh journal article from a few years ago from pharmacy times that i will put in the show notes plus i found a good one on twitter about omeprazole not too long ago links to both of those are in the show notes here’s some examples of ones that i have actually heard omeprosoli instead of omeprazole and
Victrola instead of victoza some mispronunciations are just funny and it’s okay to have a laugh what isn’t funny is when mispronouncing drug names leads to safety issues or delayed patient access to treatment what community pharmacist hasn’t listened to a voicemail from a prescriber’s office after the end of their business day with a mispronunciation and then had
To clarify it the next morning the patient can’t get their medication right away they come to you and then you the pharmacist becomes the bad guy that sucks prescribers and their staff are not the only ones to mispronounce drug names patients do it too what happens when they’re in the emergency department and they don’t have their med list how many times have
You had to help a family member or an emergency department staffer sort out the patient’s med list because the patient doesn’t know how to say or spell any of their drug names i’ve been in practice more than 20 years and it’s happened to me more times than i can count this is a patient safety issue what if the pharmacy had been closed these things happen but as
Pharmacists we too struggle to pronounce some drug names what do you do when you come across a drug name that you don’t know how to pronounce it happens during my 20 years as an ohio pharmacist i have seen drug names for the first time said them as best i could wrote them down and promised myself that i would look them up later only to forget and find myself in
The same situation again and again when i come across a drug name that i’ve never seen or heard of i either have to guess at the pronunciation or research it no one is paying me to say drug names wrong so my guessing days are pretty much over once i became a voice actor i had to get serious about drug name pronunciations learning new drug names can be frustrating
But i need to get the pronunciations right and sound confident saying them where do you find the right drug name pronunciations anyway i find generic drug name pronunciations in the usp dictionary of united states adopted names and international drug names it’s a long title i just call it the usp dictionary online there are no brand name drug pronunciations in
The usp dictionary online so what i do is for brand name drugs i use the intended pronunciations from the brand name drug sponsors if you’re interested in learning more about drug name pronunciations i want you to visit kimnewlove.com and sign up for my online course pronounce drug names like a pro it’s a great way to learn all the little hacks that i’ve learned
Over the years about how to pronounce generic and brand name drugs i’m just giving you some backstory before i start publishing episodes about drug name pronunciations on a regular basis i hope to publish one a month and get right to the point during those future episodes what’s my goal my goal is to provide one brand name drug and one generic drug pronunciation
Per month you may have heard me mention my intention to do this in episode 132. if you want to suggest a drug name that you struggle with leave me a message through my contact page on my website thepharmacistvoice.com i might even use your suggestion in an upcoming episode in my online course there are visuals and i provide a number of strategies for breaking
Down drug names and learning them since this podcast is audio only for now i’ll keep it basic one of these days i would love to do some youtube episodes if you’re a pharmacist you probably know that pharmacists can typically hear a drug name pronounced once and then immediately be able to use it correctly so what i’m going to do is say the drug name break it
Down into syllables explain which syllable or syllables have the emphasis and then put the written pronunciation in the show notes so that you can see how the drug name is broken down into syllables and put it into use right away i plan to share some other strategies in upcoming episodes too some people learn better by seeing others learn better by listening
Still others learn better by doing or teaching whatever works for you i hope this podcast episode helps our two drug names for today are s zopiclone and culipta a sopoclone is generic for lunesta and culipta is a prescription medication used for the preventative treatment of episodic migraine in adults there are four syllables in a zopa clone the emphasis is
On the second syllable zo one more time s zopa clone the hardest part of this drug name for me is visually seeing the s and the z from a zopa clone together if you need to say this drug name for a presentation and you’re worried about getting tripped up i suggest you just chop it up into the syllables and capitalize the syllable with the emphasis which again is
Zou i’ll put the breakdown of the syllables in the show notes the good news is that s zopa clone is pretty straightforward to pronounce compared to some but for more difficult drug names the pronunciation guide is your friend and always pay attention to where the syllables are divided it will help you our second drug name today is qlipta like a lot of brand name
Drugs culipta has only three syllables the emphasis is on the second syllable lip culipta there’s nothing particularly tricky about pronouncing this drug name there just aren’t many brand or generic drug names that start with the letter q seeing the q will make you look twice but you’ve got this let’s wrap this up in today’s episode you learned where to find the
Intended pronunciations for generic and brand name drugs and how to pronounce as soba clone and culipta i plan to publish one episode per month on the topic of drug name pronunciation starting in february that’s right now i’ll give strategies and tips for breaking down generic drug name pronunciations and the many places to find brand name drug pronunciations they
Are not in a dictionary organized like generic ones they’re a little harder to find some generics may be harder to say but i do feel like the pronunciations are easier to find more on that in a future episode thank you for joining me for episode 134 of the pharmacist voice podcast please visit thepharmasistvoice.com to read the show notes you’ll find links to the
Pharmacy times article that i mentioned and the breakdowns of s soba clone and culipta in those show notes join me next week for episode 135 that’s an interview with sue paul she’s the second pharmacist in my pgx pharmacists series one last thing word of mouth is still a great way to share information so if you liked this episode please share it with a friend and
Subscribe to or follow the pharmacist voice podcast in your favorite podcast player to get each new episode delivered to your smartphone every time a new episode comes out thank you again for listening
Transcribed from video
Eszopiclone and Qulipta (Pronunciation Series Episode 1) By The Pharmacist’s Voice ®
