Table 1 Types of dispensing errors and their total occurrence
From: Identifying dispensing errors in pharmacies in a medical science school in Trinidad and Tobago
Type of error | Total number of errors | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Inpatient | Adult outpatient | Pediatric outpatient | Total | |
Content errors | ||||
Incorrect drug | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Incorrect strength | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
Incorrect dosage form | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Dose added | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Missing doses | 1 | 8 | 3 | 12 |
Omission of items | 5 | 7 | 1 | 13 |
Deteriorated medication | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
Other content errors | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Total content errors | 10 | 29 | 10 | 49 |
Labeling errors | ||||
Incorrect patient name | 2 | 14 | 2 | 18 |
Incorrect drug name | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
Incorrect drug strength | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Incorrect drug quantity | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Incorrect dosage form | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
Incorrect date | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Incorrect instruction(s) | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
Additional warning | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Pharmacy address | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
Other labeling errors | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
Total labeling errors | 12 | 37 | 9 | 58 |
Documentation errors | ||||
Absent/incorrect controlled drug records | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Other documentation error | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Total documentation errors | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Total errors | 22 | 68 | 19 | 109 |