The aim of the present study was to categorize, evaluate and report medication errors. The descriptive cross sectional study was carried out on 377 patients in the medical ward, department of general medicine for duration of six months. Medication error reporting form (MERF) is used as study instrument. The higher prevalence rate is seen in prescribing errors. Mostly seen prescribing errors were omission of doses, omission of frequency, abbreviated forms, labelling and set of instructions, brand a name and dosage form omission in our study. Medication errors were mostly seen in drugs belonging to the classes of antibiotics, antihypertensive drugs, antipyretics and diuretics. The possible contributing factors for medication errors in our present study were illegible prescription, failure to adhere to work procedure, peak hour, and abbreviated form, labelling and set of instructions, and miscommunication. Look alike/sound alike is the responsible cause for the dispensing centered errors. Education and training to nursing staff, improvement in communication process helps to minimize the prescribing errors.
Key words: medication errors, prescribing errors, categorization, prescription
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