Booth et al classified errors associated with prescribing in the pediatric intensive care unit. Identification of errors can aid in developing strategies to avoid them in the future. The authors are from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.
Classes of errors:
(1) clinical prescribing errors
(2) non-clinical prescribing errors
(3) infusion prescribing errors
Clinical prescribing errors:
(1) incorrect dose resulting in subtherapeutic levels (*)
(2) incorrect dose resulting in an overdose (*)
(3) incorrect or missing strength or dosage units (*)
(4) incorrect dosing frequency (*)
(5) incorrect drug
(6) other
Non-clinical prescribing errors:
(1) illegal prescription (*)
(2) illegible prescription (*)
(3) failure to use the recommended international non-proprietary name when appropriate
(4) patient details incomplete or incorrect
(5) allergies not recorded
(6) other
Infusion prescribing errors:
(1) incorrect dose resulting in subtherapeutic levels (*)
(2) incorrect dose resulting in an overdose (*)
(3) incorrect or missing dosage units (*)
(4) incorrect concentration
(5) incorrect or missing rate of infusion (*)
(6) incompatible or missing diluent
(7) calculation error
(8) illegal prescription (*)
(9) illegible prescription (*)
(10) other
Since there are overlaps (see "*") in the list these can be consolidated to:
(1) incorrect dose resulting in subtherapeutic levels
(2) incorrect dose resulting in an overdose
(3) incorrect or missing strength, concentration or dosage units
(4) incompatible or missing diluent (if infusion)
(5) incorrect dosing frequency or rate of infusion
(6) incorrect drug
(7) calculation error
(8) illegal prescription
(9) illegible prescription
(10) failure to use the recommended international non-proprietary name when appropriate
(11) patient details incomplete or incorrect
(12) allergies not recorded
(13) other
Specialty: Pharmacology, clinical
ICD-10: ,