Table 1.
Participants' perceived definitions of medical errors
| Serial No. | Definition categories | Definitions given by participants | Number (%) |
| 1 | Wrong prescription/dispensing of medication | Wrong medication | 93 (34) |
| 2 | Wrong diagnosis | Wrong diagnosis | 73 (26.5) |
| 3 | Doctors' technical in-competence | Wrong surgery | 36 (13) |
| Technical incompetence* | 10 (3.6) | ||
| Lack of doctor's experience* | 7 (3) | ||
| 4 | Other staff technical in-competence (nurses and pharmacist) | Giving wrong injection | 11 (4) |
| Pharmacist incompetence* | 4 (1) | ||
| 5 | Others | Errors by doctors | 5 (2) |
| Forgotten surgical items | 2 (0.7) | ||
| Wrong vaccination | 2 (0.7) | ||
| IV canula left in site for 25 days | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Error in first aid | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Wrong BP reading | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Wrong procedure | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Doctor ignorance* | 14 (5) | ||
| Poor staff attitude* | 4 (1) | ||
| Not updating patients* | 2 (0.7) | ||
| Faulty equipment* | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Doctors overload* | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Slowness in giving care* | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Nurses ignorance* | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Wrong information by the patient+ | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Not following doctors advise+ | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Intake of un-prescribed medicine+ | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Intake of herbal medicine+ | 1 (0.4) | ||
| Total | 275 | ||
Percents are out of total number (275). Please notice that some participants gave more than one definition.
* Causes of medical errors
+ Patient-related factor