Table 2.

Results of studies of dispensing errors

Ref	Setting*	Perspective†	Data collection‡	Categories of dispensing errors	Outcome§	Dispensing error rate (%)	Near-miss dispensing error rate (%)	Top three dispensing errors (%)
2	H	CP	HP	Wrong medication; wrong drug strength; wrong dosage form; wrong quantity; omission; wrong expiry date of medication with quality deviation; wrong information on label; other errors	IO	30/194 584 (0.02)	104/4849 (2.1)	Wrong information on label (46)
								Omission (19)
								Wrong drug strength (12)
3	MP	CP	R	Wrong medication; wrong drug strength; wrong dosage form; wrong quantity; wrong information on label; wrong instruction; wrong expiration date; omission	Not studied	16/21 252 (0.08)	Not studied	Wrong information on label (88)
								Entry wrong quantity in system (6.3)
								Omission (6.3)
4	H	QP	R	Wrong quantity; wrong drug strength; wrong medication; wrong dosage form; wrong information on label; order entry; wrong expiration date; omission; reconstitution; other errors	CO	1059/140 755 (0.8)	4016/140755 (2.9)	Wrong quantity (59)
								Wrong drug strength (11)
								Wrong medication (11)
6	CP	CP	HP	No detailed information; all incidents that were detected during the dispensing process	Not studied	50/125 395 (0.04)	280/125395 (0.22)	Wrong medication (34)
								Wrong information on label (33)
								Wrong quantity (17)
7	CP	CP	HP	No detailed information	Not studied	39/51 357 (0.08)	247/51357 (0.48)	Wrong drug strength (23)
								Wrong medication (19)
								Wrong quantity (18)
10	H	CP	HP	Wrong medication; wrong dose; wrong patient; other errors	CO	82/NS.	Not studied	Wrong medication (38)
								Wrong patient (29)
								Wrong dose (26)
11	CP	QP	HP	Medication selection; dose; communication; prescription; frequency; documentation; patient information; drug monitoring; quantity; device; insufficient information	CO	13/NS	Not studied	No detailed information
12	H	QP	R	Omission; wrong dose; wrong quantity; wrong medication; wrong dosage form; wrong information on label; medication with quality deviation; medication prescribed without concentration, quantity, etc.	Not studied	719/2143 (34)	Not studied	Omission (57)
								Medication prescribed without concentration, quantity, etc. (13)
								Wrong dose (13)
13	H	CP	R	Wrong medication; wrong dose; wrong dosage form; wrong quantity; omission; wrong expiration date of medication with quality deviation; other errors; wrong information on label	Not studied	295/655 (45)	Not studied	Wrong quantity (70)
								Omission (14)
								Wrong information on label (11)
14	H	CP	HP	Unauthorized medication error; wrong dosage form; wrong dose; omission; wrong time; wrong expiration date of medication with quality deviation	CO	24/7249 (0.3)	155/7249 (2.1)	Wrong dose (32)
								Omission (30)
								Wrong time (21)
15	H*	CP	R	An indicated medication was not given (omission); a non-indicated chemotherapeutic drug was administered (wrong medication); the duration of treatment was different (wrong quantity); a >10% difference between indicated and administered dose of any medication (administration error)	Not studied	0/172 (0)	Not studied	No dispensing errors detected
16	CP	CP	HP	No detailed information	CO	203/146 6043 (0.01)	234/958313 (0.02)	No detailed information
17	H	CP	HP	Medication prescribed without concentration, quantity, etc.; prescription errors; administration errors; transcription errors; omission; wrong patient; wrong medication; wrong dosage form; wrong dose; wrong time; compounding errors; across settings errors	CO	915/NS	Not studied	Wrong medication (32)
								Wrong dose (27)
								Omission (22)

^*CO, community pharmacy; H, hospital; MP, mail pharmacy.

^†CP, chain of pharmaceutical patient care; QP, quality of all pharmacy care activities.

^‡HP, healthcare provider; R, researcher.

^§CO, clinical outcome; IO, improvements organization.