Table 1.

Definitions and contributing factors for medication error across the medication-use process.

Definitions of the different types of medication errors
Prescribing	All errors that occur during the decision process and in prescribing/ordering a medication for a patient. Includes: dose errors, wrong drug, wrong regimen and inappropriate drug.
Transcription	All errors associated with the transfer of verbal or written information from an order sheet or prescription to patient, medication chart or medical records. Includes: discrepancies in drug name, formulation, route, dose, dosing regimen and omission.
Dispensing	All errors that occur during the interpretation of medication prescriptions by the pharmacy staff and the subsequent selection, preparation, labelling and distribution of medication.
Administration	All errors that occur whilst a medication is being administered to a patient. Includes: omission, wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong time and wrong route.
Monitoring	All errors associated with the monitoring of clinical and/or laboratory data that assess the patient’s response to the administered drug therapy i.e. through therapeutic drug-monitoring practices. Includes: error in interpreting results, wrong dose suggestions, omission of suggestions and wrong drug suggestions to reverse condition.
Contributing factors for medication error in each patient group
Neonate	Higher number of medications, lack of physician experience, high-intensity physician workloads, length of stay, low birth weights, gestational ages, similar-sounding or identical names and surnames, multiple-birth babies (i.e. twins), inability to communicate, more vascular lines, long hospitalizations and dispensing medications 2 hours after being ordered.
Paediatric	Seriously ill patients, inexperienced physicians, human error, equipment dysfunction and communication failures.
Adult	Polymedication prescriptions, physicians’ lack of pharmacology knowledge, stressful and high-paced work environment, staff performance deficits, failure to consider patient information, memory lapses and dose-checking processes.
Elderly	Taking five or more medications, prescribed nine or more medications, hospitalizations 13 days or longer, incidence of more than one chronic disease and multiple pathologies.