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. 2020 Jun 23;28(e1):e56–e61. doi: 10.1136/ejhpharm-2020-002298

Table 2.

Severe harm and fatal reports from the Norwegian Incident Reporting System in 2016 and 2017

All reported errors n (%) Severe n (%) Death n (%)
Total number of errors 3372 177 (5.2) 27 (0.8)
Error type*
 Wrong dose/strength or frequency 1354 (37.5) 47 (27) 13 (48)
 Omitted medicine or dose 836 (23.2) 57 (32)  6 (22)
 Adverse drug reaction 77 (2.1) 24 (13.6)  3 (11)
 Wrong drug 548 (15.2) 20 (11.3)  1 (3.7)
 Wrong route 198 (5.5) 10 (5.6)  1 (3.7)
 Contraindication 191 (5.3) 24 (13.6)  4 (14.8)
 Other 406 (11.3) 14 (7.9)  0 (N/A)
Medication process stage*
 Administration 2544 (68) 96 (54) 16 (59.3)
 Prescribing 888 (23.7) 70 (39.5) 11 (40.7)
 Other 118 (8.5) 11 (6.5)  0(N/A)
Health professionals reporting
 Nurse 2103 (62.4) 48 (27.0)  3 (11.0)
 Physician 385 (11.4) 70 (40.0) 16 (59.0)
 Other health professionals 884 (26.0) 59 (33.0)  8 (29.0)
Patient age (years)
 0–17 266 10 1
 18–65 1283 63 5
 >65 1698 100 21
 Missing 125 4 0

*The total number of error types and medication process stages was greater than the number of incidents because the classification system permitted more than one category to be selected for one incident.