Skip to main content

Table 1 Classification of medication errors according to the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention [10]

From: Using Positive Deviance to reduce medication errors in a tertiary care hospital

Error class

Definition

A

No error

The circumstances or events have the capacity to cause error

B

Error, no harm

An error occurred but did not reach the patient

C

An error occurred, reached the patient but did not cause harm

D

An error occurred, reached the patient and required monitoring to confirm that it resulted in no harm to the patient and/or required intervention to preclude harm

E

Error, harm

An error occurred, that may have contributed to temporary harm and required intervention

F

An error occurred, that may have contributed to or resulted in temporary harm, and required initial or prolonged hospitalization

G

An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in permanent harm

H

An error occurred that required intervention necessary to sustain life

I

Error, death

An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in the patient’s death