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Table 1 Types of medication errors before and after implementing CPOE

From: Medication errors: a prospective cohort study of hand-written and computerised physician order entry in the intensive care unit

Error type

HWP (no. of errors and % of total errors)a

CPOE (no. of errors and % of total errors)a

Drug prescribed on incorrect drug chart section (e.g. continuous IV infusion prescribed on 'when required' part of drug chart)

2 (2.8%)

1 (0.9%)

Drug needed but not given as not prescribed properly

3 (4.2%)

5 (4.3%)

Inappropriate/inadequate additional information on prescription to adequately administer the drug appropriately

8 (11.3%)

12 (10.3%)

Dose/units/frequency omitted on prescription

22 (31%)

1 (0.9%)

Prescription not signed or change not signed/dated

10 (14.1%)

39 (33.3%)

Still wrong next day after pharmacist recommended appropriate correction that was agreed with doctor

0 (0%)

3 (2.6%)

Dose error

12 (16.9%)

31 (26.5%)

Wrong drug prescribed

3 (4.2%)

6 (5.1%)

Incorrect route/unit

5 (7%)

8 (6.8%)

Formulary not followed without reason

3 (4.2%)

1 (0.9%)

Administration not in accordance with prescription

3 (4.2%)

3 (2.6%)

Required drug not prescribed

0 (0%)

7 (6%)

Total

71/1036 prescriptions

117/2429 prescriptions

  1. aOne episode could be recorded here as being in error for several reasons but was only recorded once in the proportion of error analysis. This explains why the total of hand-written prescribing (HWP) error types stated here is in excess of the total number of errors stated in the results section. CPOE, computerised physician order entry.