At what stage during the medication process did the actual or potential error occur?
Please select at what stage of the medication process the incident occurred or could have occurred. The following descriptions explain the stages. Select the option that best relates to where the failure in the process occurred and not where / when harm occurred to the patient.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Prescribing | Assessing the patient; Establishing the need for a medicine; Determining contraindications, interactions and allergies; Selecting the most appropriate medicine product, dose, frequency and route; Writing and transmitting a clear and complete prescription. |
| Preparation of medicines in all locations / dispensing in a pharmacy | Reviewing the prescription for clarity; Assessing the appropriateness of the prescribed therapy for the patient, including indication for therapy (according to age, weight and laboratory results where appropriate); Determining the contraindications, warnings, interactions and allergies; Contacting the prescriber about problems or discrepancies; Selecting the correct medicine and ensuring that it has been stored and labelled correctly, has not expired, and its physical appearance is as expected; Physically preparing and labelling the medicine in accordance with the required method and in the appropriate environment; Providing the patient or carer with appropriate advice or information concerning the medicine; Supplying the medicine to the patient or their representative, or ward. |
| Administration / supply of a medicine from a clinical area | Reviewing the prescription for clarity, completeness and confirming transcription (if necessary); Assessing the appropriateness of the prescribed therapy for the patient, including indication for therapy, dosage, contraindications, warnings, interactions and allergies; Contacting the prescriber about problems or discrepancies; Selecting the correct medicine and ensuring that it has been prepared and labelled correctly, has not expired, has been stored correctly and its physical appearance is as expected; Identifying the appropriate patient using at least two methods of identification; Providing the patient or carer with appropriate advice or information concerning the medicine; Administering one or more doses of medicine to the patient in accordance with the required method. |
| Monitoring / follow-up of medicine use | This involves undertaking, arranging and documenting the appropriate monitoring of the patient's response to the use of medicine, and includes clinical assessment, laboratory tests and hospital follow-up. |
| Advice | This includes any information the patient or carer is given to support safe and effective use of the prescribed or supplied medicine, or its use with other medicines, including over-the-counter medicines. |
| Supply or use of over-the-counter (OTC) medicine | Assessing the need for OTC medication based on symptoms described by the patient or their representative, and with reference to the patient medication record (PMR), where this exists; Selecting the correct medicine, ensuring that it has been stored correctly and that it has not date expired. Making records of OTC recommendations and supply to the patient's PMR, or communicating this information to other health or social care professionals. |
| Other | Select this category if the medication error is not covered by the processes described above. Please record what happened in the text box. |