Frequent causes of medication errors with minimal potential for harm
| Category of error | Medication errors with minimal potential for harm (n (%)) |
| Illegibility errors | 670 (100) |
| MD signature illegible | 489 (73) |
| Illegible strength or strength units | 43 (6) |
| Illegible patient name | 30 (5) |
| Illegible duration | 20 (3) |
| Illegible dispense amount | 21 (3) |
| Illegible weight | 12 (2) |
| Other | 11 (2) |
| Illegible date | 10 (1) |
| Illegible frequency or frequency units | 9 (1) |
| Illegible dose | 8 (1) |
| Illegible directions for use | 8 (1) |
| Patient name spelled wrong | 7 (1) |
| Illegible script | 1 (<1) |
| First name initial only | 1 (<1) |
| Weight errors | 667 (100) |
| Omitted | 487 (73) |
| Units missing | 178 (27) |
| Wrong | 2 (<1) |
| Date errors | 72 (100) |
| Missing | 43 (60) |
| Wrong | 23 (32) |
| Other | 6 (8) |