Table 4

Medications categories associated with errors

Medication category	Medication errors with minimal potential for harm			Near misses
Medication category	n	Percentage of events^*	Percentage of Rx^†	n	Percentage of events^*	Percentage of Rx^†
Penicillin or derivative	501	42	72	91	20	13
Bronchodilators, inhaled	59	5	30	45	10	23
Macrolides	81	7	77	34	7	32
Steroids, topical	49	4	47	26	6	25
Ophthalmic preparations	87	7	79	42	9	38
Ibuprofen	38	3	46	24	5	29
Steroids, inhaled	29	2	36	25	5	31
Antifungal, topical	42	3	57	13	3	18
Antihistamine	36	3	42	16	3	19
Steroids, oral	35	3	64	22	5	40
Emollients	31	3	148	1	0.22	5
H2 blocker	–	–		1	0.55	6
Topical	24	2	43	8	2	14
Leucotriene receptors	23	2	88	3	0.65	12
Cephalosporins	13	1	21	7	5	12
Acetaminophen	15	1	38	18	4	45
Otit prep	13	1	43	7	5	23
Gi meds	12	1	300	–	–	–
Dermatologicals	12	1	32	8	2	21
Antifungal oral	10	1	24	13	3	31
Vitamins	10	1	40	7	2	28
Antimalarial	8	1	160
Topical anaesthetic	7	1	2	2	0.43	7
Bronchodilator oral	1	0.08	8	5	1	42
Antituberculosis	5	0.41	71	4	0.86	67
Antitussive	–	–	–	4	0.86	15
Decongestant	5	0.41	71	4	0.86	57
Antiviral	–	–	–	1	0.22	25
Laxative	5	0.41	25	4	0.86	20
Analgesic	–	–		6	1	67
Other meds	24	2	126	5	1	26
Proton pump inhibitor	–	–	–	–	–	–
Stimulants	6	0.50	29	4	0.86	19
Sulfa	4	0.33	33	2	0.43	15
Scabicides	1	0.08	14	3	0.65	9
Antihelminitics	2	0.17	50	2	0.43	50
Epinehprine	5	0.41	38	2	0.43	15
β blocker	–	–	–	1	0.22	100
Cerumenolytic	–	–	–	1	0.22	33
Muscle relaxant	–	–	–	1	0.22	50
Normal saline	3	0.25	11
Antitussive	2	0.17	7
Thyroid agent	2	0.17	200
Immunologicals, topical	2	0.07	67
Nasal spray	1	0.08	7
Iron	1	0.08	20
Haemostatic	1	0.08	50
Topical oestrogen cream				2	0.43	22

↵* Proportion of incidents attributable to a given drug category. For example, penicillin or derivative prescriptions caused 20% of near misses.
↵† Proportion of prescriptions for a given drug category that resulted in an incident. For example, 13% of penicillin or derivative prescriptions resulted in a near miss.