Understanding the limitations of incident reporting in medication errors

Benchmarking of medication incidents reporting and medication error rates in a JCI accredited university teaching hospital at a GCC country

“…Yet, the study did have its limitations; underreporting is a major issue, as healthcare workers may not report all incidents due to fear of retribution, lack of time, or knowledge of the reporting process leading to inaccurate data and skewed analysis ( Aidah et al, 2021 , Catchpole et al, 2020 , Tchijevitch et al, 2023 ). Variability in reporting across different healthcare workers can also make comparing data across departments difficult; cause such lack of standardization in medication incident reporting makes it difficult to compare data across different hospitals or regions and benchmark against other hospitals ( Aidah et al, 2021 , Tchijevitch et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Variability in reporting across different healthcare workers can also make comparing data across departments difficult; cause such lack of standardization in medication incident reporting makes it difficult to compare data across different hospitals or regions and benchmark against other hospitals ( Aidah et al, 2021 , Tchijevitch et al, 2023 ). Limited data analysis may not provide a complete picture of the medication administration process, as factors like staffing levels, workload, and training may also contribute to medication errors ( Aidah et al, 2021 , Catchpole et al, 2020 , Tchijevitch et al, 2023 ). Bias in benchmarking can occur if there are differences in reporting practices or patient populations, making it difficult to accurately compare performance and identify areas for improvement ( Lewis et al, 2009 ).…”

“…In conclusion, medication incident reporting is essential for identifying and addressing errors in hospitals, but it is crucial to recognize its limitations in analysis and benchmarking. Hospitals should strive to improve reporting practices and standardize reporting systems to ensure accurate data and benchmarking ( Aidah et al, 2021 , Catchpole et al, 2020 ).…”

A cross-sectional overview of the second 4000 incidents reported to webAIRS, a de-identified web-based anaesthesia incident reporting system in Australia and New Zealand

“…14 Clearly, reported anaesthesia incident rates depend on the severity of incidents reported and the completeness of capture of all incidents, which has been estimated to be as low as one in 20 in previous reports. 15 There may also be differences between sites related to the case mix of patients. For all these reasons, extrapolation of the rate of anaesthesia incidents in Australia and New Zealand from the webAIRS data should be undertaken with caution.…”