title: Types of medical errors commonly reported by family physicians.
abstract: In a group of studies about medical errors in family medicine, the five error types most often observed and reported by U.S. family physicians were: (1) errors in prescribing medications; (2) errors in getting the right laboratory test done for the right patient at the right time; (3) filing system errors; (4) errors in dispensing medications; and (5) errors in responding to abnormal laboratory test results. "Errors in prescribing medications" was the only one of these five error types that was also commonly reported by family physicians in other countries.
authors.affiliation: Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 950, Washington, DC 20036, USA. policy@aafp.org
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dovey
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Fryer
mesh_terms: D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States