Using total quality management approach to improve patient safety by preventing medication error incidences**

Table 9 Pareto table --causes of medication error (N = 318)

Cause of medication error	Score	Percent	Cumulative percent
b. Poor handwriting orders	24	7.5	7.5
d. Unapproved abbreviations	22	6.9	14.5
f. Metric system	19	6.0	20.4
h. Unnecessary decimal points	16	5.0	25.5
ee. Failure to follow established policies and procedures	15	4.7	30.2
q. Workload/fatigue	15	4.7	34.9
c. Verbal order	14	4.4	39.3
e. Understaffing	14	4.4	43.7
dd. Inappropriate patient behavior regarding adherence to a prescribed medication regimen	13	4.1	47.8
x. Drug given but not documented	13	4.1	51.9
bb. Failure to educate patients about potential side effects	12	3.8	55.7
j. Poor assessment of order	12	3.8	59.4
u. Incompliant Patient	11	3.5	62.9
i. Lack of information on the patient	11	3.5	66.4
r. Medication unavailable	10	3.1	69.5
m. Poor designed Work area	9	2.8	72.3
a. New staff	9	2.8	75.2
n. Inadequate Distribution system	9	2.8	78.0
t. Extended delay of administration due to other department (Lab levels, x-ray,.)	8	2.5	80.5
p. Failure to follow order instructions	8	2.5	83.0
l. Labeling & packaging problems	8	2.5	85.5
ff. Policies and procedure NOT established	7	2.2	87.7
g. Lack of knowledge on the medication	7	2.2	89.9
s. Inadequate checking	6	1.9	91.8
z. Failure to recognize adverse reactions	5	1.9	93.4
v. Inadequate medication device	4	1.3	95.7
o. Poor inventory arrangement	4	1.3	95.9
aa. Failure to report adverse reactions	4	1.3	97.2
k. Outdated references	3	0.9	98.1
w. Lack of information	3	0.9	99.1
cc. Failure to use appropriate clinical or laboratory data for adequate assessment of patient response to prescribed therapy	2	0.6	99.7
y. Drug documented but not given	1	0.3	100
Total	318	100

ISSN: 1472-6963