A medication error is a preventable event in any healthcare setting that may lead to inappropriate medication use, leading to patient harm. Medication errors can be classified into five categories: wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong route, wrong frequency, and/or the wrong patient.

Medication errors are a major cause of death. One out of every 2 surgeries has a medication error or an adverse drug event (Nanji et al., 2016). These errors have a global cost of about $42 billion a year (Donaldson et al., 2017).

Addressing medical errors can improve the quality and safety of healthcare and lower costs. It also helps create a safety culture, which is a culture that promotes patient safety and quality of care while reducing preventable risks and harm.