Medication is the most common health-care intervention, and the errors arising out of its usage are potentially an avoidable cause of iatrogenic injuries. There are reports of medication errors from neonatal emergency setups.To study the medication errors of ordering, dispensing and administering in neonates admitted for emergency care and to compare the errors occurring in the emergency department (ED) with those occurring in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a teaching hospital in north India.To study the medication errors in ordering and dispensing for neonates.To compare these errors in 2 different settings--ED and NICU.We did a retrospective chart review of neonatal prescriptions written in the 4 months from January to April 2004 in the neonatal intensive care unit and the pediatric emergency department. The prescriptions were analyzed from the case records bearing an even registration number, obtained from the hospital 'medical records' section. Medication error was defined as 'any preventable event that occurs in the process of ordering, transcribing, dispensing, administering or monitoring a drug irrespective of whether the injury occurred or potential for injury was present!A total of 821 prescriptions were analyzed and 81 (9.6

作者：Suksham, Jain；Srikanta, Basu；Veena R, Parmar

来源：Indian journal of medical sciences 2009 年 63卷 4期