RESEARCH ARTICLE A description of medication errors reported by pharmacists in a neonatal intensive care unit Shane Pawluk 1,2 • Myriam Jaam 1 • Fatima Hazi 1 • Moza Sulaiman Al Hail 2 • Wessam El Kassem 2 • Hanan Khalifa 2 • Binny Thomas 2 • Pallivalappila Abdul Rouf 2 Received: 30 May 2016 / Accepted: 17 November 2016 Ó Springer International Publishing 2016 Abstract Background Patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are at an increased risk for medication errors. Objective The objective of this study is to describe the nature and setting of medication errors occurring in patients admitted to an NICU in Qatar based on a standard electronic system reported by pharmacists. Setting Neonatal intensive care unit, Doha, Qatar. Method This was a retrospective cross-sectional study on medication errors reported elec- tronically by pharmacists in the NICU between January 1, 2014 and April 30, 2015. Main outcome measure Data col- lected included patient information, and incident details including error category, medications involved, and follow- up completed. Results A total of 201 NICU pharmacists- reported medication errors were submitted during the study period. All reported errors did not reach the patient and did not cause harm. Of the errors reported, 98.5% occurred in the prescribing phase of the medication process with 58.7% being due to calculation errors. Overall, 53 different medi- cations were documented in error reports with the anti- infective agents being the most frequently cited. The majority of incidents indicated that the primary prescriber was contacted and the error was resolved before reaching the next phase of the medication process. Conclusion Medica- tion errors reported by pharmacists occur most frequently in the prescribing phase of the medication process. Our data suggest that error reporting systems need to be specific to the population involved. Special attention should be paid to frequently used medications in the NICU as these were responsible for the greatest numbers of medication errors. Keywords Medication errors Á Neonates Á Patient safety Á Quality assurance Á Qatar Impacts on practice • Pharmacists especially identify medication errors in the prescribing phase of the medication process before the medications reach the patient in the NICU. • Calculation errors attribute to a significant number of medication errors identified by pharmacists in the NICU. • Anti-infective agents were the most frequently cited medications involved in medication errors reported by pharmacists in the NICU. Introduction Medication errors are a complex and an ever presenting issue of concern in all health care institutions. Such errors range in severity and have been associated with an increased mor- tality and morbidity rate, as well as resulting in significant health care costs for both adult and pediatric populations [1, 2]. Evidence from the literature indicate patients who have complex medical problems and who require multiple medications are more likely to experience medication errors during their hospitalization [2]. Since the release of the report ‘‘To err is human’’ by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999, the importance of good patient safety management has become a major focus of many different health care professionals throughout the world [1, 3]. & Shane Pawluk shane.pawluk@qu.edu.qa 1 College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, PO Box 2713, Doha, Qatar 2 Pharmacy Department, Women’s Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, PO Box 3050, Doha, Qatar 123 Int J Clin Pharm DOI 10.1007/s11096-016-0399-x