PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND PRESCRIPTION Medication errors reported to the National Medication Error Reporting System in Malaysia: a 4-year retrospective review (2009 to 2012) A. Samsiah 1,2 & Noordin Othman 3 & Shazia Jamshed 1 & Mohamed Azmi Hassali 4 & W. M. Wan-Mohaina 5 Received: 22 April 2016 /Accepted: 29 August 2016 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract Purpose Reporting and analysing the data on medication er- rors (MEs) is important and contributes to a better understand- ing of the error-prone environment. This study aims to exam- ine the characteristics of errors submitted to the National Medication Error Reporting System (MERS) in Malaysia. Methods A retrospective review of reports received from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2012 was undertaken. Descriptive statistics method was applied. Results A total of 17,357 MEs reported were reviewed. The majority of errors were from public-funded hospitals. Near misses were classified in 86.3 % of the errors. The majority of errors (98.1 %) had no harmful effects on the patients. Prescribing contributed to more than three- quarters of the overall errors (76.1 %). Pharmacists detect- ed and reported the majority of errors (92.1 %). Cases of erroneous dosage or strength of medicine (30.75 %) were the leading type of error, whilst cardiovascular (25.4 %) was the most common category of drug found. Conclusions MERS provides rich information on the char- acteristics of reported MEs. Low contribution to reporting from healthcare facilities other than government hospitals and non-pharmacists requires further investigation. Thus, a feasible approach to promote MERS among healthcare providers in both public and private sectors needs to be formulated and strengthened. Preventive measures to min- imise MEs should be directed to improve prescribing competency among the fallible prescribers identified. Keywords Medication errors . Medication error reporting . Error reporting system . Malaysia Abbreviations BNF British National Formulary CPOE Computerised physician order entry HCP Healthcare provider ISMP Institute for Safe Medication Practices LASA Look-alike sound-alike ME Medication error MERS Medication Error Reporting System MOH Ministry of Health Malaysia NCCMERP National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention NMRR National Medical Research Register NRLS National Reporting and Learning System PSD Pharmaceutical Service Division PhIS Pharmacy Information System WHO World Health Organization Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00228-016-2126-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Noordin Othman noordin_uia@yahoo.com 1 Kuliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, 25200, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia 2 Institute for Health Systems Research, Ministry of Health, 40170 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 3 Department of Clinical and Hospital Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taibah University, Almadinah Almunawwarah, Saudi Arabia 4 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia 5 Pharmaceutical Service Division, Ministry of Health, Petaling Jaya, 46350 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Eur J Clin Pharmacol DOI 10.1007/s00228-016-2126-x