Journal de pharmacie de Belgique
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INTRODUCTION; Medication errors [ME] can harm patients and increase costs. ME are frequent in the intensive care units (ICU], where patients are critically ill and therefore more vulnerable. Publications about ME in the critical care setting are rare. The differences between settings, the lack of standardized definitions and the use of different methods do not allow transposing published results to a specific ICU. The goal of this observational study is to analyse our local situation in relation to the literature findings and determine improvement opportunities. ⋯ The literature does not consider the transcription stage as a priority target for error reduction, but this work shows that, depending on the context, transcriptions can significantly increase opportunities for errors. As transcription does not add any value, its suppression seems therefore to be an interesting target for medication safety improvement.