School of Pharmacy


Incident Log
Incident Log


Date of incident: 27/03/2013

Error type: dispensing error

Patient age: 32

Patient sex: male

Brief summary of incident: Directions on the label for the product was written was as " Take THREE or FOUR spoonfuls DAILY" instead of " Take ONE 5ml spoonful THREE or FOUR times s day"

Name of medication: Simple Linctus (200ml);

Level of harm that could have occurred: 3

The reason you think the potential harm is at the level you have chosen:
The size of the spoonful is not indicated for and the patient may be tempted to use other sized spoons to administer the medicine.

Possible cause/contributory factors: Not double and triple checking label before dispensing

Reasons why incident occurred and actions required to prevent reoccurence:
Check label against prescription for directions

Best description of this error/near miss:
wrong dose strength
wrong frequency



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