Table 1 National Coordinating Council for Medication Errors Reporting and Prevention (NCCMERP) classification of severity of medical errors

A

Circumstances or events that have the capacity to cause error

B

An error occurred but the error did not reach the patient

C

An error occurred that reached the patient but did not cause patient harm

D

An error occurred that reached the patient and required monitoring to confirm that it resulted in no harm and/or required intervention to preclude harm

E

An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in temporary harm

F

An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in temporary harm and required initial or prolonged hospitalization

G

An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in permanent patient harm

H

An error occurred that required intervention necessary to sustain life

I

An error occurred that may have contributed to or resulted in the patient’s death