Background: Medication transcription errors (MTEs) are frequent in hospitalized patient settings. Definitions and\nscenarios that represent potential MTEs in the Palestinian nursing practice were not previously approached using\nformal consensus techniques. This investigation was conducted to develop a consensual definition of MTEs and\nscenarios that represent different MTE situations by a panel of nurses and other healthcare professionals.\nMethods: In this observational study, consensus was sought using the Delphi technique. Panelists (n = 64) were\ninvited and recruited from different hospitals in Palestine and a two-iterative rounds Delphi technique was used to\nachieve consensus on a proposed definition of MTEs and 76 different scenarios representing potential MTEs.\nResults: Consensus was achieve to accept the definition and to consider 69 of the 76 proposed scenarios (77.6%)\nas MTEs, exclude 3 scenarios (3.9%), and 4 scenarios (5.3%) remained equivocal. Equivocal scenarios might be\nconsidered as MTEs or not depending on the clinical situation.\nConclusions: Consensus was achieved on a definition of MTEs and scenarios representing MTEs by a panel of\nnurses and other healthcare professionals. This study showed that it was possible to develop and achieve\nconsensus on a definition and scenarios representing MTE situations using formal consensus techniques. Such\nconsensual definitions could be useful in future epidemiological studies investigating MTEs. Using consensual\ndefinitions might reduce methodological variations, promote congruence in error counting and reporting, and\npermit comparing error rates in different hospital settings.
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