ArticleFrontiers in veterinary science2019
Medical Errors Cause Harm in Veterinary Hospitals.
Article in Frontiers in veterinary science, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Interventions to reduce the incidence of medical error and its financial burden in health care systems: A systematic review of systematic reviews.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- When good intentions go wrong: medication errors associated with adverse events in veterinary practice.Acta veterinaria Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Cognitive bias in veterinary clinical decision-making: Antemortem misdiagnosis of suspected giant kidney worm (Dioctophyme renale) in Australia.Australian veterinary journal · 2026Article
- Expectations of dog and cat owners when dealing with veterinary errors and the emotional impact of such errors.The Veterinary record · 2026Article
- Understanding owners' expectations after veterinary errors: moving from blame to transparency and trust.The Veterinary record · 2026Article
- Work-Related Stressors and Their Perceived Impact on Veterinary Work and Personal Life: A Multi-Country European Study.Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Understanding Error Culture in Veterinary Medicine: A Survey Among Veterinary Support Staff Across German-Speaking Countries.Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Peer support after clinical incidents in veterinary care: Adopting the RISE (Resilience In Stressful Events) program.PloS one · 2026Article
- Veterinarian-pharmacist collaboration in veterinary medicine: Roles, practices, and perceptions-A scoping review.PloS one · 2026Article
- Using Functional Resonance Analysis Methodology to identify potential safety improvements in the process of administering medications by infusion in a veterinary hospital.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Understanding error culture in veterinary medicine: a survey among veterinarians across German-speaking countries.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- German Cat and Dog Owners' Views on Veterinary Error Handling: Communication and Transparency Concerns from Qualitative Interviews.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Categorising reported errors and incidents from morbidity and mortality meetings (M&Ms) in a small animal multi-specialty veterinary teaching hospital.Australian veterinary journal · 2025Article
- First opinion practice electronic health records are a useful source of descriptions of medication errors.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Veterinary healthcare needs to talk more about error: For the wellbeing of our patients and medical teams.Journal of veterinary internal medicine · 2022Article
- Development of incident severity classification for laboratory animals.Experimental animals · 2022Article
- Frequency, Stressfulness and Type of Ethically Challenging Situations Encountered by Veterinary Team Members During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Article
- Teleconsulting in the time of a global pandemic: Application to anesthesia and technological considerations.The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne · 2020Review
- Inadvertent Epidural Injection of Cefazolin in a Dog.Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)Article
- Quality Improvement: Evaluation of Team Communication Openness in Specialty and Emergency Veterinarians Who Regularly Use Communication Tools.Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medical errors are a leading cause of mortality in human medicine. In contrast, errors in veterinary medicine are rarely discussed, and there is little known about their nature and frequency. This study aimed to evaluate the type and severity of medical errors reported in three veterinary hospitals. The voluntary online incident reporting systems of a small animal teaching hospital, large animal teaching hospital, and small animal multi-specialty practice were reviewed. Reports were included if they were entered between February 2015 and March 2018, and involved an incident pertaining to patient safety. The reporting systems classified errors into the following categories: drug, iatrogenic, system, communication, lab, oversight, staff, or equipment errors. In addition, all incidents were classified as resulting in either a near miss, harmless hit, adverse incident, or unsafe condition. Adverse incidents were further evaluated retrospectively for error severity. A total of 560 incident reports were included for analysis. Drug errors were the most frequently reported in all three hospitals, followed by failures of communication. Errors most commonly reached patients without causing harm (45%); however, 15% of all incidents resulted in patient harm. Eight percent of patients harmed suffered permanent morbidity or death. A higher proportion of adverse incidents were reported in the small animal teaching hospital than in the other two practice settings. This study demonstrates that medical errors have a substantial impact on veterinary patients. Establishing that drug and communication errors are most frequent in a variety of hospitals is the first step toward interventions to improve patient safety and outcomes in veterinary medicine.
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