What kind of medication errors can directly harm patients?

Mistakes in prescribing or administering medications can directly harm patients because these errors can lead to incorrect dosages, wrong medications, or inappropriate routes of administration, all of which can result in adverse effects, ineffective treatment, or even life-threatening situations. For instance, if a patient receives the wrong medication due to a prescribing error, they may experience harmful side effects or a worsening of their condition.

In contrast, while methods of data collection, coding errors in medical records, and errors in imaging interpretation can lead to indirect harm, such as delays in treatment or miscommunication, they do not have the immediate, direct impact on a patient's health that medication errors do. Medication errors are particularly critical as they involve the actual therapeutic agents that affect physiological processes and can have immediate consequences on patient safety and outcomes.