USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP)

The USP-ISMP Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP) operated by the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is a confidential national voluntary reporting program that provides expert analysis of the system causes of medication errors and disseminates recommendations for prevention. Regulatory agencies and manufacturers are notified of needed changes in products when safety is of concern.

Without reporting, such events may go unrecognized and thus important epidemiological and preventive information would be unavailable. Errors, near-errors or hazardous conditions may be reported to the program. These include but are not limited to administering the wrong drug, strength, or dose of medications; confusion over look-alike/sound-alike drugs; incorrect route of administration; calculation or preparation errors; misuse of medical equipment; and errors in prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, and monitoring of medications. Case studies are published by ISMP and/or USP to alert healthcare professionals and others about recommendations to prevent errors.

Health care professionals and consumers can submit reports and associated materials in confidence. Additionally, the information, excluding your name and contact information unless you grant permission, will be forwarded to the Food and Drug Administration, the manufacturer and others to inform them about pharmaceutical labeling, packaging, and nomenclature issues that may foster errors by their design.

Your identity and location as well as a copy of this report will be shared confidentially with the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).

This information, excluding your identity and location, will be sent to third parties such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) MedWatch program and to the manufacturer/labeler. You will have the option of including your identity and location on these copies.

When reporting errors, please include the following:

1. Describe the error or preventable adverse drug reaction. What went wrong?
2. Was this an actual medication error (reached the patient) or are you expressing concern about a potential error or writing about an error that was discovered before it reached the patient?
3. Patient outcome.
4. Type of practice site (hospital, private office, retail pharmacy, drug company, long-term care facility, etc).
5. The generic name (INN or official name) of all products involved.
6. The brand name of all products involved.
7. The dosage form, concentration or strength, etc.
8. How was the error discovered/intercepted?
9. Please state your recommendations for error prevention.

Please do not submit any patient identifiable information when forwarding medication error reports to ISMP.

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Please describe the incident as best you can. This information will be handled in confidence.
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