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Medication errors and medication error reporting practices in Ghana: a systematic review.
Stephen Mensah Arhin1, Isaac Tabiri Henneh2, Theodora Dedo Azu3
1Department of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety
|May 15, 2026
Summary
Medication errors in Ghana are frequent, with omission errors being most common. Underreporting is severe due to barriers like fear of blame and inadequate systems, necessitating improved reporting mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Health Sciences
- Patient Safety
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
Background:
- Medication errors (MEs) and their underreporting significantly impact patient safety in Ghana.
- A comprehensive synthesis of ME types, reporting systems, and barriers is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and map existing literature on medication errors in Ghana.
- To assess the functionality and utilization of medication error reporting systems in Ghanaian healthcare settings.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review adhering to PRISMA 2020 guidelines.
- Searched PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar (2000-2025).
- Narrative synthesis due to study heterogeneity.
Main Results:
- Reported medication error prevalence ranged from 47% to 68.4%.
- Omission errors were the most frequent type (up to 77.6%).
- Key contributing factors included inadequate training, poor supervision, and illegible prescriptions, with significant underreporting.
Conclusions:
- Medication errors pose a substantial patient safety risk in Ghana.
- Informal reporting systems and barriers like fear of blame hinder effective reporting.
- Urgent need for structured, non-punitive reporting systems, enhanced training, and a culture of openness to improve medication safety.
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