An umbrella review of systematic reviews on contributory factors to medication errors in healthcare settings.

Twenty-seven systematic reviews were included, most of which focused on a specific healthcare setting or clinical area. Decision-making mistakes such as non-consideration for patient risk factors most commonly led to error, followed by organizational and environmental factors (e.g. understaffing and distractions). Only ten studies had a prespecified methodology to classify contributory factors, among which the use of theory, specifically Reason's theory was predominant. None of the reviews evaluated the effectiveness of interventions in preventing errors. The collated contributory factors identified in this umbrella review can inform holistic theory-based intervention development.