mixups

Mixups are errors in which two or more items, people, events, or signals are confused or swapped. They commonly arise from lapses in attention, similarities among items, or hurried handling, and they can result in incorrect decisions, identifications, or actions.

Mixups occur in everyday life (for example confusing two delivery addresses or mistaking one person for another) and in professional contexts such as laboratories, healthcare, education, and logistics. High-stakes mixups include specimen mislabeling, medication errors due to look-alike drugs, or misattributed test results, which can endanger safety and privacy.

Contributing factors include cognitive load, time pressure, ambiguous labeling, inadequate workflows, memory reliance, and design flaws in information systems. Similar-sounding names, codes, or products also increase the likelihood of confusion.

Consequences vary from nuisance and inefficiency to serious harm and financial cost. In research and medicine, mixups can lead to incorrect diagnoses, patient harm, or compromised data integrity. In business, they can damage product traceability and trust.

Prevention emphasizes error reduction and detection, through practices such as standardized labeling, color coding, double-checks or independent verification, checklists, automation, and robust data management. Training, incident reporting, and a culture that encourages reporting near-misses help identify and address underlying causes.