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Parents' medication administration errors: role of dosing instruments and health literacy.

Yin S, Mendelsohn A, Wolf MS, et al. Parents' medication administration errors: role of dosing instruments and health literacy. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(2):181-6. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.269.

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December 21, 2014
Yin S, Mendelsohn A, Wolf MS, et al. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(2):181-6.
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Efforts to develop health literacy interventions are one strategy to improve medication safety. In pediatric populations, the need for parents to understand liquid medication dosing poses additional risks. This study evaluated the role of dosing instrument type (e.g., cups, droppers, syringes) on parents' medication administration errors. Investigators found that dosing accuracy was lowest when using cups, and that cups were also associated with the largest deviations in dosing errors administered. Limited health literacy was also associated with parents' dosing errors. A previous WebM&M commentary discusses safety problems caused by low health literacy.  Accompanying this article [see link below] is an Advice for Patients educational page that highlights pearls for medication safety in children.

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Yin S, Mendelsohn A, Wolf MS, et al. Parents' medication administration errors: role of dosing instruments and health literacy. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(2):181-6. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.269.