A new study published in the November journal of Pediatrics, finds that one child experiences an out-of-hospital medication error every 8 minutes.
Although cough and cold medication errors decreased significantly, all other medication errors rose significantly during the 11-year study period.
Researchers used data from the National Poison Database System, a retrospective analysis of out-of-hospital medication errors among children under age 6, from 2002 through 2012.
The number and rate of medication error events decreased as the child got older. Analgesics, were most commonly involved in medication errors, followed by cough and cold preparations. Ingestion accounted for 96.2% of the incidents, and 27.0% of medication errors were attributed to inadvertently taking, or being given medication twice, according tot he study.
“What typically happens is, the mother goes in and gives the children a dose, then cares for another kid or makes dinner,”study author Henry Spiller, director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told FoxNews.com. “The father comes in and wants to help and gives the child a dose. And then they talk, and they found they double-dosed their child.”
