Certain instructions on children's medications confuse parents leading to wrong doses, a new research reveals.
The study was conducted on 287 parents wherein researchers determined to understand the administration of over-the-counter liquid medication to children. Their analysis showed that 41 percent of parents made an error measuring the amount of medication prescribed by the doctors. Around 39 percent misread the amount of medication needed to be given to their children.
Researchers found that almost one-third of the parents used a kitchen spoon to measure a teaspoon or tablespoon of medication. This increased the chances of administering a wrong dose by 2.5 times. Moreover, according to the study results, the researchers found that when parents used teaspoon or tablespoon measurements, they were 2.3 times more likely to pour the wrong dose and 1.9 times more likely to wrongly administer the prescription dose recommendation.
"A move to a milliliter preference for dosing instructions for liquid medications could reduce parent confusion and decrease medication errors, especially for groups at risk for making errors, such as those with low health literacy and non-English speakers," said study lead author Dr. Shonna Yin, an assistant professor of pediatrics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City, reports HealthDay.
"When you look at a kitchen spoon, the amount that will actually sit in the spoon is less likely to be exactly what it's meant to be," co-author Dr. Ian Paul, associate vice chair for research at the Penn State College of Medicine department of pediatrics said. "You're less likely to get the right amount onto that spoon and then deliver it to a child's mouth."
Researchers advise the parents to administer medications in milliliters through syringes so that there would be no confusion. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
