VIDEO: Are you giving the right dose of medicine to your child?

Children may not get well if the right kind of medicine were given less. Likewise, side effects of the drug may happen if more of what is required were administered. Parents should know how to correctly give the right dose to their children in order to give the maximum benefit and lessen the adverse reactions of the medication they give to children. Don't be shy to ask health professionals. Watch the 1:21 long video below.


PARENT ERRORS IN MEASURING CHILDREN'S DOSES

Date: 08 Jul 2010
Lenght: 1m 22s
Viewed 1 times
Keywords: Pediatrics  Internal Medicine  For Patients  General Medicine
Posted by: Symposier

Uploaded and shared in Youtube by: USFoodandDrugAdmin — The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) recently reported on a study of the errors parents make when measuring children's doses of oral medications. In the study, 300 parents were observed as they attempted to measure liquid doses using dosing cups, droppers, dosing spoons and oral syringes. Parents using dosing cups made many more errors than those using the other methods. The cups were also associated with large dosing errors, where the measured dose differed from the prescribed dose by more than 40 percent. Parents with low health literacy scores were more likely to make errors. The authors of the study speculate that the higher failure rate with the dosing cups might be due to legibility difficulties, or to parents assuming that a full cup is the unit of measure, or to confusion between teaspoon "tsp" and tablespoon "tbsp" markings, especially with the abbreviations for teaspoon and tablespoon. When using the dosing cups, parents should always verify the dose at eye level. But whichever dosing device you provide for your patients, ISMP recommends using the "teachback method." That is where the parent or caregiver demonstrates they understand how to use the device before it's dispensed. FDA Patient Safety News: July 2010 For more information, please see our website: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/psn/transcript.cfm?show=100#7

Source: http://www.symposier.com/library_detail/8636/Parent-Errors-in-Measuring-Childrens-Doses