In the United States, every year there are more than 10,000 calls to poison control centers because they have been given orally presented liquid medications incorrectly. And it seems to be quite frequent that when not finding syringe or measuring spoon in the syrup box, we get to take spoons of coffee or dessert from the kitchen drawer.
That said, it seems a lot, but it happens, of course, 'by eye' it is difficult to get the dose that the doctor has given us. I also add that as the child almost never gets sick, the pattern of a year ago is no longer worth us, because our son does not weigh the same, with how little it costs to go to the pharmacy and upload it to the scale, then consult the pharmacist ...
Now, it is known that for a while doctors have transferred to the parents the equivalents in tablespoons (of soup) or teaspoons, for these cases in which it is not known how to measure. Well, now we can discard that idea because an investigation states that These practices can lead to potentially dangerous dosing errors.
A team of researchers coordinated by H. Shonna Yin, has observed 287 parents while administering the medication to their children
The exact measure
The fact that children have (or may have) more sensitivity than adults to certain drugs, favors that dose errors cause problems. In this regard, Yin has suggested that it would be preferable to make treatment indications in milliliters, for this the pharmacies should dispense syringes with this marking. This seems to be important especially in groups at risk of making mistakes (with little knowledge of health, or who do not understand English well - we speak of the United States -).
The American Academy of Pediatrics, and the United States CDC, had already suggested changing the dosage
The researchers found out that almost 40 percent of parents had measured incorrectly, and that those who measure with tablespoon or teaspoons were 2.3 more likely to incorrectly administer the medication. What parents do not know (and we should know) is that a small mistake by increasing the dose may cause an insufficient dose or increase toxicity, but it will very easily be inaccurate.
In short, it would be good if
- When the pediatrician prescribes a liquid oral medication, we ensure that have understood well the doses that he proposes.
- When we miss the spoon or syringe dosing we go to the pharmacy for another.
- When we need a medicine of those that we give almost without consulting (for example, anti-thermal), if it has been a long time since the last time, we weigh the child and ask the pharmacist, or call the pediatrician. Because the dose of when he was seven, if he is now eight and a half, it is no longer worth it, and it is not going to be that we pass by and poison our son.
- Whenever we have doubts, or when we have forgotten things, let's ask. Better to go from heavy than left: To cure the girl is not only to give her the medication, it is above all to give her the appropriate dose.
And little more to tell you, The study has been published in Pediatrics, and in the links you will find more information.
