Medication Errors and Children

Dan Frith

Contributor

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This report will wake you up! A recent study published in the journal, Pediatrics, concludes that far too many medical errors occur when medicines are ordered for hospitalized children.

Hospitalized children experience adverse drug events (including medicine mix-ups, accidental overdoses, and bad drug reactions) at a rate of 11.1 per 100 patients, according to the study of pediatric inpatients by a group of U.S. medical researchers. The rate for adults, while still too high, is just over 2 adults per 100 patients.

The study is available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org .