Simplify medication regimes, as much as possible, to prevent administration errors at home, says the  American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in a new policy statement “Preventing Home Medication Administration Errors” published in the journal Pediatrics.^1.2

The experts note that errors occur very frequently, particularly with liquid medications (syrups and suspensions) and also when there are multiple medications to be administered. Instances of medication errors include underdosing and overdosing, missed doses, administration of the wrong medication, use of medications that are past their date of expiry, incorrect preparation etc. Such errors are more likely to occur in cases of children with long-term medical conditions.

Some of the recommendations to avoid medication errors are:

• “Improve communication with caregivers and patients.
• Make medication regimens as simple as possible. Reduce the number of medications prescribed, discontinue medications when possible
• Encourage the use of a standardized dosing tool with all liquid medications.
• Provide dose amount using milliliter units only, using the abbreviation “mL” and avoid spoon-based or nonmetric units.
• Use only kilograms (kg) for child weight to reduce inadvertent mix-ups (with pounds).
• Provide oral syringes when dosing accuracy is essential, especially when smaller doses are recommended (e.g., <5 mL) and when medications are for a young child.
• Include patient weight and indications on all prescriptions so that the pharmacists can check the dose
• To avoid unintentional ingestions and use of expired prescription medications, promote safe disposal of unused medications after course completion
• Reconcile medications at all relevant patient encounters.
• Access educational modules and other resources for safe prescribing practices, health literacy-informed patient education and counseling, and safe storage and administration of home medications.”

Reference

1. Yin HS, et al. Preventing home medication administration errors. Pediatrics. 2021 Nov 1;e2021054666.
2. American Academy of Pediatrics News Release, November 1, 2021.