Joint Commission Targeting Children Medication Mix-Ups

Just days after our blogon choosing the best children's hospital for your child, the Joint Commission has issued new guidelines aimed at curbing pediatric medication errors in hospitals.  A recent study in the medical journal Pediatrics reveals that as many as 7.3% of all children treated at hospitals experienced an "adverse drug event." 

The Joint Commission's new guidelines include tips like:

• Hospitals and physicians should weigh children in kilograms, not pounds, because pediatric medication dosages are measured by the metric system.
• Hosiptals shouldn't give children high-risk drugs until after the child has been weighed.
• Doctors writing prescriptions should "show their work" by noting the calculations they made to arrive at the prescribed dosage.  This will allow other doctors to double-check the math at a later date.
• Parents and caregivers should seek informatoin and ask questions about their children's medications and repeat hte instructions back to the doctor.

Children in hospitals are often more vulnerable than adults for several reasons.  They are sometimes unable to articulate what hurts, they have weaker immune systems, and their bodies are ill-equipped to fight off certain illnesses.  The new guidelines by the Joint Commission should help doctors and parents work together to prevent over-medication in hospitals and should ultimately reduce the number of medical malpractice incidents that occur in our hospitals.