Study shows parents are giving children too much medicine

A recent study showed that parents are giving their children too much medicine when they are sick. The New York Times published and article about the study last month.

The study took place at three different clinics across the nation, with 2,110 parents randomly picked and assigned combinations of tools used to give liquid medications, like measuring cups, teaspoons and oral syringes, and label instructions.

After nine trials, the study found 84.4 percent of parents made at least one mistake measuring the medicine, and more than 68 percent of the mistakes were overdoses.

The experiment found that the use of oral syringes had less errors.

ABC-7 spoke with Las Palmas Medical Center P ediatrician Dr. Hector Ocaranza about the mistakes being made by parents.

“Some of the parents don’t understand the equivalence between one teaspoon and how many milliliters it is, so the smaller the dose the more range for mistakes of the medication,” he said.

The NYT article stated that some medicines come with a measuring tool, but the dosage instructions do not always match the tool that is provided.

Dr. Ocaranza added that parents typically have to give children medicine at all hours of the day including overnight and that could be part of why parents sometimes misunderstand instructions.

“(Parents) They’re lacking sleep, they’re frustrated and the child is not feeling well,” said Dr. Ocaranza.

The doctors who led the study and Ocaranza recommend that parents use an oral syringe to give a more accurate amount of medication.

Ocaranza said too much of a medicine can many times be ineffective and it will take longer for a child to get better.

Parents are encouraged to request an oral syringe from their pediatrician and to ask for clarification on dosage.

“Ask us because we don’t want to see those mistakes,” Ocaranza said.

Click here to read the full NYT article.