Medication mistakes are common and serious in hospital settings, but a new study shows they also happen at home. Nurses who observed parents giving their children cancer chemotherapy found that between 10 and 40 percent of the doses were missed. The kids averaged about seven years old, and 242 chemotherapy doses were observed.
There were 72 errors noted, including 4 that injured the children with severe digestive distress, pain and agitation. Another 40 had the potential to cause injury. In one case, parents sprinkled the medication on the child’s food, which made it ineffective.
The researchers concluded that cancer doctors need to communicate more clearly about exactly how these critical medicines should be administered at home in order to reduce such serious mistakes.
[Pediatrics, online April 29, 2013]
The People's Perspective on Medicine