Providing parents with picture-based instructions - and with dosing tools that closely match the amount of medication needed - may help reduce cases of medication overdoses in children, researchers say.
Poorly designed medication labels and dosing tools lead to dosing errors, especially when parents are given large cups for small doses, the study team writes in Pediatrics, June 27.
“Parents frequently make errors in dosing medications for their children. We did this study because we wanted to find out how to redesign medication labels and dosing tools to help parents understand dosing instructions better,” lead author Dr. Shonna Yin told Reuters Health in an email.
It is important for parents to use a tool that has markings on it to help them measure out the right amount.
