Personal Injury Law

One out of 15 Children Hospitalized for Drug Errors

By Internal Administrator

In a study to be released next week in the April 2008 edition of the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that roughly one out of 15 hospitalized children - a staggering 540,000 kids each year - will suffer a medication mix-up, accidental overdose, or drug reaction.  This number is far higher than earlier estimates of  roughly 2 incidents per 100 hospitalized children, and reinforces the need for aggressive prevention strategies.  More than half of the problems were related to powerful painkillers, including overdoses and allergic reactions.  The study involved a review of charts selected at random for 960 children treated at 12  children's hospitals in the United States in 2002.  The study methodology identified 15 "triggers" or events that might  identify possible drug-related side effects in a patient's chart (including specific antidotes for drug overdoses such as the administration of naloxone or Vitamin K, suspicious side effects, and particular lab tests).  If a trigger was found in the chart, a more comprehensive review of the patients' care was then completed. 

Patient safety experts said the problem is likely more wide-spread than indicated in this particular study.  In particular, this study did not include general community hospitals where many children are treated, but instead focused on children's hospitals where one would presume greater protections are already in place such as proper identification and use of medications to prevent accidental administration of adult doses of powerful medications to infants and children, as has occurred in a number of recently publicized cases involving Dennis Quaid's twins and other children at an Indianapolis hospital. 

Dr. Charles Homer of the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, the group that helped develop the detection tool used in this study, indicated, ".these kinds of errors and experiencing harm as a result of your health care is much more common that people believe.  It's very concerning."  The study's author hopes that a big push to prevent medical errors in recent years has put a dent in the problem since the data was collected in 2002.

Full post as published by Tampa Bay Personal Injury Law on April 14, 2008 (boomark / email).