Medication Safety and Children School Prorams, Research Paper Example

Medication safety in young children is of critical importance in today’s society due to the risks associated with prescription and over-the-counter medications and the errors that often occur. It is important to educate parents, teachers, and children regarding the dangers of medication and what might happen if the wrong dosage is consumed. A variety of educational programs are available in schools as a means of educating the general public in regards to the dangers of medication in the younger population. Approximately 70,000 cases of suspected medication overdoses in children occur on an annual basis.¹ The most common cases occur in two year-olds.¹ In 2009, 1 two-year old child in every 151 cases was evaluated for a suspected medication overdose.¹

Medication administration impacts young children in tragic ways.¹ Parents, teachers, and other adults must be willing to understand the scope of this problem, improve education, and share these important messages with the intended audience.¹ Significant gaps in knowledge exist regarding the risks associated with medication safety. Therefore, the expansion of protocols to enhance medication safety require an effective understanding of the different challenges and considerations that impact young children taking medication, and how these challenges might play a role in expanding organized educational efforts in the appropriate manner.

There are many children taking medications of different forms and dosages to manage a wide variety of illnesses, which may include asthma, diabetes, colds, ear infections, and cancer, amongst others. Therefore, it is important to identify the areas where medication knowledge and understanding are lacking from a parental perspective because children may be subject to unnecessary risks in the home environment and at school. Many nationally recognized organizations have established programmatic efforts and other forms of guidance in order to effectively support medication safety programs in schools and in other environments, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC uses the PROTECT initiative to establish educational opportunities and warn parents, teachers, and other caregivers of the risks associated with medication administration.² Over-the-counter medications are frequently abused unintentionally and account for one-third of all suspected medication overdoses in the emergency department.² Comprehensive education is provided to children in the school setting in a format that is easy to understand.² This program is effective because it supports expanded education and guidance regarding medication safety.

Medication overdoses in children are a critical concern for parents and healthcare providers. In examining over 3,000 cases, almost 69 percent of all emergency department visits for pediatric poisonings were attributed to medication overdoses.³ There is a continuous increase in medication use by adults and children in many communities, and this reflects a need to exercise greater caution and understanding of medication safety protocols.³ Poison control organizations have observed an increased number of medication-related cases in recent years, and this reflects a greater need to develop standards and protocols to promote safety in the use of medications, especially in children.³ A system known as the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was established by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to evaluate emergency department visits directly related to product injuries.³ From this database, over 71,000 emergency department cases involved children and medication overdoses.³ The most common events occurred in children aged two, and the lowest rates were identified in children between the ages of 12-14 years.³ Hospitalizations related to medication overdoses exceeded other types of poisonings by a 4:1 margin.³ Most commonly, incorrect dosages were identified, and many cases involved taking the wrong medication or not taking a medication on schedule.³ Since this problem has become increasingly common and problematic in emergency departments, it is necessary to evaluate the scope of the problem and the development of a protocol that will reduce the incidence of medication overdoses in children.³ Packaging factors and current trends should be taken into consideration in developing new protocols for use, including a change in adaptors on liquid bottles and needleless syringes.³ Furthermore, changes in labeling and modifications to current dosing strategies could also benefit this population group.³ The NEISS system is instrumental because it explores the most common types of medication errors and has a significant impact on the future direction of education and outreach regarding medication administration safety to prevent errors.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established a Safe Use Initiative to increase attention to medication errors and overdoses that lead to serious consequences and death.⁴ The Safe Use Initiative supports collaborations between the FDA and other partners to prevent medication overdoses through interventions and organized educational efforts.⁴ These contributions are important because they address probable solutions to common concerns regarding medication safety that are currently lacking in many areas.⁴ These include meetings to discuss medication safety, data analysis to address safety concerns, and conduct interventions and evaluate their impact.⁴ These contributions are relevant because they have a significant impact on children and adults who are at risk due to medications.⁴ This collaborative effort is also designed to prevent injuries and deaths through an expanded evaluation of medication-related risks for adults and children.⁴ Although there are risks associated with all medications, some risks are manageable and provide significant benefits when used in the proper manner.⁴ However, many risks are avoidable and include accidental exposure, incorrect dosages, and incorrect information provided on labels.⁴ The Safe Use Initiative operates in a collaborative manner, which is an effective alternative in expanding the knowledge and understanding of medication safety to reduce these risks in young children.

A combined approach to dosage information for liquid medications was established by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the FDA, and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) to provide manufacturers with additional guidance in this area.⁵ This combined effort supports the development of new approaches to medication dosing that represent greater accuracy in providing information to consumers.⁵ The group supports the development of guidelines that include clearer labels on liquid medications, along with improved dosage delivery devices.⁵ Corresponding units of measure are critical in promoting accuracy and obtaining the correct dosage from the device provided with the bottle.⁵ For example, the cup accompanying a bottle must provide the same unit of measurement as the written dose, such as teaspoon or mL.⁵ These alternatives will minimize errors in medication administration and support the accuracy of labeling, particularly with liquid medications.⁵ These contributions are relevant because they enable adults to administer medications properly to children that provide consistent measurements between the label and the cup or syringe used to administer the liquid medication.⁵ This combined effort supports the continued expansion of protocols that are consistently applied to liquid medication labeling and administration to promote safety from the actual prescribing event to ingestion.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices supports medication safety programs in schools and other environments with vulnerable populations.⁶ Programmatic efforts exist in many schools to improve medication safety and address the importance of taking medications only as prescribed.⁶ Many prescribed medications and over-the-counter medications are taken incorrectly.⁷ Parents and adults do not always pay attention to medication storage, leading to greater risk of ingestion by a child who is not under direct supervision.⁷ Accidental medication overdoses occur everywhere, such as the home environment, schools, and other public settings.⁷ Adult medications account for almost 70 percent of all visits to the emergency department for medication overdoses.⁷ This initiative provides important information and insight regarding the dangers of medications for children.

Common abused medications in children include ibuprofen, acetaminophen, diaper rash ointments, vitamins, cold antihistamines, and diphenhydramine.⁷ The dangers of these medications must be explored through expanded education and guidance.⁷ Some of the most common side effects include nausea, vomiting, seizures, lung damage, intestinal damage, coma, and death.⁷ It is important to develop educational frameworks and guidelines to spread the word regarding the dangers of medications for children.⁷ Medications should be properly stored in locations that children cannot reach under any circumstances ⁷ This lesson serves parents well because it is practical yet necessary to encourage parents and children to be as safe as possible.

Literature and related materials are necessary to allow parents and children to recognize the dangers of medications and the health risks associated with medications.⁷ Education must expand on the dangers of overdoses because statistics support these objectives in ways that will allow messages to come across more effectively.⁷ Contributions to educational programs are likely to have a greater impact because statistics allow more responsible choices.⁷ The development of educational programs for the school setting plays an important role in enabling children and adults to recognize the serious dangers associated with medication overdoses. It is expected that these efforts will also play a critical role in reducing the number of visits made to emergency departments as a result of medication overdoses, particularly in children. Educational materials are essential to the ongoing education and dissemination of new and dangerous challenges that have a significant impact on children and their exposure to medications.

References

Budnitz DS, Salis, S. Preventing medication overdoses in young children: an opportunity for harm elimination. Pediatrics. 2011; 127(6): e1597-e1599.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The PROTECT Initiative: advancing children’s medication safety. http://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/protect/protect_initiative.html Accessed October 12, 2013.

Schillie, S.F., Shehab, N., Thomas, K.E., and Budnitz, D.S. (2009). Medication overdoses leading to emergency department visits among children. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 37(3), 181-187.

Food and Drug Administration (2009). FDA’s Safe Use Initiative: collaborating to reduce preventable harm from medications, 1-25.

Food and Drug Administration (2011). Guidance for industry: dosage delivery devices for orally ingested OTC liquid drug products, 1-11.

Institute for Safe Medication Practices. ISMP Medication Safety Intensive. http://www.ismp.org/educational/MSI/ Accessed October 12, 2013

Safe Kids Worldwide. An in-depth look at keeping young children safe around medicine. http://www.ncdoi.com/osfm/safekids/Documents/2013-medication-safety-report.pdf Accessed October 12, 2013