Hospitalized Kids Often Victims of Drug Mishaps

[Celebration]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040701038.html

About one of every 15 hospitalized children is the victim of a drug mix-up, accidental overdose, or medication reaction, a new study estimates.

That number far exceeds earlier estimates, theAssociated Pressreported. The finding follows the well-publicized case of actor Dennis Quaid, whose newborn twins were accidentally overdosed at a Los Angeles hospital with the blood thinning drug, heparin. The infants have recovered from the life-threatening incident.

In the new study, Dr. Charles Homer of the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality used new detection methods to conclude that 540,000 hospitalized children each year are victim of a drug-related harmful event.

More than half of the problems cited involved overdoses or allergic reactions to painkillers.

Homer and his colleagues, writing in the April issue of the journalPediatrics, said their findings confirm the need for "aggressive, evidence-based prevention strategies to decrease the substantial risk for medication-related harm to our pediatric inpatient population."