Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CxqwcB1RAYT/ The frequency of serious medication errors in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders has nearly tripled over the past 22 years.  This according to a survey of our nation’s poison control centers by pediatric investigators at Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The data revealed that two-thirds of the most serious errors occurred in children 6 to 12 years of age, three-fourths occurred in males and half involved amphetamines.  Not surprisingly, kids under the age of 6 were twice as likely as older children to have a serious medical complication from incorrect dosing.  The most common errors involved giving children duplicate doses in 54% of cases, giving a child an incorrect medication in 13% of cases, or administering a medication prescribed for another child in another 13% of cases. It is ironic that children suffering from attention issues are the victims of sloppy medication management by caregivers who are distra