Following on the heels of reports of actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins receiving an overdose of blood thinner comes a study suggesting that eleven out of every 100 hospitalized children are injured by medication errors.
That's up from a previous estimate of two out of every 100, according to an Associated Press report.
In a study published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers expanded the search for medication errors from those reported by medical personnel to those indicated by certain "triggers" on patients' charts, such as the presence of a drug commonly used to offset adverse reactions to other drugs. The study indicated that "ninety-seven percent of the identified adverse drug events resulted in mild, temporary harm," but that's not going to do much to comfort worried parents.
Indeed, in the AP article, Quaid gives parents this advice: "Every time a caregiver comes into the room, I would check and ask the nurse what they're giving them and why." And that sounds appropriately pro-active, except ... would you know what they were talking about if they told you? Would you be able to identify an improper dosage or a suspicious med? And would you want the doctor or nurse, in a time of medical crisis, to stop and explain it to you?
I remember reading the book Your Critically Ill Child, and being struck by the overwhelming amounts of medication of all sorts pumped into the bodies of very sick kids, and how often the course was set by the best guesses of professionals who were often in the position of reacting to hard-to-predict events.
In that environment, while it makes perfect sense for parents to want to be informed and cautious and vigilant, it's hard to know whether it would help or hurt. Sounds like a good episode of House, though.
If you've had a hospitalized child, how much information have you been able to get about what's going into those IVs? Did you feel the meds were being administered responsibly? And if not, what did you do about it? Share your experience in the comments.
Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
warning: Long comment!
ALWAYS read through your childs file!!! ALWAYS!!! DO NOT Let any nurse or other staff tell you that you’re not allowed. YOU ARE!!!!!
When my daughter was a baby/toddler and in the hospital A LOT, the charts were kept right outside the door of the room. I would often stand out there and read through her chart.
Then when she was about 4 they started keeping them at the nurses station. I would ask for her chart then take it to her room to read through.
When she was about 6, I went to ask for the chart and the nurse said, “I’m sorry, those are confidential.” I said, “I’m sorry. That is my child and by law I’m allowed access to her records.” The young nurse got all flustered and called the charge nurse, who told me I was only allowed to read the chart with the primary dr. sitting right there. You know, in case I had any questions about stuff. I said, “Ummm no…not quite true.” Finally they called the patient rep who had to set them straight. I could read the chart, but I had to stay at the nurses station with it. (understandable)
When my daughter was 7 she spent the entire winter in the hospital with surgical issues. Her surgeon was leaving town for the weekend, so on THURSDAY he told me she could be discharged on Sunday assuming there were no other problems that come up, and that on the following WEDNESDAY I was to see him in clinic so he could keep an eye on her wound, he had already let his staff know we’d be coming.
The next day, while I was out of the room, the residents did rounds. I had given FIRM instructions that I didn’t want them to do rounds with my daughter until I’d been called back to the room. (shame on me for leaving to shower in the parent shower room!) So when I got back and discovered they’d been there, I went to her chart. There were TOTALLY DIFFERENT discharge instructions there! To discharge her on SATURDAY, and to see the dr. in clinic IN TWO WEEKS. GAH!!!!! Had the idiot who did rounds looked on the previous page he would have seen the instructions the surgeon wrote. The signature on this entry was not legible.
I asked the nurses which of the 6 residents did rounds, and she said they’d all been together that day, but she didn’t know who’s signature that was. She said, “UGH! We hate this! The parent has a question and we dont’ even know who signed it! It happens all the time and we hate it.” So, I stuck a post it note in the chart which said, “Whoever signed this, I want to speak with you ASAP!!!”
The next morning they ALL came into the room, and the lead resident tried to cover for someone else, saying “We do this, and We do that.” I said, “No….WHO SIGNED IT?” Finally one guy raised his hand. I said, “You know what? You could have cost my child her life! Not only that, but with that illegible signature, not even the nurses knew who to go to, and THEY are as frustrated as I am!!!” I went on to show him the previous entry that he would have seen had he turned the page.
So…ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read your child’s chart! You’ll be surprised at some of the stuff you find in there! I went back to entries from when my daughter was in NICU and there were nursing comments like, “Mom is in denial about the baby having ds morphology.” or “Mom is insisting that baby be feed with a certain nipple that doesn’t work.” and stuff like that. Stuff that has no business being in the medical file.