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liquid medication
Dosage:
- only metric-based dosing with milliliters should be used
- mL is the only acceptable abbreviation for milliliter
- medications should be dosed to the nearest 0.1, 0.5, or 1 mL;
- they should not be dosed to the nearest hundredth
- leading zeros [eg. 0.5] should be used
- trailing zeros after whole numbers [eg. 5.0] should not be used
- the frequency of administration should be clear
- use daily rather than QD
- pediatricians should explain milliliter-based dosing to families when they prescribe liquid medicines
- oral syringes better than cups for measuring liquid medications (~5-fold fewer dosing errors) [2]
General
oral agent
References
- Orciari Herman, Sadoughi A, Sofair A
AAP Publishes Policy Statement on Metric Dosing of Liquid Meds.
Physician's First Watch, March 30, 2015
David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief
Massachusetts Medical Society
http://www.jwatch.org
- Yin HS, Parker RM, Sanders LM et al
Liquid Medication Errors and Dosing Tools: A Randomized
Controlled Experiment.
Pediatrics Sep 2016, e20160357
PMID: 27621414