Dosing Cups for Children's Liquid Medications: Overdoses Are Common

Dosing errors are a common and preventable cause of adverse drug events in children. Kitchen spoons are notoriously inaccurate. Various measuring devices are distributed for administering children's liquid medications. Little is known about the accuracy of these devices when used by parents or caregivers.

Investigators at a pediatric primary care clinic in an urban public hospital studied parental use of six commonly available dosing instruments: two dosing cups (one with clear etched markings, one with black printed markings), one dropper, one dosing spoon, and two oral syringes (with and without a bottle adapter). A total of 302 parents and guardians (95% were mothers) were verbally asked to use these devices to measure out a dose of 1 tea…