Medical Mistakes And Children

In a detailed study that was release today in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics magazine; researchers found a rate of 11 drug-related harmful events for every 100 hospitalized children. That compares with an earlier estimate of two per 100 hospitalized children, based on traditional detection methods. The rate reflects the fact that some children experienced more than one drug treatment mistake.  The new data translates to 7.3% of hospitalized children, or about 540,000 kids each year, a calculation based on government data.

The study involved a review of randomly selected medical charts for 960 children treated at 12 freestanding children's hospitals nationwide in 2002.   Researchers found that simply relying on hospital staffers to report such problems had found less than 4% of the problems detected in the new study.  The researchers also said their findings highlight the need for "aggressive, evidence-based prevention strategies to decrease the substantial risk for medication-related harm to our pediatric inpatient population."