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Medication errors involving intravenous paracetamol in children

https://doi.org/10.1136/dtb.2024.000073

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    Key points

    • A study analysed enquiries to the UK National Poisons Information Service about overdoses of intravenous paracetamol in children.

    • From a total of 266 cases, more than half occurred in children aged less than 1 year.

    • A total of 45 cases involved a 10-fold overdose of paracetamol.

    An analysis of enquiries about intravenous paracetamol poisoning in children highlighted a pattern of preventable medication errors.1

    Overview

    The study assessed telephone enquiries to the UK National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) between January 2008 and December 2021 involving children aged under 18 years who had received an overdose of intravenous paracetamol.1 Data collected included the number of calls, age and sex of patients, overdose exposure type, whether the dose of paracetamol administered in a 24-hour period exceeded 60 mg/kg, Poison Severity Score (PSS: range 0 [asymptomatic] to 4 [fatal]) or Maximum Poison …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors DTB Team.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.