Pediatric Medication Errors in the Community Resulting in Emergency Department Visits — United States, 2019–2023
- Presentation Day/Time: Thursday, April 23, 3:45 PM
- Presenter: Dumbani Kayira, MBBS, MSc, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
The Issue
- Most studies assessing pediatric medication errors address hospital-based events. However, national data describing events due to pediatric medication errors in the community are limited.
What We Did
- We studied the burden and circumstances of community-based medication errors using nationally representative emergency department (ED) surveillance data.
What We Found
- During 2019–2023, an estimated 57,170 pediatric ED visits in the United States were attributable to medication errors. Approximately half of visits involved older children aged 12–17 years (53.1%), followed by those 6–11 (23.8%), and those under 6 years (23.1%). Medications were administered to children aged under 6 years in 99% of visits while 90% of 12–17-year-olds took the medications themselves. Overall, 93.5% of visits involved unintentional overdoses, and 15.5% resulted in hospitalization.
What This Means
- These national data highlight opportunities to focus interventions on the underlying causes of errors by age group. Improving medication administration practices and educating older children, parents, and other caregivers on appropriate medication use might help reduce pediatric ED visits.
