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Preventing errors with medicines - how can you help?
Disclaimer: This fact sheet is for educational use only. Please consult your doctor or other health professional to make sure this information is right for your child.
Key points to rememberYour doctors, nurses and pharmacists work hard to ensure that the care they deliver is the very best for your child but you can also help by:
- being actively involved in your child’s health care
- getting information that you can understand
- speaking up if you have any questions or concerns
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Why is it important for you to know about your child’s medicines?Doctors, nurses and pharmacists are committed to promoting the safe use of medicines and actively try to prevent the occurrence of medication errors.
Unfortunately, errors with medicines do happen. They can happen in hospitals, at your GP’s (general practitioner’s) clinic, at the pharmacy and even in your own home. Sometimes these errors can cause harm.
It is important for you to know about any medicines your child is taking. It’s also important that your child knows about them too. Knowing about your medicines means that you and your child can help to prevent errors occurring with medicines.
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What can you do? 12 tips
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Tell the doctors about every medicine your child is taking at home. This includes any vitamins, minerals, herbal or homeopathic remedies, or traditional medicines your child receives with or without a prescription. Knowing what medicines your child takes helps keep your child’s records up to date. This is important as it helps your child receive quality and appropriate care.
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Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any medicines and breastfeeding to ensure that it is safe for your baby to receive your breast milk.
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Tell the doctors about any allergies your child may have and how your child reacts to medicines. This can help your child avoid getting a medicine that could cause harm.
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Know your child’s current weight. The dose of your child’s medicine may depend on their weight so it is important to have accurate information about your child.
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Never give any medicines or alternative treatments to your child while they are in hospital without checking with a doctor or nurse first. All medicines given in hospital must be checked by a doctor or pharmacist to ensure that they can all go together without causing any problems for your child. It is also important that the nurses know every time you give a medicine to your child so that it is recorded in your child’s notes. This is to prevent a medicine being given incorrectly to your child.
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Always ask when a medicine is being given to your child, whether it is for your child and what it is. This is to ensure that the right child gets the right medicine. Your child's identity must be checked every time a medicine is given by nursing staff. This will be done by checking your child’s patient identification band or verbally with you or your child.
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Ask for information about your child’s medicines from your doctor or pharmacist.
Some questions to ask:
– What is the name of the medicine?
– What is the medicine for?
– Is this dose of medicine appropriate for my child based on their weight?
– How often is my child supposed to take it and for how long?
– What side effects could occur? What do I do if they occur?
– Is this medicine safe for my child to take with other medicines or supplements?
– What food, drink, and activities should my child avoid while taking this medicine?
– How should I store this medicine?
– When should I see an improvement in my child?
Knowing this information means you will be better prepared if something unexpected happens to your child. That way, you can report any problems right away and get help before it gets worse.
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When you receive a prescription for your child, make sure you can read it and know what is on it. If you can not read the doctor’s handwriting, your pharmacist might not be able to either.
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Medicines labels can be hard to understand. If you have any questions about the directions on your child’s medicine labels, always ask your doctor or pharmacist before you take the medicine home. For example, ask if taking four doses daily means taking a dose every six hours around the clock or just during regular waking hours.
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If the medicine’s instructions do not match with what your child was taking before and you do not know why, check with your doctor to see why there has been a change. It may be a mistake.
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Ask your pharmacist for the best way to measure your child’s liquid medicine. A household teaspoon does not often hold the correct measure and may result in under or over treatment of your child. Special devices are available like oral syringes to help, to help people measure the right dose. Ask your pharmacist to show you how to use this device.
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Store medicines out of reach of children, ideally in a locked cupboard. For medicines requiring refrigeration, put on the top shelf of the fridge right at the back. Purchase a child lock lid for your medicines from your pharmacy. Back to Top
Where to go for more information‘everybody’ website – CMPMedica (NZ) Ltd
The 'everybody' website provides information on:
Kick that bug: the wise use of antibiotics (PHARMAC)
The Wise Use of Antibiotics Campaign aims to raise awareness about the use and demand for antibiotics. It focuses on when a patient can expect to be prescribed an antibiotic, what to do when prescribed an antibiotic and how to manage their cold or flu bug. The three key messages of the campaign are:
- antibiotics don't do colds and flu!
- take the lot no matter what!
- if in doubt, check it out!
You can download copies of printed brochures with more detailed information on the wise use of antibiotics. These are available in: English3, Maori4, Cook Islands Maori5, Korean6, Tongan7, Chinese8, Hindi9, Niuean10, Samoan11.
Medsafe (New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority)
Medsafe is a business unit of the Ministry of Health. The Medsafe website provides Consumer medicine information12 including the following:
- patient information leaflets (including Where to go for information about other medicines)
- how medicines are regulated
- safe use of medicines
- making a complaint
- reporting a side-effect
- pharmacist only medicines
There is also a section called ' Hot topics' 13 which includes information on herbal, traditional and complementary medicines (select from the links on the left of the page).
Pharmac (Pharmaceutical Management Agency of New Zealand)
PHARMAC is a Crown entity, accountable to the Minister of Health. The Pharmac website provides:
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AcknowledgementsStarship Foundation and the Paediatric Society of New Zealand would like to thank the Starship Medication Safety Committee and Principal Pharmacist - Medication Safety at ADHB (Auckland District Health Board) for providing this fact sheet for patients and their families.
© 2004 Auckland District Health Board.
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Links (these are the web addresses for the numbered links in the text above)Back to Top
Your notes
Endorsement
This fact sheet was endorsed by PSNZ - 21/07/2006
Copyright
Fact sheets are subject to copyright. In the interests of information sharing they may be copied but acknowledgement must be given to PSNZ and Starship Foundation.
© The Paediatric Society of New Zealand and Starship Foundation 2005 - 2010
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