H. Shonna Yin|Benard P. Dreyer|Linda van Schaick|George Foltin|Cheryl Dinglas|Alan L. Mendelsohn
Randomized Controlled Trial of a Pictogram-Based Intervention to Reduce Liquid Medication Dosing Errors and Improve Adherence Among Caregivers of Young Children
New York University
evaluate efficacy pictogrambased health literacy intervention decrease liquid medication administration errors caregivers young childrenrandomized controlled trialurban public hospital pediatric emergency departmentparents caregivers n 245 children aged 30 days 8 years prescribed liquid medications daily dose neededmedication counseling using plain language pictogrambased medication instruction sheets control subjects received standard medication counselingmedication knowledge practice dosing accuracy adherenceof 245 randomized caregivers 227 underwent followup assessments intervention group 113 control group 114 99 prescribed daily dose medication 158 prescribed medication taken needed intervention caregivers fewer errors observed dosing accuracy 20 deviation prescribed dose compared caregivers received routine counseling daily dose 54 vs 478 absolute risk reduction arr 424 95 confidence interval 240570 number needed treat nnt 2 24 needed 156 vs 400 arr 244 87388 nnt 4 312 intervention caregivers 93 nonadherent ie give within 20 total prescribed doses compared 380 controls arr 287 114437 nnt 3 29 improvements also seen knowledge appropriate preparation medication types well knowledge frequency prescribed daily dose medicationsa plain language pictogrambased intervention used part medication counseling resulted decreased medication dosing errors improved adherence among multiethnic low socioeconomic status caregivers whose children treated urban pediatric emergency departmentclinicaltrialsgov identifier nct00537433