MedSafety

Partner(s): Anu Subramony et al. Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons Access: Open to all Released: February 2011 VIEW PROJECT

MedSafety is a study designed to teach parents and caregivers how to properly give antibiotics to their children, targeting adults with low health literacy. Incorrect dosages of child medication is reported to be as high as 50 percent, and thought to be caused by the complexity of pediatric dosing, confusing formulations of liquid medications, and a reliance on non-standard dosing tools such as kitchen teaspoons to administer medications. Families with low health literacy are at particular risk for medication administration errors.

Caregivers of qualifying patients that have been triaged at the emergency room will complete the interactive web-based MedSafety module for instruction on how to correctly administer medications at home and decrease the incidence of errors. The MedSafety module was developed especially for the iPad and includes video, graphics, and an interactive exercise. The caregivers can choose to do the intervention in English or Spanish and most textual information has an aural alternative. A research assistant facilitates use of the MedSafety module, providing support throughout the intervention. Subsequently, as part of the assessment, the research assistant phones the caregivers at home to understand how they have been administering the medication.

Related project categories:
Field-Laboratory | Medicine and Health