Analysis of a medication safety intervention in the pediatric Emergency Department (12 January 2024)

Summary

Strategies to reduce medication dosing errors are crucial for improving outcomes. The Medication Education for Dosing Safety (MEDS) intervention, consisting of a simplified handout, dosing syringe, dose demonstration and teach-back, was shown to be effective in the emergency department (ED), but optimal intervention strategies to move it into clinical practice remain to be described. This study aimed tov describe implementation of MEDS in routine clinical practice and associated outcomes. The study was conducted in five stages (baseline, intervention 1, washout, intervention 2, and sustainability phases). The 2 intervention phases taught clinical staff the MEDS intervention using different implementation strategies.

The study found that both MEDS intervention phases were associated with decreased risk of error and that some improvement was sustained without active intervention. These findings suggest that attempts to develop simplified, brief interventions may be associated with improved medication safety for children after discharge from the ED